She faces prohibitive costs and may lose her job<\/p>\n
By Bernard Chiguvare<\/p>\n
Since 2008, Melody* has been living and working in South Africa. She is legally in the country with a Zimbabwe Exemption Permit (ZEP), but her two children need legal status. The South African authorities say she has to return to Zimbabwe in order to apply for what is known as an \u201caccompanying visa\u201d for her children.<\/p>\n
She is a domestic worker and it will be very expensive for her. It may also mean she has to break up her family, at least temporarily. She might even risk losing her job altogether as she only gets three-weeks annual leave in December.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt takes six to eight weeks for the visas to be processed. I cannot leave my children in Zimbabwe,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Melody\u2019s two-year-old was born in South Africa but he accompanied her to Zimbabwe on her annual leave last year. Her seven-year-old was born in Zimbabwe and she has applied for his birth certificate and passport at the Zimbabwean Consulate in Cape Town, a costly and bureaucratic process in itself.<\/p>\n
David Hlabane, media manager at the Department of Home Affairs, confirmed that Melody must apply through the South African Embassy in Zimbabwe.<\/p>\n