Embassy mulls mobile consular exercise for SA-based Zimbabweans 

Source: Embassy mulls mobile consular exercise for SA-based Zimbabweans – NewsDay Zimbabwe

BY TAFADZWA KACHIKO
ZIMBABWE’s embassy staff in South Africa is set to conduct a mobile consular exercise in Durban, KwaZulu Natal (KZN)province from March 28 to 31 to give fellow countrymen in that country a chance to regularise their stay.

Zimbabwe’s consul-general to Johannesburg Melody Chaurura advised the Zimbabwean community in KZN to take advantage of the exercise which will take place at the Durban Jewish Club in North Beach.

“All Zimbabwean nationals resident in KZN, who require the consular services, should plan to visit the stated venue between 0900hrs and 1400hrs during specified dates. Please note that the service will be given on a first come first served basis,” Chaurura said in a notice.

“The following services will be provided during the visit, birth certification, passport application from processing, temporal travel document (TTD), verification of Zimbabwe issued public documents (birth certificates, marriage certificates, national IDs, death certificates, passports and driver’s licence),”

“The consulate urges the Zimbabwean community in KZN to take advantage of this mobile consular exercise to regularise their documents.”

The exercise comes when fear has gripped Zimbabwe Exemption Permits (ZEP) holders that they may not qualify for other visas to remain in South Africa after Pretoria said it would not renew the permits beyond December 2022.

ZEP permits expired in December 2021, but Pretoria announced a 12-month grace period for the Zimbabwean immigrants to apply for new visas or risk deportation.

ZEP permits were introduced in 2009.

South Africa has been tightening screws on Zimbabwean immigrants and other foreign nationals.

There is a growing chorus from pressure groups in that country to have foreigners deported, sparking fears of fresh xenophobic attacks.