SOUTH African's Department of Home Affairs has launched a stakeholder consultative process on the future of the Zimbabwean Exemption Permit (ZEP) and Lesotho Exemption Permit (LEP) programmes following a landmark court ruling that halted the termination of the permits.
In an invitation dated June 18, 2026, the department called on stakeholders and government representatives to participate in a Gauteng provincial stakeholder consultative workshop scheduled for later this month at Emperors Palace in Kempton Park.
The consultations stem from a June 2023 ruling by the Pretoria High Court in the case involving the Helen Suzman Foundation and others against the Home Affairs minister.
The court declared the decision to terminate the ZEP programme unlawful, unconstitutional and invalid.
The judgment further ordered that ZEP holders be allowed to remain in South Africa while a proper consultative process is conducted.
The Constitutional Court dismissed the minister’s appeal in June 2024, affirming that the minister is legally bound to follow a fair process.
According to the Department of Home Affairs, the public consultative exercise will be carried out during the 2026-27 financial year, with recommendations expected to be submitted to Cabinet by March 31, 2027 regarding the future of the ZEP and LEP programmes .
“Department of Home Affairs will embark on the court-mandated public consultation process in the 2026-27 financial year with the intention of making recommendations to Cabinet by March 31, 2027 regarding the future of the ZEP and LEP programmes,” the notice read.
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Authorities said it was important to engage government departments and entities before wider stakeholder consultations began to ensure that all concerns and legal obligations are adequately addressed.
The consultative process includes workshops across multiple provinces.
The call comes at a time when vigilante groups such as March and March and Operation Dudula are intensifying protests and raids on foreign nationals, demanding that they leave the country before June 30 or face the worst.
The June 30 deadline, though having no legal basis, has acquired considerable symbolic power and has become a focal point for threats and intimidation.
Sporadic xenophobic violence erupted in various parts of the country, leaving some people dead as the situation grows increasingly tense in the neighbouring country.
According to World Health Organisation director-general, at least five Ethiopians and five Mozambicans were killed in recent attacks, with thousands of families displaced.
In Durban, more than 400 documented refugees are camped outside the Home Affairs office after being driven from their homes, while an estimated 10 000 displaced people are living in dire conditions in Sherwood Park.
International Relations minister Ronald Lamola recently moved to quell xenophobia claims, stressing that recent killings are linked to organised crime and not xenophobia and vowed that perpetrators will face the full force of the law.
However, Human Rights Watch has warned of a new wave of xenophobic violence targeting African and Asian migrants “with little or insufficient apparent response from the police and other authorities”.
Several governments, including Malawi, Mozambique, Ghana, Nigeria and Zimbabwe, have sent buses to evacuate their citizens from the volatile country in fear of what may befall them on June 30.
In Zimbabwe, authorities allege the government has evacuated 696 citizens from South Africa since the beginning of June under an assisted voluntary repatriation programme launched in response to the surge in attacks.
There are over one million Zimbabweans believed to be domiciled in South Africa.
The repatriation initiative is being implemented with support from partners, including the International Organisation for Migration and the United Nations Children’s Fund.
Most of the returnees were displaced from the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng provinces, where anti-immigrant protests have turned violent in recent weeks.
The outcome of the consultative process is expected to have dire implications for thousands of Zimbabwean and Basotho nationals living and working in South Africa under the exemption permit system, as the country grapples with rising anti-immigrant sentiment fuelled by deep inequality, poverty and high unemployment.
