Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote has said he needs 38 visas to travel within the continent on his Nigerian passport. Many European nationals, meanwhile, waltz into most Africans countries visa-free.
African nations were supposed to scrap visa requirements for all African citizens by 2018. It was a key part of the African Union (AU) “vision and roadmap for the next 50 years” that was adopted by all members states in 2013.
But to date, the Seychelles is the only nation where visa-free travel is open to all Africans – as well as to citizens of every nation – as it always has been. A recent AU report found that Africans can travel without a visa to just 22% of other African countries.
It is a sensitive topic, provoking xenophobic attitudes in some of Africa’s wealthier nations despite policymakers from Cape to Cairo insisting that the free movement of people is key for economic transformation.
“Our leaders seem to go to ridiculous lengths to preserve and protect the colonial borders,” says South African travel blogger Katchie Nzama, who has visited 35 of Africa’s 55 countries.
The AU may want a borderless continent where its 1.2 billion people can move freely between nations, similar to the European Union, but it seems there is no shortage of obstacles.
Whether it is immigration officials in Burkina Faso charging an arbitrary $200 (£155) for a visa on arrival, or Tanzania arresting and deporting other East Africans who enter illegally, or Tunisia refusing visas to stranded African passengers after a cancelled flight, intra-African travel is fraught with suspicion.
Double standards?
South Africa appears to be the most visible representative of the continent’s visa double standard, remaining largely closed to other Africans but more welcoming to the wider world.
Citizens of only 15 African nations can travel to South Africa without a visa, yet holders of 28 different European passports can enter the country freely.
The country’s Department of Home Affairs spokesman Thabo Mokgola defends its policy. “This is an unfair assertion – visa-waiver agreements are premised on reciprocity and we are finalising such with a number of African countries,” he told the BBC. Just how that reciprocity is applied is unclear.
Kenya, for example, gives South African citizens a visa on arrival for free. But Kenyans must apply for a visa, then pay a service fee and wait for at least five working days before travelling to South Africa.
In 2015, two years after the African Union asked members to commit to abolishing visa requirements for all Africans by 2018, South Africa did the opposite and announced stricter regulations that were widely criticised. Hit by a recession and a drop in tourist numbers, the country caved in and recently announced that it was relaxing travel rules in the hope of reviving its struggling economy.
African passport
Namibia, Mauritius, Ghana, Rwanda, Benin and Kenya have all loosened travel restrictions for other African nationals, and now either grant a visa on arrival or allow for visits of up to 90 days with just a passport.
But citizens of African countriesstill need a visa to travel to more than half of the continent’s 54 countries, protecting borders drawn up by European colonisers more than a century ago.
“Somebody like me, despite the size of our group, I need 38 visas to move around Africa,” complained Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote in an interview in 2016.
He is reportedly one of the first in line to receive the African passport which was launched in 2016. The travel document is supposed to eventually replace individual nations’ passports, but is currently only available to some heads of state, senior diplomats and top AU officials.
It is easy enough to travel within regional blocs such as the East African Community, the Economic Community of West African States, the Southern African Development Community, the Maghreb, as well as the Central African Economic and Monetary Community. But it is rarely possible to travel from one region to another without restrictions.
Extortionate prices
Another impediment to African travel is that there are very few commercial flights from one region to another and when they do exist, they are prohibitively expensive.
“Flying from Kenya to Namibia is the same price as flying to Thailand, and the cost to Dubai from Nairobi is way cheaper than flying to Morocco,” says Kenyan travel blogger Winnie Rioba. And this is on top of the visa fees. Ms Rioba was charged $90 for a visa fir Djibouti, more than the $75 she paid for a Schengen visa, which gave her access to 26 European states.
“I’ve spent more money applying for visas than transport costs in my travels across the continent,” agrees Ms Nzama.
“This is not just money paid to embassies. It’s the time and money wasted going back and forth to embassies, and preparing the required documents, which in most cases I felt were not necessary,” the South African travel blogger says.
To help her fellow Nigerians find their way through the maze of requirements, entrepreneur Funmi Oyatogun created a colour-coded map outlining which African countries were easiest to travel to:
“Our focus is to simplify travel for Africans across Africa,” she says of her start-up TVP Adventures.
She believes these efforts are a necessary part of what she calls the “African travel spring”.
