Zimbabwe's exemption program will not end any time soon after the Supreme Court of Appeal rejected the Home Minister's request for a stay on appeal.
Tariro Wasinyira/GroundUp
- The Supreme Court of Appeal dismissed the Minister of the Interior's appeal against the ruling that the termination of the ZEP scheme was illegal, unconstitutional and invalid.
- The court ruled that there was no reasonable prospect of success.
- Last year, the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria ordered Minister Aaron Motsoaledi to reconsider ending the program after a fair consultation process that complied with relevant laws.
The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) has borne the costs of Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi’s application to the Gauteng High Court to appeal the Pretoria judgment that declared the termination of the Zimbabwe Exemption Permit (ZEP) program illegal, unconstitutional and void. and rejected it. This is according to GroundUp.
In a judgment handed down earlier this month, the court said the application for special leave to appeal was dismissed on the basis that there was no reasonable prospect of success.
There was also no other compelling reason to hear the appeal.
The Helen Suzman Foundation (HSF), the main litigant in the issue, said this meant the High Court's judgment would remain in force unless the matter was referred to the Constitutional Court.
“The ZEP permit is therefore valid and the holder can continue to reside in South Africa on the same terms and conditions prior to its unlawful termination,” HSF said.
In June last year, three High Court judges instructed the minister to reconsider ending the ZEP permit program “in accordance with a fair process” that complies with relevant laws.
The judges ruled that pending the outcome of that process, the permit will remain valid for a further 12 months (until the end of June 2024) and ZEP holders will be protected from arrest and deportation.
The lawsuit was brought by HSF and the South African Refugee and Migrant Consortium after the Minister announced the end of the program in 2021.
He later granted a further extension, but maintained that the 178,000 permit holders must apply for other visas if they qualify or return to /news24/home did.
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In their judgment, Justices Coleen Collis, Gushina Malindi and Mandlenkosi Moosa (writing for the court) said the minister made no attempt to seek representations from those affected before making a decision. Ta.
The initial recruitment of representatives was done “after the fact'' and was not a “genuine consultation''.
They wrote that the invitation was “senseless” and that an affidavit in court showed there was “a marked disregard for the value of public participation.”
The judges found that the minister's failure to consult made the decision to end the program unjust and unreasonable, as no attempt had been made to assess the impact on ZEP holders and their children or the current situation in Zimbabwe. He said it became.
In November 2023, the HSF issued an “enforcement order” for the June 2023 judgment after the Minister was unable to obtain leave to appeal from the Pretoria Courts and indicated his intention to appeal by petitioning the SCA. An emergency application has been launched to request this.
HSF considered that this would mean that the judgment would be automatically suspended, putting ZEP holders at risk of deportation while the appeal process was ongoing.
However, the judges rejected the application, arguing that it was unnecessary and that the ruling guaranteed ZEP holders' rights until at least June 2024, despite a pending appeal.