Zimbabwean nationals targeted in attempt to depopulate SA, claims advocate Chitando

Zimbabweans in SA are living in a perilous state of uncertainty as the Zimbabwe exemption permit (ZEP) system is due to come to an end in June 2023.

There are reports of Zimbabweans living and paying tax in SA for more than a decade being charged as foreigners for vital hospital care.

“Today, I had a rude awakening on how the SA government wants to get rid of us,” says one Zimbabwean, who asked for anonymity.

“I have been going to the Helen Joseph Hospital for the past three years because of headaches and other stuff.

“Today the doctor recommended that [I] redo a CT [computed tomography] scan [because] the one I did last year for R100 was too old.

“Only to my surprise the very CT scan I did previously I now have to pay R4 278 [for], the reason being that I am foreign, but the receipt is still printed R100 for the procedure.

“To what end must we endure this discrimination and victimisation?”

There are also claims – denied by the department of home affairs – that Zimbabweans and other foreigners are being targeted in police stings.

It was reported that several foreign nationals and employers were arrested in Tshwane last month following “mega blitz” inspections by the department of employment and labour.

The decision to end the ZEP system is being challenged in court by the Helen Suzman Foundation, the Zimbabwean Exemption Permit Holders Association (Zepha) and the Zimbabwe Immigration Federation.

These cases have been delayed until November for technical reasons.

All three are asking the courts to set aside the decision by Minister of Home Affairs Aaron Motsoaledi to suspend the ZEP system, arguing it is irrational and will have disastrous effects on the entire region as hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans will be at risk of deportation.

Representatives of Zepha and the Zimbabwe Immigration Federation told Moneyweb of an orchestrated campaign to rid the country of Zimbabweans, who are being scapegoated for rising unemployment and economic distress in SA.

They point to a statement by Patriotic Alliance leader Gayton McKenzie in August saying he would not hesitate to switch off an oxygen machine in a hospital to save a South African.

Also in August, a video went viral of Limpopo health MEC Phophi Ramathuba berating and ridiculing a patient, believed to be Zimbabwean, for coming to SA for medical treatment.

All this has contributed to an escalating climate of fear among Zimbabweans living in SA, says advocate Simba Chitando, who is representing Zepha in court.

“Hate groups have unlawfully surrounded hospitals, with no police intervention, to prevent Zimbabwean nationals from accessing medical care,” says Chitando.

“Southern Africa is currently the scene of a modern-day mfecane [‘the crushing’], and Zimbabweans are the victims. “The last mfecane was led by Shaka Zulu between 1787 and 1828, who systematically depopulated South Africa’s minorities.

“Dr Motsoaledi leads the post-apartheid mfecane directed at Zimbabweans by weaponising the department of home affairs and the new private army of ‘green shirts’, euphemistically called the Border Management Authority, targeting Zimbabwean nationals to depopulate the country.”

An estimated 178 000 Zimbabweans have until June next year to apply for alternative visas, leave the country voluntarily or be deported.

ALSO READ: ZEP extension a mockery of SA’s constitutional democracy – Mashaba

This article originally appeared on Moneyweb and was republished with permission.
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