ZimCommunitySA Condemns Harassment of Migrants After Viral Video Raises Questions Over ZEP Law Awareness

JOHANNESBURG – ZimCommunitySA has condemned what it describes as the harassment, humiliation and intimidation of migrants in South Africa following the release of footage by eMalahleni FM News that appears to show a senior immigration official dismissing the validity of the Zimbabwe Exemption Permit (ZEP).

The organisation says the incident raises serious concerns about whether officials responsible for enforcing South Africa’s immigration laws are adequately informed about the directives governing migrants’ legal status.

The ZEP remains valid until 28 May 2027 following an extension issued by Home Affairs Minister Dr Leon Schreiber under Ministerial Immigration Directive No. 21 of 2025, which was gazetted on 7 October 2025. The extension applies to an estimated 178,000 Zimbabwean nationals holding the permit.

The ZEP forms part of a dispensation introduced in 2009 that allows qualifying Zimbabwean nationals to live, work and study legally in South Africa.

For ZimCommunitySA, the apparent lack of awareness of the directive among immigration officials is a serious concern.

Officials must not fuel anti-migrant sentiment

ZimCommunitySA spokesperson Bongani Mazwi Mkhwanazi said immigration officials should not contribute to a growing public perception that foreign nationals are automatically undocumented.

“Officials cannot become participants in the vigilante narrative against migrants,” Mkhwanazi said. “There is a dangerous and persistent public misconception that every foreign national is an ‘illegal immigrant’. This is simply untrue.”

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Mkhwanazi said millions of foreign nationals in South Africa hold valid visas or permits and that the ZEP has remained subject to legal and political contestation for several years.

The permit was terminated by a previous Home Affairs minister in 2021. That decision was subsequently challenged in court, including by the Helen Suzman Foundation. In 2023, the Pretoria High Court ruled on the matter, while a later Gauteng High Court judgment found that the termination process was unlawful because permit holders had not been properly consulted.

Subsequent extensions have allowed the Department of Home Affairs additional time to conduct the required public consultation process through the Immigration Advisory Board. The latest extension runs until May 2027.

Enforcement must be grounded in the law

The footage has emerged against a backdrop of heightened tensions around immigration, with civil society movements calling for the deportation of undocumented foreign nationals and demanding stronger border controls.

Mkhwanazi said ZimCommunitySA does not oppose lawful immigration enforcement. However, he said enforcement must be based on legislation and government directives rather than assumptions, public pressure or an individual official’s understanding of the law.

“An officer’s unfamiliarity with a directive does not invalidate that directive,” he said. “Ridiculing or intimidating individuals who assert their lawful status is unacceptable.”

The organisation warned that mistakes in immigration enforcement can have serious consequences for migrants. Individuals who are wrongly treated as undocumented could lose employment, face difficulties accessing essential services or become vulnerable to extortion.

ZimCommunitySA also raised concerns about individuals allegedly posing as law enforcement officers and demanding bribes from migrants who are legally documented.

Calls for investigation and retraining

ZimCommunitySA is calling on the Department of Home Affairs to investigate the conduct captured in the video and ensure that immigration officials are properly briefed whenever regulations or directives affecting migrants change.

Mkhwanazi said officials must be able to accurately identify and respect lawful immigration status.

“A lawful status must be reliably recognised by the officials responsible for enforcing immigration law,” he said.

He also called for a broader reassessment of attitudes towards migrants, particularly Zimbabwean ZEP holders who have lived and worked in South Africa for years.

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Many have paid taxes, established businesses and contributed to sectors of the economy, including jobs that are often described as low-skilled.

“It is profoundly wrong to benefit from people’s labour and contributions for years and then subject them to humiliation, suspicion and hostility,” Mkhwanazi said.

The organisation wants mandatory immigration-law retraining for enforcement personnel, a formal investigation into the conduct shown in the footage and decisive action against anyone found to be involved in extortion while impersonating or abusing law-enforcement authority.

“We do not oppose lawful immigration enforcement,” ZimCommunitySA said. “We oppose arbitrary, uninformed and degrading enforcement.”

The organisation has also called for the dignity of all people to be respected regardless of nationality, arguing that an official’s lack of knowledge of the law should never become grounds for denying or questioning rights that are legally protected.

The Department of Home Affairs and the South African Police Service had not responded to requests for comment by the time of publication.