“We are breaking through the barriers that made it difficult in the past – lack of information, poor flight connections, and incorrect perceptions of other African countries.”
There is widespread support for scrapping the visa requirements for Africans travelling within the continent. But as the 2018 deadline slips by, few believe it is likely to happen soon. And while we wait, it might remain more attractive to leave the continent.
“How will I convince an African traveller to go with me to Angola if the trip will cost as much as travel to five countries in Europe?” asks Ms Rioba. “They give you visas as if it is a favour.”
For information as to how Relocation Africa can help you with your Mobility, Immigration, Research, Remuneration, and Expat Tax needs, email marketing@relocationafrica.com, or call us on +27 21 763 4240.
Sources: Larry Madowo via BBC News [1], [2]. Image sources: [1], [2].
Relocation Africa will be Attending SARA Conference 2018
Relocation Africa is looking forward to attending this year’s SARA Conference as an exhibitor. The conference will take place at the Wanderers Club in Johannesburg, South Africa, from 1 to 2 November 2018.
This year’s conference will focus on the LIMITLESS impact that total reward practitioners can have on the success of their organisations, society and country at large. The South African Rewards Association will also have its Reward Awards Banquet on 3 November.
The conference will host a number of interesting seminars, including:
We invite all attendees to stop by our exhibition stand: R04. We will also be hosting a professional photographer next to our stand, who will be taking free photographs of conference attendees, which they will be able to use for their websites, LinkedIn profiles, and so forth.
To view the conference program, click here. For more information about the SARA conference, click here.
To arrange to meet with our Director, Rene Stegmann, or our Immigration Director, Tracy du Plessis, during the conference, email marketing@relocationafrica.com.
For information as to how Relocation Africa can help you with your Mobility, Immigration, Research, Remuneration, and Expat Tax needs, email marketing@relocationafrica.com, or call us on +27 21 763 4240.
Sources: [1], [2]. Image sources: [1], [2].
African Leaders Seek $1 Billion for Elephant Conservation
Amid the urgent and complex global challenge that illegal wildlife trade poses, Nigeria and other African leaders have called on international donors to commit $1 billion over the next 12 years to save continent’s remaining elephants.
They made the plea during the Elephant Protection Initiative’s (EPI) Consultative Group at the Illegal Wildlife Trafficking Conference, and urged “donors to put elephants beyond the risk of extinction” by helping provide the required investment.
Launched in 2014 by the leaders of five countries – Gabon, Chad, Tanzania, Botswana and Ethiopia – the EPI coalition now numbers 19 African member states. The EPI has common policies to save Africa’s elephants and build a sustainable future for our people. These are based on the African Elephant Action Plan (AEAP), which was agreed by all African elephant range states in 2010.
Africa’s elephant population has been devastated by ivory poachers over the past decade. On average, some 55 elephants are killed per day. If this rate continues, elephants could be wiped out within a generation.
The EPI held crucial meetings on the elephant crisis at the Illegal Wildlife Trade Conference in London, which was attended by Nigeria’s Minister of State for Environment, Ibrahim Jibril. The EPI’s first ever Consultative Group was hosted by the President of Gabon, Ali Bongo Ondimba. Seven African countries – Gabon, Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, Ethiopia, Angola and Chad – presented their elephant conservation plans. These plans would cost some 268 million USD to implement over the next three years.
Their National Elephant Action Plans are fully costed national plans drawn up by African governments to protect their elephant populations. The EPI champions and advocates for these plans across Africa as a sustainable and effective way to save the continent’s dwindling elephant population, which continues to come under fierce attack from poaching and illegal trafficking.
The EPI’s John Stephenson said: “If we invest one billion dollars by 2030 we can put elephants beyond the risk of extinction, protect habitats, and the communities who live alongside wildlife. When this money is spread across elephant range states, the amount we spend in each country will be modest, but the returns will be large.”
President of Gabon, Ali Bongo Ondimba, said: “The EPI states have invested their own blood and treasure to protect elephants from poachers. African communities are losing their crops and are being killed by these magnificent but dangerous beasts. Hungry villagers bear the brunt of the elephant’s appetite, whilst countries who have eliminated the indigenous animal’s threats to their people demand conservation action.
President Bongo said: “This is not a battle African countries can or should fight alone. Wildlife crime is an international criminal business on par with the trafficking of drugs, arms and children and by nature, the solution has to be international. But going beyond the fight against international crime, the elephant is an international icon; the largest land mammal.
