{"id":85599,"date":"2023-10-27T11:18:19","date_gmt":"2023-10-27T09:18:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/zep-court-saga-helen-suzman-foundation-goes-to-court-to-avert-human-catastrophe"},"modified":"2023-10-27T14:38:43","modified_gmt":"2023-10-27T12:38:43","slug":"zep-court-saga-helen-suzman-foundation-goes-to-court-to-avert-human-catastrophe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/zep-court-saga-helen-suzman-foundation-goes-to-court-to-avert-human-catastrophe","title":{"rendered":"ZEP Court Saga: Helen Suzman Foundation goes to court to \u201cavert human catastrophe\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. <\/strong><\/span>The Helen Suzman Foundation (HSF) rushed to court this week in an attempt to secure an order to protect Zimbabwean Exemption Permit (ZEP) holders whose presence in South Africa, it said, was again under threat.<\/p>\n

In June three judges of the Pretoria High Court declared the decision by the Minister of Home Affairs to terminate the permit programme to be unlawful, unconstitutional and invalid.<\/p>\n

They ruled that the permits remain valid while the minister conducted a fair and rational inquiry into the impact of their termination.<\/p>\n

This week\u2019s litigation, before the same three judges, was necessary because the minister was intent on appealing the ruling, which meant it would be suspended. HSF wants an execution order that will protect ZEP holders, pending the outcome of the government\u2019s appeals.<\/p>\n

The minister has already failed in a bid to get permission for leave to appeal from the Pretoria Court and has now indicated that he will approach the Supreme Court of Appeal.<\/p>\n

HSF Executive Director Nicole Fritz said the minister had twice refused to abide by the court\u2019s ruling, pending the appeal process.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is in the face of such unyielding resistance to perhaps the law\u2019s most basic demand \u2014 that affected parties are owed fair and rational process when their rights are adversely affected \u2013 that HSF sought the court\u2019s intervention once more to relieve the excruciating uncertainty that the minister\u2019s actions present to ZEP holders,\u201d Fritz said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout this application there is a risk of the June judgment being suspended. That would mean that the ZEPs expire in roughly two months from now.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe future of permit holders and their children will depend on the possibility of the minister granting them further piecemeal extensions.\u201d<\/p>\n

The June ruling by Judges Colleen Collis, Gcina Malindi and Mandlenkosi Motha gave protection to the 178,000 permit holders for 12 months, pending a \u201cfair process\u201d that complies with relevant laws. But that will fall away if the judges don\u2019t grant what is called an \u201cexecution order\u201d. Without the execution order the ruling will have no force or effect while an appeal is pending.<\/p>\n

The minister announced the end of the programme in September last year.<\/p>\n

Subsequently he granted further extensions but remained adamant that the permit holders must either apply for other visas, if they qualified for them, or return \u201chome\u201d.<\/p>\n

The judges, in their June ruling, said the minister had made no attempt to solicit representations from those affected before he took the decision.<\/p>\n

The first call for representations had been done \u201cafter the fact\u201d and was not a \u201cgenuine consultation\u201d.<\/p>\n

They said throughout the answering affidavit (deposed to by the director-general of the department) there was a \u201cnotable disdain for the value of public participation\u201d.<\/p>\n

The judges said the minister\u2019s failure to consult, rendered the decision to terminate the programme procedurally unfair and irrational.<\/p>\n

They said no attempt was made to assess the impact on ZEP holders and their children.<\/p>\n

In papers before the court on Thursday, Fritz, in her affidavit, said, \u201cWe trusted the minister would respect the order. But he has made it quite clear in press statements that he refuses to accept it, labelling it as a dangerous precedent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fritz said the ZEP permit holders would be deprived of their rights because any appeal process could take a year, if not longer.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis application is necessary to avert a human catastrophe. It has been entirely necessitated by the minister\u2019s refusal to respect this court\u2019s judgments pending the outcome of the appeal process.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fritz said the minister had expressed contempt for the ruling, describing it in disrespectful and disdainful terms. As such he should be held personally liable for 50% of the costs of the urgent application.<\/p>\n

Opposing the application, Home Affairs Director-General Livhuwani Makhode said the minister was \u201cnot closed\u201d to issuing further directives regarding the permits, if circumstances dictated.<\/p>\n

He said permit holders who had applied for waivers and other visas would be protected as long as their applications were pending.<\/p>\n

He denied the minister was contemptuous of the judgment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe minister cannot be expected to abide by an order in circumstances in which he is aggrieved and, on proper legal advice, has decided to challenge it. His decision is in the public interest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Makhode said allegations of a human catastrophe were \u201cimaginary\u201d. The permit holders were aware that the ZEP regime was temporary.<\/p>\n

