Zapiro on How Gigaba Wrecked SA Tourism
Zapiro’s cartoon says it all. The actions of one minister have possibly taken down one of South Africa’s strongest-performing sectors – tourism. It has been estimated that the visa regulations imposed by Home Minister Malusi Gigaba in October 2014 could cost South Africa at least half a billion dollars a year in lost tourism revenue. The intentions […]
Zapiro’s cartoon says it all. The actions of one minister have possibly taken down one of South Africa’s strongest-performing sectors – tourism.
It has been estimated that the visa regulations imposed by Home Minister Malusi Gigaba in October 2014 could cost South Africa at least half a billion dollars a year in lost tourism revenue.
The intentions of the changes might have been noble, but the consequences have been disastrous to South Africa’s travel, tourism and airline industries.
Travellers who needed a visa and could choose any country in the world weren’t interested in trekking long distances, sometimes to other countries, to apply in person…as was required by the new rules.
Families with children under 18, who usually only need a valid passport, were reluctant to go through the time-consuming, confusing and costly process of also getting an unabridged birth certificate for each child…just to holiday in South Africa. Other beautiful – and simpler – destinations beckoned.
And so it was no surprise when in early October it was reported that the number of air passengers under 18 years of age travelling to and from the country fell 50 percent year on year in June and July due to the new requirement to carry an unabridged birth certificate (which was implemented in June 2015). Total overseas tourist arrivals fell 13 percent.
In an op-ed piece this week, Max du Preez said, “The visa disaster was purely a result of the ANC’s instinct to want to control and regulate everything, of incompetent bureaucrats that are not managed properly by their political principals, of Gigaba’s massive ego that prevented him from admitting a mistake, and because different state departments don’t communicate with each other on critical decisions.”
Gigaba claimed the rapid fall in tourists was due to the tourism industry’s “failure to market the country” and that they were putting money ahead of child safety (although no regulations would protect a child being trafficked from SA in to Zimbabwe or Mozambique along porous borders where few posts exist).
Political correspondent Stephen Grootes wrote in a Daily Maverick piece that Gigaba “painted himself into a corner by refusing to accept any criticism of the regulations, and he came across as uncaring and not prepared to listen. It was his way or the highway. Which makes his humiliation all the greater.”
But perhaps none said it better, or with fewer words, than Zapiro’s cartoon yesterday (see above).
The new visa regulations were apparently inherited from Gigaba’s predecessor Naledi Pandor, but he went ahead with them anyway, despite warnings from numerous sectors and reportedly in conflict with tourism minister Derek Hanekom.
Amendments to the disastrous regulations were announced last Friday, 23 October. Key points include foreigners no longer needing unabridged birth certificates for their children (although encouraged to bring them), and the ability to apply for a visa through the post or an accredited tourism company.
Gigaba’s next venture is a wealth tax. He has apparently joined education minister Blade Nzimande in calling for said wealth tax…perhaps, some say, to pay for all the mistakes that are being made in education, immigration, Eskom…
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View details of the amended visa regulations.