The South African government will resume the deportation of Zimbabwean illegal immigrants at the end of the year when a special dispensation allowing them to stay in the country ends in December.

Currently, home affairs officials and police are prevented from deporting or arresting undocumented Zimbabwean nationals in South Africa, irrespective of their legal status, under a moratorium on removals announced in April 2009.

Government spokesperson Mr Themba Maseko said last week that from 31 December, all Zimbabweans living in South Africa would be treated like any other foreign nationals, adding that cabinet had since approved a proposal to end the special dispensation for Zimbabwean nationals, which was introduced in April 2009.

"Zimbabweans who are here illegally without any documents will be given a period between now and 31 December to sort out their documentation with authorities in their country and with SA Home Affairs. After this date, anybody who does not have any form of permit to be in the country will then be deported. In fact, the decision seeks to ensure that all foreign nationals who reside in South Africa are documented and their presence is regularized,” Maseko said.

After December 31, all undocumented Zimbabweans will be treated like all others and their deportation will resume. The decision follows a bilateral agreement between the Ministers of Home Affairs from South Africa and Zimbabwe.

“As part of the agreement to suspend free movement, Zimbabwe undertook to issue documents to all its undocumented nationals,” Maseko said. However, where this was not possible, the Zimbabweans would be allowed to return home and fetch the necessary papers.

Zimbabweans working, conducting business or studying in South Africa will be issued with a working permit, business permit or a study permit, provided they have valid Zimbabwean documents. "I would imagine this would also apply to those doing informal work in the country," Maseko added. He said there would be "an amnesty" for Zimbabweans who might have fraudulently obtained South African identity documents, on condition that such documents were returned to the Home Affairs department with immediate effect.

“However, this will not mean that they will automatically qualify for regularisation. In fact, they will then have to apply for permits that enable them to reside in South Africa legally,” Maseko said.

He added: "We are saying people must return these illegal documents and start making sure that they get their Zimbabwean documents. When they have their Zimbabwean documents, we clarify what is their status in this country and we will then issue them with the relevant permit. "So, if you are in the country illegally and you have a job, you get a work permit. If you don´t, you get deported."

Zimbabwe and South Africa will establish a joint monitoring and evaluation committee to oversee implementation of this policy. Maseko said a similar process would be initiated for nationals from other neighbouring countries in future. “We want to ensure that the government can begin to have everybody properly documented as well as have their fingerprints, so that, in the event of their committing a crime, we can know who that person is.”

South Africa has since April last year been allowing Zimbabweans without travel documents to enter the country. Most were economic refugees fleeing hardships in their country. South Africa also scrapped stringent visa requirements for Zimbabweans and extended the period for which people with passports can stay in this country from one month to at least three months.

A number of Zimbabweans in Musina, who spoke to Mirror, said their employers had started urging them to obtain Zimbabwean passports, so that work permits can be organized for them before the end of the special dispensation period in December.

There are no definitive figures on how many Zimbabweans are in South Africa, although the International Organisation for Migration estimates the figure to be between 1.5 to 2 million.

After the June-to-July soccer World Cup, many Zimbabwean migrants left South Africa, fearing a new wave of attacks on foreigners competing for scarce jobs in Africa’s biggest economy, which has a 25% unemployment rate. In a series of attacks on foreigners from other African states, 62 people were killed in 2008. The decision to resume deportations of Zimbabweans is, however, meeting stiff resistance from the refugee rights organisation, PASSOP, which says the move is tantamount to a death sentence.

According to media reports, PASSOP said in a statement that it hoped to meet with the Department of Home Affairs to discuss its unhappiness with the plan and to ensure that the rights of Zimbabweans were protected.

"Failing which, we shall consider what actions could be taken in resistance to the return of the draconian tactics of deportation," it said. "These amount to the refusal of South Africa to provide survival to vulnerable groups, essentially a death sentence."

PASSOP said its initial understanding of the moratorium had been that it was an interim solution while the government provided Zimbabwean nationals with a special exemption under the Immigration Act.

This document had, however, not been distributed or made available to Zimbabwean nationals, and refugee reception centres remained clogged.

"It has been proven that deportation does not work, as the department previously deported in excess of 140,000 people a year at a huge expense," it said. "We disagree with the belief that a sustainable solution has been met in Zimbabwe. We do not believe, however, that the humanitarian crisis has been resolved."