After the Helen Suzman Foundation challenged the government on the scrapping of Zimbabwean Exemption Permits, its former executive Nicole Fritz was granted a protection order by a court after she was subjected to harassment and abuse on social media.

In February, Nicole Fritz, the former executive director of the Helen Suzman Foundation (HSF), was granted a protection order by the Johannesburg Magistrates' Court against an individual abusing her on social media platform X.

Since late 2021, the Department of Home Affairs and Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi have faced litigation from HSF challenging the lawfulness of Motsoaledi's decision to terminate Zimbabwean Exemption Permits (ZEPs).

Motsoaledi is persisting with his court battle to scrap the ZEP and has turned to the Constitutional Court to appeal against a Gauteng Division of the High Court in Pretoria judgment that found the process he used to end the programme was neither fair nor lawful.

The ZEP system was introduced in 2009 to regularise the status of Zimbabweans fleeing to South Africa for political or economic reasons. It allows permit holders to live, work and study in SA.

Fritz has been heavily attacked on social media because the HSF challenged the government on the ZEP.

The abuse and threats she received from one X user were particularly distressing, resulting in her taking him to court.

"While I've been a kind of central target, he's also targeted other women. The threats were extensive...