The South African government says it will start deporting Zimbabweans whose applications to remain in that country under the Zimbabwe Special Permits program have been denied.
Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba told a media briefing in Midrand, South Africa, on Tuesday that out of 83,009 applications adjudicated so far, 2,396 have been rejected.
He said those that have been rejected will be removed soon from South Africa.
However, the Zimbabwe Exiles Forum, one of the organisations working with exiled Zimbabweans in that country, says South Africa had started the deportations long before Tuesday’s announcement.
Programme manager at the Zimbabwe Exiles Forum, Diana Zimbudzana, said her organisation will petition the international relations and co-operation ministry to lobby the Home Affairs Ministry to address issues affecting rejected immigrants.
