Zimbabwe permit holders can work until 31 December even if permit application unsuccessful:
Zimbabwe Exemption Permit (ZEP) holders can legally work in South Africa until 31 December even if they are not successful in their applications for other visas, said the employment law team from Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr.
Earlier this month, South Africa’s government extended the ZEP, due to expire at the end of June, by another six months to December, citing a wave of visa and waiver applications.
“You are still legally allowed to work and live in South Africa even if your application is unsuccessful, you can still work until that time [31 December],” said Taryn York, a member of the team.
“That will also give you enough time to apply for an appeal against the outcome of your visa depending on the reasons it was rejected. So, they [ZEP holders] would not need to leave immediately.”
The firm’s team on Tuesday held a discussion on the ZEP and the workplace factors that may affect holders and their employers.
In announcing the extension to December, the department of home affairs said there had been “significant developments” since the permit — which has allowed tens of thousands of Zimbabweans to live, work and study in South Africa since 2009 — was first extended to 30 June 2023.
“One of the benefits of this extension is for ZEP holders to try to obtain an alternative mainstream visa in terms of the Immigration Act. Alternative visas include your general work visa which could be granted for a period of up to five years, the critical skills visa, also granted for a period up to five years,” York said.
“ZEP holders can also consider applying for a spousal visa or a relative’s visa. They can also consider applying for a study visa, which would still allow them to work in South Africa but there would be a limitation on the number of hours they would be allowed to work a week, which is currently capped at 20 hours a week.”
The reprieve for Zimbabweans working in South Africa, having fled the economic and political turmoil in their country, was first introduced in 2009, as part of the Dispensation of Zimbabweans Project (DZP).
In January 2022, Motsoaledi approved a recommendation not to extend the exemptions, saying the permit was always “a temporary measure, pending improvement of the political and economic situation in Zimbabwe”.
The Mail & Guardian previously reported that earlier this year the Helen Suzman Foundation challenged the department’s decision to terminate the permit in the Pretoria high court, contending that it infringed on the constitutional rights of ZEP-holders.
Two other civil society groups, the Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa and the Zimbabwe Immigration Federation also challenged the home affairs department’s decision. Judgment was reserved.
In addition, the Zimbabwean Exemption Permit Holders, GroundUp reported that the latter is seeking permanent residence in South Africa for ZEP holders.
According to statistics released by the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency in September 2022, South Africa is home to 700 000 Zimbabweans. There are about 178 000 ZEP holders in the country, the home affairs department says.
York said it was unlikely that any Zimbabwean who had not already applied for a visa would receive an outcome by 31 December because of the backlog of nearly 63 000 applications that the home affairs department is grappling with.
She explained that if a person applied timeously but had not received an outcome on their application by the expiration date of the extension, they would not be allowed to continue working for their employer without a valid visa “unless the director general of the department of home affairs issues a directive allowing them to do so”.
“What we’ve seen in the last few years because of the backlog at home affairs is that the director general has issued various directives allowing foreign nationals with pending visas to continue working on their current status due to the backlog,” she added. “Whether a similar directive will be issued before the 31 December deadline, we’ll have to wait and see.”
York said employers could assist their affected workers by providing them with information, adding: “It would be useful to get a specialist who can provide ZEP holders with information because a lot of them don’t know what alternative visas they can apply for or what they qualify for.”
In terms of the country’s immigration laws, employers are not allowed to employ foreigners without a valid work visa and can be arrested, fined or imprisoned upon conviction.
But “just because a ZEP holder no longer has a permit or an alternative visa they are still defined as an employee in terms of the Labour Relations Act as well as the basic conditions of employment act, and they still have a right to fair labour practices,” York said.
“Employers still need to follow a fair process in order to address the continuation of employment and also have a fair reason to terminate employment.”
Gillian Lumb, director of employment law practice and head of immigration at Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr, added: “In this case the Immigration Act is effectively trumped to some extent by the Labour Relations Act. So, the employee would not be automatically deported; there would first need to be a fair reason for termination of employment.”
SABC chief executive Madoda Mxakwe is stepping down:
SABC group chief executive Madoda Mxakwe is leaving the public broadcaster as his five-year contract comes to an end.
The SABC board said Mxakwe would be replaced by Nada Wotshela, in an acting capacity, from 1 July until a permanent new chief executive was found.
Mxakwe joined the public broadcaster in 2018, when the SABC was grappling with governance failures, corruption, gross mismanagement and a financial crisis. He is the first SABC chief executive to complete his contract in more than 15 years.
