Cape Town - Western Cape - South Africa

The ZEPs were the South Africa government’s temporary response to the large numbers of Zimbabweans entering the country from 2008 due to economic and political precarity, placing strain on the asylum-seeker system. On September 2, 2010, the South African government announced the Dispensation Zimbabwean Project (DZP) permit lasting four years, which was extended for four years in August 2014, and renamed the Zimbabwean Special Permit (ZSP). Another extension was granted for three years, ending in December 2021, with the permit now re-branded as the Zimbabwean Exemption Permit (ZEP). Evans Mahembe, 40, arrived in South Africa in 2010. As a supporter of the opposition party, attacks were rampant.