The Pretoria High Court has let crossborder truckers off the hook temporarily, after the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) threatened SA companies which employed foreign drivers to get them SA work permits – or have them stopped dead at the border crossings. The original date of imposition of this ruling (described by some as a result of the department being in a ‘save the jobs for locals’ mood) was July 1. But, at the last second, a group of 44 trucking companies represented by attorney Alira McMimaman, laid a court action against the Director- General and the Minister of Home Affairs, requesting that they be given adequate time to follow such a demand. At that hearing the judge was sympathetic to the truckers’ case, ordered that the DHA supply the High Court with acceptable answers to the objections raised by July 28, and issue an interim directive to all ports of entry to delay the imposition until that date. According to Gavin Kelly of the Road Freight Association (RFA), the primary objection related to the issuing of a work permit within 30 days. The DHA was called upon to explain what has given rise to the implementation of the legislation, despite the contradictory SADC Protocols the department had agreed to. The RFA also required the DHA to interact with it – to finalise both the process of application and the rules around it – including foreign drivers in locally registered vehicles. The whole issue, according to Leon Isaacson of Global Migration – an immigration specialist and media spokesman for the truckers’ group – revolved around one point. “The DHA is just incapable of processing work permits fast enough to keep up with the demand,” he told FTW. Isaacson also added that many of his freight company clients had applied for the required permits as soon as they became aware of the situation. “By law every applicant is entitled to a decision about the issuing of a permit within a 30-day time limit. But my company has applications that have been pending for three to six months at home affairs’ new central hub in Pretoria, and they are still waiting for these to be issued.”
