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Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma says Pretoria and Harare will be working together to ensure that all Zimbabweans in South Africa were documented before the end of the year.
Government announced last week that it was withdrawing the dispensation introduced in April last year, from 31 December. The exemption was in response to the socio-economic challenges in Zimbabwe, which resulted in large-scale influx of Zimbabweans to South Africa.
Dlamini Zuma said the agreement between South Africa and Zimbabwe was that it would last for 12 months beginning in April 2009 to April this year.
Government decided to extend the period to give Zimbabweans more time to apply for the relevant documents that will ensure their stay in South Africa was legal.
Several non-governmental organisations have criticised government saying the withdrawal of the special dispensation would lead to massive deportation of "vulnerable" Zimbabweans.
"This only applies to undocumented people, many Zimbabweans in South Africa are in possession of their relevant documents, we will only be regularising those who don't have documents because it is our responsibility to do so...we need to know who is in this country," Dlamini-Zuma said.
She dismissed reports that suggested that officials will be embarking on a mass deportation once the special dispensation comes to an end. "We will not just be deporting people come 31 December, no ... we are merely saying all undocumented people must get their document during this period to ensure that by January 1 next year their stay in South Africa is regularised that is absolutely normal every country does it. We are just doing what needs to be done, the agreement was that the dispensation would last for a year." - BuaNews
