ZEP holders court case against Minister Motsoaledi deferred to unknown date

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A High Court case between holders of the Zimbabwe Exemption Permits (ZEP) and Minister of Home Affairs Aaron Motsoaledi which was scheduled to be heard today was deferred to an unspecified date.

This was revealed by Advocate Simba Chitando who is representing 180 000 Zimbabweans in their case against Motsoaledi and Department of Home Affairs. Chitando expressed his frustration over the postponement on social media.

Minister Motsoaledi was dragged to court by Zimbabweans after he unilaterally cancelled the ZEP project without giving them an opportunity to present their cases as required by law.

“Late yesterday afternoon Judge Collis has issued a directive that the ZEP matters set to be heard today has been postposed,” said Chitando.

Chitando revealed that the decision was made after a tense case management hearing on Monday which ran until after hours before a full bench of the Pretoria High Court.

“In that hearing the state of all ZEP matters was discussed. It became apparent, for various reasons, that the ZEP matters could not be heard on the dates initially provided for by the courts,” said Chitando.

Motsoaledi initially gave Zimbabweans up to 31 December 2022 to migrate from ZEP to other mainstream permits but extended the deadline to June 2023.

The Minister then requested for a postponement of court challenge hearing which was penciled to be heard today in Pretoria High Court.

Chitando believes that victory was certain since Zimbabweans have what he termed “a water-tight case against Motsoaledi.”