D-day approaches in trucker work permit issue

The work permit issue – a three-way battle involving truckers and immigration specialists battling against the glaring inefficiencies of the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) – is reaching a crucial stage. The thorny issue started back in May when, with SA work permits in mind, the DHA came up with a ruling that from June 1 would make it more difficult for foreign truck drivers to enter the country on delivery trips from overborder states. But this met with serious objections from the trucking industry, who said that the department was enforcing an incorrect ruling without warning, and threatening to prevent foreign drivers employed by SA truckers crossing the border unless they had SA work permits, or proof that the application had been submitted and was pending at home affairs. The truckers didn’t make objection to the need for foreign drivers to have permits. Rather they argued the case that, even though applications had been made, the DHA was unable to fulfil its statutory obligation to process work permit and other temporary residence applications within a 30-day time span. A group of 44 truckers took the case to the Gauteng High Court. And, at the July 28 court hearing, the judge, Justice Fabricius, decided to grant an extra three months to the cross-border transport industry to obtain work permits for the foreign drivers who did not already have these. However, on the thorny issue of the DHA’s inability to process work permits on time, the judge decided not to compel it to issue permits applied for within 30 days. So this led to the second legal step in the issue. A new action was brought against the department, with a group of immigration practitioners from around the country challenging the DHA’s continued inability to process work permit applications within its previously promised 30-day deadline. The deadline for the DHA to tell the court why it could not fulfil its statutory obligation to process work permit and other temporary residence applications within a 30-day time span was first fixed for August 28, but was then extended to September 1 – a day after FTW’s print deadline. At the same time, on the fringes of this court action, the Road Freight Association (RFA) has also been conducting its own case on behalf of members’ drivers – and has had a number of meetings with senior department officials to try to solve the work permit problem behind the line of battle. At the latest meeting on August 18, according to the RFA’s technical and operations manager, Gavin Kelly, the department’s management tentatively agreed with the RFA’s proposed interpretation of the work permit ruling This was that: • All foreign drivers working for foreign companies/operators do not require work permits, but must have passport and letter of employment from the foreign operator/ company. The drivers will then be given either a 15-day or a 30-day (Zimbabwe only) visitor’s visa; • All foreign drivers employed by foreign companies/operators driving SA-registered vehicles do not require work permits. Driver must have passport and letter of employment from foreign operator/ company. The letter must include a paragraph stating that the operator/ company uses vehicles leased from SA; • All foreign drivers working for SA operators/ companies that operate a cross-border operation require work permits; • All foreign drivers working for SA operators/ companies that operate within the borders of SA require work permits. “Obviously,” Kelly added, “everything on which we have reached agreement with the DHA is dependent on the result of that high court case on behalf of the immigration practitioners.”