Home Affairs unmoved by report on new visa rules

The task team established by Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba to investigate the implementation of the new visa regulations was aware of the report on job losses commissioned by the Tourism Business Council of SA, the council said on Monday.

The report conducted by auditors Grant Thornton and leaked to The Times newspaper this week warned that more than 100,000 jobs in the tourism industry could be lost and revenue of R2.4bn as a result of the regulations.

The findings of the probe add fuel to tourism industry fears that the regulations, which came into force on May 26, will cause a sharp drop in tourist numbers. The new rules require visa applications to be made in person at a South African foreign mission and unabridged birth certificates to be produced.

However, implementation of the requirement that unabridged birth certificates be produced for children entering or leaving the country and that they have a letter of permission from parents in order to travel, has been postponed until June next year.

But Mr Gigaba has stressed that the regulations would not be overturned, and concerns of the tourism industry would be remedied by better implementation.

Tourism Business Council of SA corporate communications manager Kagiso Mosue said the findings of the investigation would not be released to the public but had been presented to the Department of Home Affairs and to the immigration task team made up of government and industry representatives.

According to The Times report, people interviewed by Grant Thornton researchers suggested that the number of Chinese tourists would drop 70% because of the requirement that they apply in person at a South African foreign mission in one of the major cities.

Mr Gigaba’s spokesman Mayihlome Tshwete said that there had been ample opportunity for people to make submissions on the draft regulations.

"This policy has been in the making for quite some time now. It is a bit odd that now that it is implemented people say that it is going to break the back of tourism in SA," Mr Tshwete said. "We differ with that fundamentally. Even the assumptions made by Grant Thornton are highly speculative."

The newspaper report did not elaborate on how the new regulations would harm tourism.

Mr Tshwete appealed for those with concerns to make substantive submissions to the minister rather than stoking up fears in the media. He said Mr Gigaba had met with airline associations and Department of Tourism officials and had dealt with the few issues they had raised with him.