PETITION SOUTH AFRICAN HOME AFFAIRS TO URGENTLY GRANT EUGENE ESOF A PERMIT TO STAY IN SA WITH HIS FAMILY

My 72 year old dad is being kept from his family due to unnecessary bureaucracy and we need the South African Department of Home Affairs to take this matter seriously and grant him a permit to stay in SA.

My dad is Zimbabwean and mum South African - I brought them to South Africa in 2013 and successfully applied for a temporary residence permit for him. However, when the permit renewal came up, I was out of work and did not have the funds to apply for a renewal - take also into account the fact that VFS charge R1350.00 for the application and my mum's state pension was R1300.00 at the time! He was forced to return to Zim and return on a 90 day visitors visa. He travelled to Harare to put his application in at the Embassy but was told by the 'gate-keeper' that he couldn't apply as he and my mum needed to have R17000 in the bank! So he was forced to apply for another 90 day visa just so he could come back to his family.

We have gone through an immigration lawyer whose expensive advice was for him to return to Zim again and apply at the Embassy. Bear in mind, police, medical and radiology reports in Zim had a combined total of US$200!! The bus ticket to Zim an additional R600, bus to Harare from Bulawayo US$25, Embassy cost of application US$35 etc etc - an expense that could have been avoided if Home Affairs understood that you cannot keep a family apart and that surely it is against human rights!!

Long story short, his visit to the Embassy resulted in him being granted an appointment to put his application in on December 13th! He has been in Zim since end of August and away from his wife of 50 years for all these months and is likely to be away for another 2 months at the very least.

Please help me petition Home Affairs to get him back to his wife, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren here in South Africa. He is of no threat to South Africa at all and at his age, will certainly not be seeking employment, nor will he ever become a burden to the State!