JIMOH’S PERMIT ERRONEOUSLY ISSUED - IMMIGRATION OFFICER

MBABANE - The Principal Immigration Officer Zodwa Mkhwanazi has stated that the issuance of Denver Sundowns’ Skipper Jimoh Moses’s work permit on May 20 was an oversight.

Mkhwanazi, from the Ministry of Home Affairs, who has worked there since 1993, made this statement yesterday while testifying in the Manzini Wanderers and Sundowns protest case. Wanderers obtained a court order on Wednesday to have an officer from the ministry testify about the validity of one of their supporting pieces of evidence in the case after Sundowns requested so. The ‘Weslians’ submitted a letter from the ministry stating that Moses was allegedly a prohibited immigrant, according to the immigration laws of the country.

The witness, who is the signatory in the ‘Weslian’s letter, mentioned that the player failed to collect the permit three months after it was approved, which then automatically got cancelled. The Sundowns’ captain applied for a work permit on September 26, 2023, and it was approved on October 31, 2023. She stated that three months later, the permit lapsed, and Moses was required to start the application process anew on May 20, 2024, when he paid and collected it.

Expires

The permit in question expires in November this year, as he applied for a one-year contract. The officer also mentioned that his passport expired in March. During cross-examination, Sundowns’ representative Magistrate Zakhele Dlamini criticised the ministry for disclosing some personal information about the player without his consent or a court order. However, Mkhwanazi said they were publicly duty-bound to do so, as she described them as a public office. Dlamini further inquired whether any effort had been made to revoke the permit, to which the witness replied that there had not been any as of yet. The magistrate argued that the permit was issued last October against the Mkhwanazi’s submission that it was on May 20 when the player collected it after their game against Wanderers.

He then challenged Mkhwanazi, insisting that Sundowns maintains that the player’s permit is valid. Nevertheless, Mkhwanazi insisted that the permit was invalid and became nullified automatically when it was failed to be collected three months after being approved. She was then discharged, and the case was still ongoing around 9pm when this report was compiled.

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