In its statement, the board admitted that the SABC was still experiencing “financial sustainability challenges” but added that Mxakwe and the management team “had worked closely with all employees and the board to reverse the dire situation, setting the public broadcaster on a recovery path and rebuilding its credibility”.
It said Wotshela was a seasoned broadcaster with more than 20 years of experience at the SABC, 12 of them in senior management and executive roles.
“She possesses both the technical knowledge and the leadership skills of public broadcasting and is currently serving as group executive for radio at the SABC,” the board said.
The SABC is just one of several companies operating under the auspices of the government which have been struggling to stay afloat. The public broadcaster has felt the pressure from changes in the market, shaped by more nimble private-sector players.
The SABC is operating at a loss of R608??million, by its own numbers, and according to its presentation to parliament last November, its net loss position is the result of underperforming advertising revenue, a symptom of declining audience numbers.
Last month, Mxakwe told legislators that the broadcaster’s audience ratings had declined by about 40% because of the transition from analogue to digital broadcasting, which has taken place in five provinces so far.
Eskom has purged all state capture employees, delinquent directors now in firing line:
Debt-ridden Eskom has purged itself of all employees named in the Zondo state capture report, parliament’s standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) heard on Tuesday during a sitting at the power utility’s Megawatt Park headquarters.
The head of legal and compliance at the state-owned enterprise, Mel Govender, told Scopa members that, to date, “[T]here are no employees as identified in the Zondo report who are in the employ of Eskom.”
Twelve detailed dossiers had also been prepared on delinquent directors, something Govender described as another “big ticket item”.
“To date, we have handed over four of these dossiers to [the department of public enterprises] and the [Companies and Intellectual Property Commission] and we are awaiting feedback on those.”
In a statement released in March this year, Eskom chairperson Mpho Makwana said the company was pursuing R3.8 billion through civil action against 12 defendants “who played a central role in state capture”.
“Seven of the 12 defendants are former Eskom executives and directors,” he said.
In his final report, Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, the chairperson of the state capture commission, recommended that most of Eskom’s prior board of directors and former executives, including Matshela Koko, Brian Molefe and Anoj Singh, be investigated and possibly prosecuted for their alleged roles in enabling the infamous Gupta family to loot Eskom, for substantial kickbacks.
Said Zondo of the previous Eskom board: “The 2014 Eskom board and senior executives repeatedly denied wrongdoing and even actively intervened or stopped Eskom from taking the necessary legal steps to have [several suspicious or tainted] contracts reviewed and recover associated payments.”
Govender told Scopa that another matter Eskom’s state capture task team — led by herself — was driving “quite hard” was disciplinary action related to suppliers mentioned in the Zondo report.
“We haven’t initiated disciplinary action yet, and there is a specific reason for that. The view we have taken there is that we would like the criminal process to actually run its course, so that when we do take disciplinary action, and any potential for recovery from a civil perspective, it follows a hierarchy of order.
“Simultaneously, in terms of supplier discipline, we have to date initiated 76 supplier disciplinary matters. There was initially a backlog of 126, and through Eskom’s state capture task team, we are working hard to close that out.”
As for allegations about criminal syndicates and widespread corruption at Eskom made by former group chief executive André de Ruyter in his controversial television interview in February, Govender said these had not brought Eskom into disrepute, in her opinion.
De Ruyter had been serving out his resignation period when he gave the interview, which led to his employment immediately being terminated.
De Ruyter repeated the corruption allegations in his bestselling book, Truth to Power. Govender said the allegations he made in the interview and book were not new, just repackaged.
The company was still awaiting the Fivaz private intelligence report, commissioned by De Ruyter, in which the allegations were contained, she said.
“We have appointed a legal firm to assist us with dealing with these averments. The first step was to engage with the former GCE and George Fivaz, which has taken place. They have committed to providing us with a copy of the report, and the report has [also] been requested from the SIU, which we believe has a copy of it.”
The Special Investigating Unit last month told Scopa that it had obtained a copy of the Fivaz report, which was being subjected to “SIU investigation methodology and protocols”.
The SIU head, Andy Mothibi, told Scopa at that time: “We are acutely aware that we have to deal with this report as urgently as possible and speedily to determine the course of action.”
He said the SIU was also investigating how the report — funded by Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) and captains of industry — was commissioned.
The report allegedly cost R50 million, of which R18 million was funded by the BLSA.
Govender said De Ruyter’s book had made available the opportunity to tighten protocols about who at Eskom spoke to the media. “Protocol isn’t as strict as it should be, and it is not followed. This is an opportunity for us to enhance our internal controls, to look at technology that can be implemented to ensure these leakages can be monitored.”
This was a work in progress and was being managed by the company secretary, she said.
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