The Zimbabwe Exemption Permit was first introduced more than 10 years ago and was extended twice since then.
JOHANNESBURG - The Helen Suzman Foundation 's legal team on Tuesday said terminating the Zimbabwean Exemption Permit programme without proper public consultation is unlawful.Minister of Home Affairs Aaron Motsoaledi announced that after it expires this coming June, it will not be extended again though.
In his opening address, Advocate Steven Budlender, for the foundation, said the termination of the ZEP programme stood to upend the lives of people who had been in the country legally for several years. "We have a decision which is going to fundamentally change people’s lives and it’s a decision which was taken without any attempt to hear them first - common cause. It’s a decision which the minister has told these people repeatedly he will not reconsider."
Budlender argued that neither ZEP holders or South Africans at large were given the chance to make any meaningful representations before the decision was taken.
"And we say, no. We say if the Constitution means anything, and if PAJA means anything and if the principle of legality means anything that could never be a proper view."
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