The Department of Home Affairs’ Zimbabwe Documentation Project will hold a two-day meeting this week with representatives from all home affairs offices in a bid to finalise the project, the Times reported on Wednesday.
Project head Jacob Mamabolo said the meeting on Thursday and Friday would also investigate claims by some Zimbabweans in Cape Town that records of their applications for work and study visas had vanished.
The government launched the project in September 2009, saying many Zimbabweans were in South Africa illegally and needed to apply for proper documents. The department announced earlier this month that it had adjudicated 275 762 applications, and that it wanted “normal immigration processes” to apply by the deadline at the end of August.
However some Zimbabweans said the project was not going as smoothly as the department reported and that they were afraid of being deported.
Mamabolo said Zimbabweans should not worry because the department had already said that Zimbabweans would still be receiving SMSes advising them of the outcome of their applications.
He said the department would probably make an announcement about how they would improve the system by Monday next week. – Sapa