More than 200 000 Zimbabweans have applied to the Home Affairs department to legalise their stay in South Africa, officials said on Friday.
Home affairs communications manager Ricky Naidoo said 200 192 applications had been received from Zimbabweans by close of business on Thursday.
The department had ruled on 44 649 applications and more than 38 000 had been approved, while another 6 165 applications had so far been rejected.
At the Home Affairs office on Harrison Street in Johannesburg, there were short queues of Zimbabweans on Friday as hawkers made brisk trade, selling black pens, passport holders and refreshments.
A 34-year-old Zimbabwean woman, who would only giver her name as Norma, said she was happy that she could legalise her status in the country.
“I came here for a job. At home people are suffering,” she said.
Home Affairs offices have been instructed to remain open right until the last Zimbabwean application has been received on Friday.
Illegal Zimbabweans were given a December 31 deadline to apply for documents to legalise their stay in the country.
In a statement on Friday, Zimbabwe’s Movement for Democracy (MDC), said it was “shell-shocked to receive news that the Zimbabwe government turned down an offer from the South Africa government of a printing press with a capacity of printing 100 000 passports”.
However, Home Affairs Director General Mkuseli Apleni said there had been no specific offer of a printing press.
“We told the Zimbabwean government to let us know in general terms what they needed. There was no specific offer,” he said.
The only request received from the Zimbabwean government was for office space in Cape Town and Johannesburg. This had been provided. — Sapa