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The minister of Home Affairs, Aaron Motsoaledi announced last week that the applications for the permits would be extended by six months due to the amount of work and not because of the series of lawsuits against the ministry.
This comes after the minister’s initial announcement last year when he said that the extension of the exemption permits will not be granted to Zimbabwe nationals. The decision resulted in court action by civil organizations.
On the Aubrey Masongo show on Tuesday night, Motsoaledi said that the court battle was still ongoing.
Talking on the show, the minister said “ We are defending our decision, this one was the particular advice of the people who are going to do the work”.
He also mentioned that the court cases were still going ahead and that they were preparing for them.
According to the minster, it was the advisory committee that recommended the extension because the initial December deadline seemed impossible.
They said that the amount or work awaiting them required more hours and time. Out of the 178 000 people that did apply, only 9 000 applied for waivers.
These figures brought them to the belief that they needed six months to finish the work, emphasizing that the remaining three months would not be enough time.
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