Home Affairs Denies Claims Visa Rules Have Caused a Decline in Tourism

Following recent reports of several families a day being turned away from boarding their South Africa-bound planes from Heathrow Airport, the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) has issued a press release refuting the claims.

The DHA said it “has noted reports about UK-based travelers to South Africa experiencing serious problems as a result of our immigration regulations. We wish to categorically state that these reports are baseless and inaccurate, stemming largely from exaggeration and distortion of facts. The same goes for claims regarding families coming to our country.”

In an article by the Independent Newspaper, which was published a few days before Christmas and widely reported by other media, the British newspaper said that many families were being denied boarding after “falling foul of draconian new rules that demand a full birth certificate for each child”.

The newspaper quoted David Frost, Chief Executive of SA Tourism Services Association (SATSA) as saying that between 10 and 20 people were being denied access to board per day. He said: “It’s an appalling way to behave when we should be doing everything to foster tourism. With the Rand so favourable, we should have been growing at double digits, but out of the UK we have been basically flat.”

The DHA disagrees. In the press release they say: “More travelers from the UK are coming to our shores. Our data systems for recording arrivals and departures at ports of entry show a notable increase of 3% for UK travelers to SA between 01 November and 23 December 2015. A total of 82 772 UK travelers had arrived in this period, in 2015, compared to 79 998 for the same period in 2014.

“Also for children, we experienced an increase in the number of arrivals for the 1 November 2015 to 23 December2015 period, with 8 745 arrivals recorded, compared to 8 508 in 1 November 2014to 23 December 2014 – an increase of 3%.”

The DHA said it has remained consistent in discussions of the 2014 immigration regulations, “indicating that welcome tourists and others to our country as tourism stimulates economic activity, assisting SA in realizing the aims of the National Development Plan.

“Home Affairs wants what is best for the country as can be seen in concessions announced by Cabinet in October 2015 that had been made to attract critical skills and foreign students. But we cannot be reckless in any policy formulation and implementation, thus the need consciously to balance economic goals with security interests.

“Home Affairs officials continue to do the best that they can even with the heavy pressure exerted by the high festive season traveler volumes. Improving traveler processing at ports of entry for enhanced client satisfaction is among the apex priorities of the Department.”

The concessions that were announced in October with regards to the children of foreign parents no longer needing an unabridged birth certificate have not come into effect yet. Home Affairs Minister Gigaba explained recently that it will take up to three months to ensure it is done correctly, and with the proper legalities in place, because right now there is no “legal instrument as our current laws do not draw distinctions between children from different countries”.