Andrew Stegmann

Unabridged birth certificates: Discussions exhausted

Earlier this month the Department of Home Affairs published draft amendments to immigration regulations.

However, while the tourism industry had called for the scrapping of the requirement for children under the age of 18 to travel with an unabridged birth certificate, the requirement has not be done away with entirely.

The new draft amendment states: “Where a parent or parents, from a visa-exempt country, who is or are travelling with a child, such parent or parents may be required by an immigration officer to produce the child’s unabridged birth certificate upon admission into or departure from the Republic…” Moreover, an immigration official may refuse a child admission or departure from South Africa if they do not produce the certificate on request.

David Frost, Satsa CEO, has expressed exasperation at the draft amendments. “Once again Home Affairs treats the tourism sector with utter contempt,” he said. “We have exhausted all possible means of reasoned dialogue and persuasion.” According to Frost, one last resort for the industry may be to consider a legal challenge. However, he stresses that this would be a last resort.

During South Africa’s peak season, The Independent newspaper in the UK reported that between 10 and 20 families per day were being denied boarding to South Africa at Heathrow. The requirement has cost South Africa billions in lost tourism revenue according to a report by Grant Thornton.

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Andrew Stegmann

Happy Heritage Day 24th September 2016 from Relocation Africa

heritage-day‘HERITAGE DAY IS AN OPPORTUNITY TO REFLECT ON OUR COMPLEX PAST’

JOHANNESBURG – Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa says Heritage Day offers South Africa the opportunity to reflect on the nation’s complex past and the values that citizens seek to live by for the future.

Ramaphosa has delivered the key note address at one of government’s official Heritage Day celebrations in Kimberley.

The Deputy President began his speech by remembering some of the key figures of the liberation struggle, whom he says have given South Africa a rich heritage that defines its nationhood.

Ramaphosa says one of the key things the country needs to focus on moving forward, is building a society that defines it as uniquely African.

“Heritage Day gives us an opportunity to reflect on our own history as Africans, as South Africans and it gives us time to reflect on our cultural heritage, on our traditions, on our rituals and on our languages.”

He adds today is also a reminder of how the African continent has contributed to humanity.

“Being Africans, we are acutely aware of the wider world deeply implicated in our past and present, that wider world carries some of our inheritance and parenthesis I would say that wider world carries our genes.”

Meanwhile, South Africans are also celebrating Heritage Day in their traditional attires and meals.

Andrew Stegmann

Tourism tripped up again by Home Affairs laws

The concern follows the publication of draft amendments to the regulations for comment until October 14.

Global Migration SA managing director Leon Isaacson said though the law has been in force since June 2014, the department had since issued a few directives to simplify it.

“The department has tried to sort out the confusion without taking on bigger issues,” he said.

He said the issues that had been overlooked included language schools being unable to admit foreign students, lack of capacity to register people bringing critical skills to the country or the absence of professional associations to register some of those critical skills and issues between the department and its labour counterpart.

The latest travel report by Euromonitor found that visits to South Africa declined by 7% in 2015 to 8.9-million trips.

The department said it had an obligation to take the input of the affected parties.

“The department is committed to the amendment, which reflects the consultative process.”

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Andrew Stegmann

Is Namibia discouraging self-deportation?

THABANI Ndlovu, a Zimbabwean national, arrived at the Trans Kalahari Border Control shortly after Namibia’s immigration offices closed at around 11PM on September 4.

Ndlovu, who lives in South Africa, was travelling with his brother and cousin in a sedan.

“We completed immigration formalities on the Botswana side, but when we got to the Namibian side the immigration office was closed for the day, although the gate was still open,” says his brother, David.

“The guys at the gate asked us for our passport, we presented them and we were allowed to go.”

On September 9, Ndlovu – who works in South Africa – jumped on an early morning bus to return to Johannesburg, via Gaborone.

Arriving at the Trans Kalahari Border Post, an immigration officer queried why he had no entry stamp on his passport. His attempts to explain away the anomaly did not help him, and he was promptly detained as an illegal immigrant. He was awaiting court this week.

If it were South Africa, Ndlovu’s passport would have been endorsed and he would have been banned from the country for at least five years. But he would be let go, not detained.

Namibia’s tough approach, immigration experts said this week, is not helping the country rid itself of illegal immigrants through self-deportation as many fear spending time in prison or paying hefty fines.

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