Andrew Stegmann

Tourism will suffer until government changes rules: Airline boss

The new immigration regulations introduced by the Department of Home Affairs have had a devastating effect on the growth in visitors to South Africa – and will continue to harm the industry until government changes its stance.

This is the view of Comair CEO Erik Venter‚ speaking as his company celebrated 20 years of franchise partnership with British Airways.

“The changes have had a serious effect on tourism in South Africa. We have been talking to a number of tour operators in China‚ Europe and America about this. They have been out and about‚ advising their clients not to come to South Africa. The biggest problem is that people never come because of these issues,” said Venter.

Cape Town makes Lonely Planet’s list of must-visit cities for 2017
“South Africa is very much advertised by word of mouth. We don’t have strong advertising in other countries. Our tourism depends very much on the people who are coming here to tell their friends and family about their experience. When they experience the problems that we have in immigration‚ then they go back home and tell people not to come here.”

The biometric system‚ which captures travellers’ fingerprints at South Africa’s ports of entry‚ was introduced by the the department in April last year‚ but rolled out in earnest in June this year at 65% of Home Affairs’ counters at terminals for arrivals and transit passengers. Compounding the problem was the confusion over the requirement for foreign visitors to travel here with unabridged birth certificates for their children.

Venter warns that these regulations introduced by Home Affairs have to change in order to help boost tourism in the country.

“Until these regulations are changed we are going to struggle.”

The Tourism Business Council of South Africa on Friday revealed the extent of disruption for tourists landing at Johannesburg’s OR Tambo airport‚ measured during 1-18 October 2016: Visitors stood in line at immigration at peak times for between 90 minutes to four hours; 800 passengers have missed connecting flights due to the delays; 24 domestic and nine international flights were delayed. International Migration Services (IMS) counters were only manned at 40% on average.

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Andrew Stegmann

DHA streamlines birth certificates to ease minor travel

Cape Town – The Department of Home Affairs has scrapped having two versions of the birth certificate, an abridged (issued for new-borns up until 2013) and an unabridged birth certificate detailing both parents details (issued to all new-borns since 2014).

From Tuesday, 1 November, newborns in South Africa will be issued only a single document stating both their maternal and paternal birth details.

The document will be known as only a ‘birth certificate’, as opposed the the previous ‘unabridged’ or ‘abridged birth certificate’ options.

In essence, however, it remains an unabridged birth certificate, the term as well as the abridged version (with only the maternal details) is now being done away with.

The way forward

For South Africans travelling with minor children, the complete birth certificate detailing both paternal and maternal information will still be the document needed at customs to ensure smooth transit operations.

Children born after 14 March 2013 were issued with a valid unabridged birth certificate automatically. This means their birth certificates will be valid as is.

Everyone born before that, and that are still under 18 (from 1998 to 14 March 2013), and those from countries who do not automatically issue unabridged certificates, must apply for the document well before their travel date.

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Andrew Stegmann

40% of ORTIA’s immigration counters unmanned at peak periods: Home Affairs

The Department of Home Affairs on Friday conceded that it does not have enough personnel to deal with the rise in the number of people arriving for processing at OR Tambo International Airport.

This increase in demand had put pressure on the immigration counters at the airport‚ he said.

“Even with 100% staff attendance‚ not all the counters can be fully staffed. A 100% attendance is not attainable due to normal human resources factors‚” Apleni said.

“We are currently managing a four-shift system per week‚ reinforcing our day shift to deal with terminals experiencing a high volume of travellers. This translates into a situation where more than 40% of our immigration counters cannot be operational at peak periods‚ given limited staff capacity and the need to balance shift operations over a 24-hour cycle.”

Earlier this week‚ TMG Digital reported that incoming passengers’ experiences of three- to four-hour waits at undermanned biometric capturing system checkpoints at OR Tambo International Airport are earning South Africa a bad reputation overseas.

Comair CEO Erik Venter said the airlines in his stable are “constantly having to re-accommodate” international passengers who miss connecting flights.

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Andrew Stegmann

South Africa: Police Arrest Chinese National for Bribing Home Affairs Official

The 48 year old Chinese national has been arrested for bribing the Department of Home Affairs official in Pretoria on Thursday.

The suspect allegedly approached the Home Affairs official and offered him R3 000 provided the official checks, processes and authorises the passport of his brother. The officer alerted the Pretoria Serious Corruption Unit of the Hawks and an operation was conducted swiftly.

The man was nabbed in the act of offering the bribe and subsequent investigations led the Hawks to the O.R Tambo International Airport where the suspect’s brother had already boarded the flight to Hong Kong.

The flight was slightly delayed and the Hawks just in time to pounce on him. The 36 old man was found to be in possession of a fraudulent passport and upon searching his luggage the Hawks found polished diamonds, ivory, 10kg or wet abalone, a bag of dry abalone and a bag of Lenovate ointment which can only possess with the doctor’s prescription. The value of his loot is estimated at R6 million.

The brothers will appear before the Kempton And Pretoria Magistrate’s Courts on Monday respectively, facing charges of bribery, fraud, possession of diamonds, possession of ivory and possession of abalone.

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