Gigaba: Home affairs can handle Zim permits

The department of home affairs has the resources to process special amnesty permits for undocumented Zimbabwean migrants, deputy minister Malusi Gigaba said on Wednesday.

“We have more than the necessary resources to ensure that the project is completed by its deadline,” Gigaba said in Pretoria.

The department had employed 354 employees nationally to administer the amnesty project and had put measures in place to increase capacity based on demand.

Due to the particularly high volume of applicants at the Johannesburg regional office, the department was re-opening an office in Market street to relieve congestion.

Gigaba said the department had weekly meetings with various Zimbabwean stakeholders to assess the status of the project, to unlock bottlenecks where necessary and to ensure that the December 31 deadline would be met.

Home affairs recently announced an amnesty for Zimbabweans who had been using fraudulent South African identity books, on condition that they hand these in at the department’s regional offices before December 31.

Some human rights groups had said the deadline should be extended as the department was unable to cope with the large number of applications.—Sapa.