South Africa’s Director General of Home Affairs, Mkuseli Apleni, met with the Zimbabwean Stakeholder Forum on Wednesday to discuss the way forward for the documentation of illegal Zimbabwean nationals.

To date, a total of 275 762 applications have been received, with 44 824 approved and 10 106 still under review. A total of 220 832 are presently under adjudication.

Apleni said that the process to document Zimbabweans should be concluded by June 30, 2011.

In order to ensure that the Department meets this deadline, a comprehensive plan has been finalised, which includes fast tracking the dispatch and adjudication of all outstanding applications, the fingerprinting of applicants, sustained engagement with the Zimbabwean government to fast track the issuance of passports to approved applicants and stakeholder engagements with other interested parties.

Apleni said that applicants would have until July 31, 2011, to collect the permits from several Home Affairs offices around the country.

From August 2011 onwards, Zimbabweans who were not in possession of the necessary documentation to legalise their stay in South Africa would be subject to normal immigration laws.

The Director-General said that, from next week, Home Affairs would be initiating a sustained engagement with the Zimbabwean government to expedite the issuance of passports. As part of this process, Apleni would be meeting with the Zimbabwean Ambassador and Consul-General, followed by a meeting between Minister Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and her Zimbabwean counterparts.