Home Affairs Clarifies ZEP Status as Permanent Residency Claims Spark Confusion

(SOUTH AFRICA) — South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs issued a clarification on April 16, 2026, saying Zimbabwean Exemption Permit holders do not qualify for permanent residence permits and that no policy change has been made.

The statement followed confusion after Deputy Minister Njabulo Nzuza said on April 14, 2026 that ZEP holders “should be looking at other legal pathways in which they apply for permanent residence or any other form [of permit].” His remarks were taken by many as a sign that Home Affairs had opened a direct route from ZEP status to permanent residency.

Department spokesperson Thulani Mavuso rejected that interpretation on Thursday. “The Department wishes to state categorically that there has been no change in policy regarding the status of ZEP holders. Consistent with the conditions of their permits, the holders of ZEP do not qualify for permanent residence permits. It is imperative to avoid the spread of misinformation that may cause unnecessary anxiety among citizens, permit holders, and other stakeholders.”

Home Affairs had already moved to contain the fallout a day earlier. On April 15, 2026, the department said Nzuza’s comments referred to existing mainstream visa categories, such as work or business visas, rather than any direct ZEP-to-residency process.

That clarification left the current position unchanged. ZEP and the Lesotho Exemption Permit remain temporary exemptions, and neither permit creates a direct pathway to permanent residency.

Both permits are valid until May 29, 2027, under an extension granted in June 2025. Home Affairs says holders must continue to comply with the existing terms attached to those permits while the government reviews their future.

The numbers involved are large. About 180,000 Zimbabweans live and work in South Africa under ZEP, alongside several thousand Lesotho nationals covered by LEP.

Many of those permit holders have spent years building lives in the country under arrangements that remained temporary even as they stretched over time. The latest confusion briefly raised expectations that long-term residence might finally translate into a formal path toward permanent residency.

Home Affairs has now closed that reading off. Applications through other visa channels remain possible, but officials said those routes already exist and will be considered on an individual, case-by-case basis rather than through any blanket regularization linked to ZEP status.

Nzuza’s original remarks pointed permit holders toward those other channels. The department’s interpretation of his comments was narrower than the one that spread on social media and in public discussion: ZEP holders may explore legal categories already in the immigration system, but the permit itself does not convert into permanent residence.

That distinction sits at the center of the latest dispute over ZEP status. A person holding a Zimbabwean Exemption Permit may still apply, if eligible, through another immigration category, but eligibility under a separate category does not alter the legal character of the exemption permit.

The review now under way reaches beyond one permit program. Home Affairs said it is conducting a “rigorous public consultation process” on the future of ZEP and LEP as part of a broader review of the White Paper on Citizenship, Immigration, and Refugee Protection.

A comprehensive policy position and a detailed report with recommendations are due before Cabinet by the end of the 2026/27 financial year. Until then, the department’s latest statement leaves permit holders with the same framework that existed before Nzuza’s television comments.

The present extensions trace back to court action that reshaped the government’s approach. A 2023 ruling found an earlier attempt to end the ZEP program unconstitutional and faulted the state’s administrative process, prompting the June 2025 decision to extend the permits.

That legal history explains why the permit system remains in place while officials conduct consultations. It also explains why each public statement from Home Affairs draws intense scrutiny from communities that have lived under repeated deadlines, extensions and reversals.

ZEP began in 2009 as a temporary measure for Zimbabweans who had fled economic and political instability. Seventeen years later, that temporary design remains intact in law even as many holders have spent much of their adult lives working, raising families and settling in South Africa.

LEP holders face a similar structure. Their permit, like ZEP, allows lawful residence and work for a defined period but does not itself amount to a settlement route.

The department’s wording on Thursday also showed concern about the public reaction. Mavuso linked the need for a fresh statement to “misinformation” and said the confusion had caused “unnecessary anxiety among citizens, permit holders, and other stakeholders.”

That anxiety was visible almost immediately after Nzuza’s remarks circulated. The suggestion that people should seek “other legal pathways” was heard by many as a policy opening rather than a reminder that standard visa categories remain available to anyone who independently qualifies.

Home Affairs has drawn that line sharply. ZEP status does not equal eligibility for permanent residency, and any person seeking to stay in South Africa beyond the exemption framework must meet the requirements of another visa or permit class under existing law.

The department has not announced any special concession for long-term ZEP holders, nor any direct conversion mechanism tied to years already spent in the country under the exemption. Its current position is that the permits remain temporary measures extended to May 29, 2027 while the wider policy review continues.

That leaves permit holders in a familiar position: lawfully present for now, able to work under the exemption system, but still outside any automatic route from ZEP status to permanent residency. The next formal shift, Home Affairs says, will come through the consultation process and Cabinet recommendations due by the end of the 2026/27 financial year.