JOHANNESBURG – Administrative hiccups and poor communication have dogged the process to document Zimbabwean immigrants in South Africa with many of the refugees likely to be omitted from the exercise, a new study has shown.

The study carried out by the African Centre for Migration and Society (ACMS) last year and whose results were released on Tuesday also showed that the short time given the immigrants to regularise their stay in South Africa plus the "unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles" they encountered trying to do so meant that many were unable to apply for the permits.

"We can assume that many Zimbabweans were simply unable to navigate the documentation process because of its administrative challenges and the lack of effective communication, as well as misinformation from the regional offices," (ACMS) senior researcher Roni Amit said. "As a result, many were excluded and will remain undocumented."

The ACMS monitored several home affairs offices between October and December last year and interviewed nearly a thousand immigrants who were applying for permits.

The center said that the applicants were "confused and uninformed" about the documentation process, the requirements fro one to qualify for a permit and the appeals process in the event one’s application was rejected.

There was also a lack of uniform standards within the home affairs department with some officials merely rejecting applications without even submitting them for adjudication, while in many cases asylum seekers were forced to give up their status to apply for permits under the project.

The problems highlighted by the ACMS study are only part of a long list of hiccups that have dogged the process, chief among them being the failure by the Zimbabwean government to produce passports for all its citizens living in South Africa.

Many of the Zimbabweans staying in South Africa not only do not have permits to stay here but also often do not have passports or any other identity documents to show they are Zimbabwean.

Pretoria gave Zimbabweans working, engaged in business or studying in South Africa without relevant permits to do so up to last month to apply for the permits with applicants required to produce valid documents to show they were citizens of Zimbabwe.

South Africa, which imposed a moratorium on deportations of illegal immigrants from its struggling northern neighbour, has said it will resume expelling all Zimbabwean immigrants without permits once the documentation process is completed in about six months’ time.

By Zimonline