Close to 400 000 Lesotho citizens were estimated to be living in South Africa when the Lesotho Special Permit was launched. Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba said with the process reaching its deadline, they have seen a spike in the number of applicants. The department is still expecting an increase of applicants, by the end of Friday. Gigaba stated that they will continue assessing the process on an ongoing basis.

“It will be to determine whether the department still need to create another opportunity for people, beyond the deadline on Friday. What is going to happen thus far, is that the online applications will be closed down on Friday but our offices will remain opened until the end of December. The offices will be opened for physical capture and to complete the physical applications. During the course, when we were busy with the process, there were categories of people who could have been left out” Gigaba added.

The department is expected to make further announcements, about the Lesotho Special Permits. South Africa had earlier granted amnesty to all Lesotho nationals until 31 December 2016 to handover fraudulent documents at Home Affairs offices.

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