{"id":165277,"date":"2017-03-20T10:07:20","date_gmt":"2017-03-20T08:07:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=165277"},"modified":"2017-03-20T10:07:20","modified_gmt":"2017-03-20T08:07:20","slug":"home-affairs-to-send-zimbabweans-on-special-permits-packing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/165277\/home-affairs-to-send-zimbabweans-on-special-permits-packing\/","title":{"rendered":"Home affairs to send Zimbabweans on special permits packing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Home affairs minister Malusi Gigaba\u00a0is expected to announce changes to the country&#8217;s position on\u00a0Zimbabwe special permits (ZSPs) before the end of the month &#8211; with\u00a0all indications that there is no room for extension, according to a report by <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.timeslive.co.za\/sundaytimes\/businesstimes\/2017\/03\/19\/SA-may-pull-plug-on-Zimbabwe-workers\" target=\"_blank\">The Sunday Times<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>This follows earlier confirmation by home affairs media liasion officer Thabo Mokgola to <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.groundup.org.za\/article\/home-affairs-says-no-renewal-zsp\/\" target=\"_blank\">Ground Up<\/a>,\u00a0<\/strong>who noted that &#8220;the Minister has made it clear that there would not be an extension of the ZSP.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The ZSP\u00a0was first introduced in October 2014, as a three year permit that would allow Zimbabwean nationals living in the country to legally work, own a businesses and study in South Africa, despite not carrying a valid visa.<\/p>\n<p>By ending the ZSP programme, Zimbabwean nationals (who are not currently in the country legally) will now only be allowed to enter the country if\u00a0they meet the requirements for a regular study, work or business visa. They would also need to leave South Africa and apply for these visas back in Zimbabwe.<\/p>\n<p>In February, Gigaba announced a new hard-line stance on foreigners in the country and noted that he would be specifically targeting\u00a0businesses who hire undocumented workers, saying that they will be found out and charged.<\/p>\n<p>Violence against foreigners in South Africa has also escalated in recent months, including an \u2018anti-foreigner\u2019 march held by residents in Pretoria, and the burning of alleged \u2018brothels and drug dens\u2019 in Rosettenville, Johannesburg, which were mainly occupied by foreigners.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Read:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/general\/161155\/south-africans-are-not-xenophobic-says-zuma-as-anti-foreigner-protests-continue\/\" target=\"_blank\">South Africans are not xenophobic says Zuma \u2013 as \u2018anti-foreigner\u2019 protests continue<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba is expected to bring an end to the special permits which allow Zimbabweans without a visa to continue working and living in South Africa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":165287,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-165277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=165277"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165277\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":165327,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165277\/revisions\/165327"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/165287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=165277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=165277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}