SOUTH Africa says it is stopping a special dispensation granted to Zimbabweans allowing them to stay in the country even without documents.
Currently, officials are prevented from deporting or arresting undocumented Zimbabwean nationals in South Africa irrespective of their legal status under a moratorium on removals announced in April 2009.
South African government spokesman Themba Maseko said Thursday that from December 31, all Zimbabweans living in South Africa will be treated like any other foreign nationals.
"The decision seeks to ensure that all foreign nationals who reside in South Africa are documented and their presence is regularised. After December 31, all undocumented Zimbabweans will be treated like all others and their deportation will resume," Maseko said.
The decision follows a bilateral agreement between the Ministers of Home Affairs from the two countries. As part of the agreement to suspend free movement, Zimbabwe undertook to issue documents to all its undocumented nationals, Maseko said.
Where this was not possible, the Zimbabweans would be allowed to return home and fetch the necessary papers.
Zimbabweans working, conducting business or studying in South Africa would be issued with a working permit, business permit or a study permit, provided they had valid Zimbabwean documents.
"I would imagine this would also apply to those doing informal work in the country," he added.
There would be "an amnesty" for Zimbabweans who might have obtained South African identity documents fraudulently, on condition that such documents were returned to the home affairs department with immediate effect.
However, this would not mean that they would automatically qualify for regularisation, Maseko said. They would then have to apply for permits that enabled them to legally reside in South Africa.
He added: "We are saying return these [illegal] documents ... Start making sure that you get your Zimbabwean documents and then when you've got your Zimbabwean documents, then we clarify what is your status in this country and we will then issue you with the relevant permit.
"So if you are in the country illegally and you have a job, you get a work permit. If you don't, you get deported."
There are no definitive figures on how many Zimbabweans are in South Africa, although the International Organisation for Migration estimates the figure to be between 1.5 to 2 million.
After the June-to-July soccer World Cup, many Zimbabwean migrants left South Africa, fearing a new wave of attacks on foreigners competing for scarce jobs in Africa’s biggest economy which has a 25 percent unemployment rate.
A series of attacks on foreign workers from other African states killed 62 people in 2008.
The decision to resume deportations of Zimbabweans is however meeting stiff resistance from the refugee rights organisation, PASSOP, which says the move is tantamount to a death sentence.
PASSOP said in a statement that it hoped to meet with the department of home affairs to discuss its unhappiness with the plan and to ensure that the rights of Zimbabweans were protected.
"Failing which, we shall consider what actions could be taken in resistance to the return of the draconian tactics of deportation," it said.
"[These] amount to the refusal of South Africa to provide survival to vulnerable groups, essentially a death sentence."
PASSOP said its initial understanding of the moratorium had been that it was an interim solution while the government provided Zimbabwean nationals with a special exemption under the Immigration Act.
This document had, however, not been distributed or made available to Zimbabwean nationals, and refugee reception centres remained clogged.
"It has been proven that deportation does not work, as the department previously deported in excess of 140,000 people a year at a huge expense," it said. "We disagree with the belief that a sustainable solution has been met in Zimbabwe. We do not believe that the humanitarian crisis has been resolved." - Sapa