Capitec, South Africa’s largest bank by customer numbers, has restored thousands of accounts belonging to Zimbabwean exemption permit (ZEP) holders after a last-minute reprieve by home affairs minister Leon Schreiber to extend the validity of the exemption until the end of this year.
The lender, which has 23-million clients, temporarily closed the accounts until government confirmed the validity of the ZEP was extended, alongside the permits of Basotho nationals living and working in SA.
On December 31 2024 our systems temporarily restricted access to the accounts, but they have since been restored after the extension was confirmed
— Capitec spokesperson
“Some of our clients’ accounts were temporarily affected due to expired exemption permits. The permits, originally issued to Zimbabwean nationals in 2009 and Lesotho nationals in 2019, have been automatically extended by the minister of home affairs until December 31 2025,” a Capitec spokesperson told Business Day.
“On December 31 2024 our systems temporarily restricted access to the accounts, but they have since been restored after the extension was confirmed. We encourage clients with exemption permits to apply for their new permits through visa facilitation services as early as possible to ensure uninterrupted banking services.”
Schreiber, in a Government Gazette published at the end of November, said he “decided to extend the validity of the ZEP until November 28 2025 for me to fulfil the duty placed on me by the Gauteng high court to consult the affected ZEP holders and all other stakeholders on the future of the current dispensation”.
The gazette further directs authorities that no holder of a ZEP may be arrested, ordered to depart or be detained for purposes of deportation, and that holders of an exemption certificate may be allowed to enter into or depart from South Africa.
The Constitutional Court in June 2024 confirmed the earlier decision by the high court in Pretoria that the department under previous home affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi was wrong in its attempt to deport about 178,000 ZEP holders. The court found the minister failed to adequately consult the permit holders.
The ZEP regime was established in 2009 as a humanitarian gesture to allow nearly 200,000 Zimbabweans who fled their country’s turmoil to stay and work in SA.
Motsoaledi initially refused any extension beyond June 2023, citing budgetary constraints, an improvement in the situation in Zimbabwe and the need to ease pressure on the asylum seeker system.
Schreiber last month also extended the validity of the Lesotho exemption permits (LEP) to the end of November this year “for me to fulfil the duty placed on me by the Gauteng high court in the case of Helen Suzman Foundation and Others to consult the affected LEP holders and all other stakeholders on the future of the current dispensation”.
Schreiber is reactivating the Immigration Advisory Board (IAB), which will be composed of people with knowledge and expertise in the field of immigration and will advise the minister of home affairs on regulations, policy formulation and other related matters.
The minister has said the first task of the IAB would be to advise on the steps required to comply with the court order on the future of the ZEP and LEP.
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