South Africa's apex court turns down the Minister of Home Affairs' request to appeal the ZEP judgment

The decision by South Africa’s highest court to refuse the Minister of Home Affairs’ leave to an appeal, cements a landmark ruling for The Helen Suzman Foundation (HSF), represented by DLA Piper, that successfully challenged the decision to terminate the Zimbabwean Exemption Permit Regime (ZEP).

The Constitutional Court of South Africa refused the Minister of Home Affairs’ application for leave to appeal in the ZEP case, bringing to a close our challenge of the unlawful termination of the ZEP regime, which affected some 178,000 people who had been legally living, working, and building families in South Africa for almost 15 years.

The Constitution enshrines that every person living within our borders deserves to be treated with fairness and respect for their dignity, and that is the principle that every government sworn in under the Constitution is bound to honour.

Naseema Fakir, Executive Director, Helen Suzman Foundation, commented: “Government cannot operate in obscurity. Our democracy requires that administrative decisions like this, that adversely affect people’s, rights must be opened to public scrutiny and comment. This is so that the government can exercise its power with accountability and with all the information it needs to treat people fairly and in accordance with the Constitution.”

Nicolas Patrick, Pro Bono and Responsible Business partner at DLA Piper, added: “This landmark decision achieves justice for thousands of Zimbabwean legal residents in South Africa and upholds the progressive spirit of the South African constitution, one of the finest in the world. We are proud to have joined the Helen Suzman Foundation in challenging the termination of the ZEP regime, and to have contributed to protecting the right of people living in South Africa to fair administrative action.”