He said there were no grounds for a personal cost order against the minister because \u201che has not acted in bad faith\u201d.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Zimbabwe<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. The Helen Suzman Foundation (HSF) rushed to court this week in an attempt to secure an order to protect Zimbabwean Exemption Permit (ZEP) holders whose presence in South Africa, it said, was again under threat. In June three judges of the Pretoria High Court declared the decision by the Minister of Home […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":85597,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,12],"tags":[1493,2189,19],"class_list":{"0":"post-85599","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-policy","9":"tag-africa-press","10":"tag-africa-press-zimbabwe-2","11":"tag-zimbabwe"},"yoast_head":"\nZEP Court Saga: Helen Suzman Foundation goes to court to \u201cavert human catastrophe\u201d - zimbabwe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Helen Suzman Foundation (HSF) rushed to court this week in an attempt to secure an order to protect Zimbabwean Exemp ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/zep-court-saga-helen-suzman-foundation-goes-to-court-to-avert-human-catastrophe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"ZEP Court Saga: Helen Suzman Foundation goes to court to \u201cavert human catastrophe\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Helen Suzman Foundation (HSF) rushed to court this week in an attempt to secure an order to protect Zimbabwean Exemp ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/zep-court-saga-helen-suzman-foundation-goes-to-court-to-avert-human-catastrophe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"zimbabwe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-10-27T09:18:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-10-27T12:38:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2023\/10\/sm_1698393784.245289.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"566\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/zep-court-saga-helen-suzman-foundation-goes-to-court-to-avert-human-catastrophe\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/zep-court-saga-helen-suzman-foundation-goes-to-court-to-avert-human-catastrophe\",\"name\":\"ZEP Court Saga: Helen Suzman Foundation goes to court to \u201cavert human catastrophe\u201d - zimbabwe\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/zep-court-saga-helen-suzman-foundation-goes-to-court-to-avert-human-catastrophe#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/zep-court-saga-helen-suzman-foundation-goes-to-court-to-avert-human-catastrophe#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2023\/10\/sm_1698393784.245289.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-10-27T09:18:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-10-27T12:38:43+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/2e02b5816e71b1149d79877f669a85e4\"},\"description\":\"The Helen Suzman Foundation (HSF) rushed to court this week in an attempt to secure an order to protect Zimbabwean Exemp ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/zep-court-saga-helen-suzman-foundation-goes-to-court-to-avert-human-catastrophe#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/zep-court-saga-helen-suzman-foundation-goes-to-court-to-avert-human-catastrophe\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/zep-court-saga-helen-suzman-foundation-goes-to-court-to-avert-human-catastrophe#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2023\/10\/sm_1698393784.245289.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2023\/10\/sm_1698393784.245289.jpg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":566,\"caption\":\"ZEP Court Saga: Helen Suzman Foundation goes to court to \u201cavert human catastrophe\u201d\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/zep-court-saga-helen-suzman-foundation-goes-to-court-to-avert-human-catastrophe#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"ZEP Court Saga: Helen Suzman Foundation goes to court to \u201cavert human catastrophe\u201d\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/\",\"name\":\"zimbabwe\",\"description\":\"\u0623\u062e\u0628\u0627\u0631 \u064a\u0648\u0645\u064a\u0629 \u0639\u0644\u0649 \u0645\u062f\u0627\u0631 \u0627\u0644\u0633\u0627\u0639\u0629\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/2e02b5816e71b1149d79877f669a85e4\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"ZEP Court Saga: Helen Suzman Foundation goes to court to \u201cavert human catastrophe\u201d - zimbabwe","description":"The Helen Suzman Foundation (HSF) rushed to court this week in an attempt to secure an order to protect Zimbabwean Exemp ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/zep-court-saga-helen-suzman-foundation-goes-to-court-to-avert-human-catastrophe","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"ZEP Court Saga: Helen Suzman Foundation goes to court to \u201cavert human catastrophe\u201d","og_description":"The Helen Suzman Foundation (HSF) rushed to court this week in an attempt to secure an order to protect Zimbabwean Exemp ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/zep-court-saga-helen-suzman-foundation-goes-to-court-to-avert-human-catastrophe","og_site_name":"zimbabwe","article_published_time":"2023-10-27T09:18:19+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-10-27T12:38:43+00:00","og_image":[{"width":800,"height":566,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2023\/10\/sm_1698393784.245289.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/zep-court-saga-helen-suzman-foundation-goes-to-court-to-avert-human-catastrophe","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/zep-court-saga-helen-suzman-foundation-goes-to-court-to-avert-human-catastrophe","name":"ZEP Court Saga: Helen Suzman Foundation goes to court to \u201cavert human catastrophe\u201d - zimbabwe","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/zep-court-saga-helen-suzman-foundation-goes-to-court-to-avert-human-catastrophe#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/zep-court-saga-helen-suzman-foundation-goes-to-court-to-avert-human-catastrophe#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2023\/10\/sm_1698393784.245289.jpg","datePublished":"2023-10-27T09:18:19+00:00","dateModified":"2023-10-27T12:38:43+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/2e02b5816e71b1149d79877f669a85e4"},"description":"The Helen Suzman Foundation (HSF) rushed to court this week in an attempt to secure an order to protect Zimbabwean Exemp ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/zep-court-saga-helen-suzman-foundation-goes-to-court-to-avert-human-catastrophe#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/zep-court-saga-helen-suzman-foundation-goes-to-court-to-avert-human-catastrophe"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/zep-court-saga-helen-suzman-foundation-goes-to-court-to-avert-human-catastrophe#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2023\/10\/sm_1698393784.245289.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2023\/10\/sm_1698393784.245289.jpg","width":800,"height":566,"caption":"ZEP Court Saga: Helen Suzman Foundation goes to court to \u201cavert human catastrophe\u201d"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/zep-court-saga-helen-suzman-foundation-goes-to-court-to-avert-human-catastrophe#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"ZEP Court Saga: Helen Suzman Foundation goes to court to \u201cavert human catastrophe\u201d"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/","name":"zimbabwe","description":"\u0623\u062e\u0628\u0627\u0631 \u064a\u0648\u0645\u064a\u0629 \u0639\u0644\u0649 \u0645\u062f\u0627\u0631 \u0627\u0644\u0633\u0627\u0639\u0629","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/2e02b5816e71b1149d79877f669a85e4","name":"cfeditoren"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85599\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}