Truckers saved by last minute permit reprieve

The last second information on the foreign drivers/work permit issue is that the department of home affairs (DHA) has delayed the planned imposition on July 1. This, it said in its advisory communication, while the current court action laid by 29 trucking companies in the North Gauteng High Court is decided. An interim directive was forwarded to all ports of entry announcing the extension of the date to July 28, 2010 while the department awaits a court ruling. By that date the DHA needs to supply the High Court with acceptable answers to the objections raised – chiefly, according to Gavin Kelly of the Road Freight Association (RFA), related to the issuing of a work permit within 30-days and to explain what gave rise to the implementation of the legislation, despite the contradictory SADC Protocols the department had agreed to. If it can’t provide acceptable explanations – the court can order that the requirement for work permits be extended to July 31, 2011. According to the truckers’ association, the DHA will also be required to interact with it to finalise both the process of application and the rules around it – including foreign drivers in locally registered vehicles. The department of home affairs is just incapable of processing work permits fast enough to keep up with the demand, according to immigration specialist Leon Isaacson of Global Migration. Its proposed crackdown on foreign truck drivers crossing the country’s borders without work permits was scheduled to come into operation at midnight on June 30. But an urgent court bid by 29 SA trucking companies saw them granted the temporary reprieve until July 28 from the new system and the department ordered to allow these drivers into the country. Isaacson told FTW 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.” He added that home affairs lacked the capacity to cope with all the applications, and was now facing a backlog of about 25 000 applications. “This, translated into time, works out at a delay of about six-months,” he said. Isaacson pointed out that until now foreign drivers had been allowed to transport goods across SA’s borders using a visitor’s permit with permission to work. This enabled foreign drivers to carry out short assignments in SA, as many drivers’ routes brought them into the country only once a month. “While home affairs is within its rights to insist that foreign truck drivers should have work permits, as stated in our immigration legislation, communication to the freight industry about the stricter enforcement of the laws has been poor and companies have not been given enough time to apply for permits.”