Tag: Taryn York

Cabinet announced on 28 May 2025 that it has approved both the National Labour Migration Policy (NLMP) 2025 White Paper and the Employment Services Amendment Bill, 2021 (ESAB). These will now proceed to implementation and submission to Parliament.

The Department of Employment and Labour (DEL) has recently stepped up its inspection raids. These actions have attracted significant media attention. Most notably, these inspections have been prominent in the hospitality industry. As a result of these inspections, approximately 80 people working in restaurants across the country have been arrested.

On 28 June 2023, the High Court handed down a landmark judgment where the decision by the Minister of the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) not to extend the longstanding Zimbabwean Exemption Permit (ZEP) after 31 December 2021 was found to be invalid, unlawful, and unconstitutional.

The now well-known Zimbabwean Exemption Permit (ZEP) has a longstanding history since it was initially implemented by the Republic of South Africa as the Dispensation of Zimbabweans Project (DZP) in 2009. The objectives of the DZP were to provide Zimbabwean nationals who were in possession of fraudulently obtained immigration documents with amnesty, and to curb their deportation.

On 29 November 2021, a directive was issued by the Director-General of the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) confirming cabinet's decision that, no further extensions would be granted to Zimbabwean nationals, who were holders of a Zimbabwean Exemption Permit (ZEP).