René Stegmann
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Statement from South African Home Office and the Cabinet – 1 August 2017

Statement on a cabinet meeting dated 1 August 2017

Cabinet approved that The Department of Home Affairs may re-open the re-application process for the current Zimbabwean Special Permit holders, under certain conditions. The initial Special Dispensation for Zimbabweans was approved in April 2009 to document Zimbabwean nationals who were in South Africa illegally.

Their permits expire on the 31 December 2017. The Minister of Home Affairs, Prof Hlengiwe Mkhize, will hold a separate briefing to explain the conditions and the process to be followed once the reapplication opens.

René Stegmann

Permanent Residence Applications submitted prior to 2 June 2014 at the Department of Home Affairs’ local offices.

The Department of Home Affairs was, prior to 2 June 2014, receiving applications for permanent residence permit through its local offices, utilising a Track and Trace System. The Department has adjudicated all applications received through the Track and Trace System, however, there appears to be about 4616 applications on the System which the Department has no records.

For more information and specifics on the Acts to refer to please see attached documents or contact tracy@relocationafrica.com or +27217634240 for more detail.PR Historical Applicaitons and  check your name is on this list – Names of PR outstanding 2014

Andrew Stegmann

South Africa ‘working on scrapping visa for all African citizens’

South Africa is working towards allowing all African citizens to enter the country without visas – but at first “trusted travellers” like diplomats, officials, academics, business people and students will be the only ones to benefit.

The Department of Home Affairs has outlined its steps towards scrapping visa requirements in its latest White Paper on International Migration, which was adopted by cabinet six weeks ago but has not yet been made public.

The African Union’s Agenda 2063, championed by former AU Commission chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, calls for the scrapping of visa requirements for all African citizens travelling on the continent by 2018 based on the views of the African Renaissance.

The African passport was launched with great ceremony by Dlamini-Zuma and Rwandan President Paul Kagame at last year’s AU summit in Kigali.

According to the White Paper, South Africa “fully supports the vision of an Africa where its citizens can move more freely across national borders, where intra-Africa trade is encouraged and there is greater integration and development of the African continent”.

It said the current status was untenable. “For instance, on average Africans need visas to travel to 55% of other African countries. They can get visas on arrival in only 25% of other countries. Finally, they do not need a visa to travel to just 20% of other countries on the continent.”

Security-based approach

But the White Paper, which moves South Africa’s approach to immigration from a purely administrative one to a security-based approach, warns that the scrapping of visas needs to happen with caution.

South Africa’s risk-based approach “advocates for an incremental removal of migration formalities for frequent and trusted travellers including diplomats, officials, academics, business persons, students, etc.”

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Andrew Stegmann

Cape Town Brings In Over $112 Million In Six Years As Africa’s Best Business Tourism Destination

Cape Town has been named the best business tourism destination on the African continent once again, a ranking produced by the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) revealed.

The Mother City is now considered the 39th best business tourism hub in the world, having improved last year’s ranking by 15 spots.

The Cape Town and the Western Cape Convention Bureau, part of Wesgro, is the major entity trusted to promote the Western Cape province and Cape Town in particular, among meeting, incentive, conference and event planners as a premier business tourism destination.

In the last financial year, the Bureau secured 33 new bids with an estimated attendance of 28,000 delegates and an estimated economic impact of around $31.7 million, while conferences over the past six years have had an estimated economic impact of more than $112 million, according to BizCommunity.

For this reason, these international association meetings have been and continue to be a fundamental economic contributor and job creator for South Africa.

With the number of international association meetings doubling every decade, according to the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) report, Cape Town’s continued growth on the list shows the importance of Africa and South Africa in particular for business tourism.

With 62 international association meetings held in Cape Town during 2016, and a further 12 in nearby Stellenbosch – which would not count towards Cape Town’s tally, the country’s legislative capital compares favorably with other destinations in the top 40.

Paris was ranked first for 2016, with 196 international association meetings hosted in the French capital, while Rome at 20th on the ranking held 96 international conferences, a mere 34 more than Cape Town.

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