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.”