The Department of Home Affairs said on Wednesday that it had not abolished border passes for Zimbabweans, as was reported in a number of newspapers.
“There is no such thing as a border pass,” said a statement from the department.
It tried to clear up the confusion by saying that bilateral discussions with Zimbabwe had agreed that Zimbabweans in possession of a visitor’s permit stamped in their passports would be endorsed so as to allow cross-border traders to work here.
Normally visitors’ permits do not allow the holder to take work in this country, which means that they are not allowed to go, for example, to Bruma Lake in Johannesburg and trade from there, unless they get specific permission from the director general.
Jacky Mashapu, acting head of communications for the department, said that the new system would not allow Zimbabweans on visitor’s passes to take actual jobs here. But all that would be required from someone coming across the border to trade will be for them to declare themselves to be traders. — I-Net Bridge