Our planet would be a lesser place if the rumble and the trumpet of the elephant was no more.”Former President of Botswana, and a founding member of the EPI, Dr Ian Khama said: “Nature is the most important asset for the planet, and elephants are part of that asset. And, as we all know, assets need investment.”
We maintain our infrastructure, we repair our roads, buildings, seaports and airports, but are not investing in our natural capital in the same manner.
“If we are indeed agreed on the need to appreciate the value of nature, and that acting to conserve the African elephant is a collective responsibility, then we urgently need to join hands and generate sufficient funding for the implementation of National Elephant Action Plans (NEAPs) in EPI member states.
“These action plans address various actions in support of elephant conservation and also, very importantly, the livelihoods of people and include measures to reduce human-elephant conflict and elephant poaching.
“In implementing the NEAPs and in observing EPI member state policies, we need to increase our vigilance in stemming the tide of elephant poaching incidents and the destruction of natural capital. If we value nature and the contribution of elephants to natural capital, we should not allow poaching and illegal wildlife trade to reduce that very value.”
Duke of Cambridge, Prince William said:“I am delighted to be here at your first meeting. Ever since the EPI was created four years ago, I have continued to believe it offers the best African owned approach to protecting African elephants.”Highlighting the work of the EPI and steps made since its inception, The Duke of Cambridge said: “Domestic ivory markets are closing, the international ivory trade has plummeted and government stockpiles are being put beyond commercial use.”
“Action plans embrace the United Nation’s sustainable development goals and set out a path to a sustainable future for elephants…most importantly they are your plans, they are African owned plans. They are underpinned by a common principle that ivory will not be sold commercially. They give each country ownership and control over how to manage elephant populations in your own way.”The Duke of Cambridge added: “EPI represents hope – hope that our children and future generations will be able to witness elephant populations in the wild.”
For information as to how Relocation Africa can help you with your Mobility, Immigration, Research, Remuneration, and Expat Tax needs, email marketing@relocationafrica.com, or call us on +27 21 763 4240.
Sources: Chinedum Uwaegbulam via The Guardian [1], [2]. Image sources: [1], [2].
SA Constitutional Court Issues Asylum Seeker Ruling
An application for leave to appeal against a decision of the Supreme Court of Appeal was settled this week in South Africa’s Constitutional Court. The case concerns the question whether asylum seekers, including those whose applications for refugee status have been refused, are eligible to apply for other visas and immigration permits in terms of the Immigration Act. The applicants also sought an order setting aside a Department of Home Affairs (Department) directive, Immigration Directive 21 of 2015 (Directive), which requires Departmental functionaries to refuse all applications for temporary and permanent residence visas made by the holder of an asylum seeker permit.
The order issued is as follows:
While this is good news for SA’s asylum seekers, it remains to be seen what the Department of Home Affairs’ reaction to the judgement will be.
To read the full case details, click here.
For information as to how Relocation Africa can help you with your Mobility, Immigration, Research, Remuneration, and Expat Tax needs, email marketing@relocationafrica.com, or call us on +27 21 763 4240.
Sources: [1], [2]. Image sources: [1], [2].
Why Is It So Hard for Africans to Visit Other African Countries?
Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote has said he needs 38 visas to travel within the continent on his Nigerian passport. Many European nationals, meanwhile, waltz into most Africans countries visa-free.
African nations were supposed to scrap visa requirements for all African citizens by 2018. It was a key part of the African Union (AU) “vision and roadmap for the next 50 years” that was adopted by all members states in 2013.
But to date, the Seychelles is the only nation where visa-free travel is open to all Africans – as well as to citizens of every nation – as it always has been. A recent AU report found that Africans can travel without a visa to just 22% of other African countries.
It is a sensitive topic, provoking xenophobic attitudes in some of Africa’s wealthier nations despite policymakers from Cape to Cairo insisting that the free movement of people is key for economic transformation.
“Our leaders seem to go to ridiculous lengths to preserve and protect the colonial borders,” says South African travel blogger Katchie Nzama, who has visited 35 of Africa’s 55 countries.
The AU may want a borderless continent where its 1.2 billion people can move freely between nations, similar to the European Union, but it seems there is no shortage of obstacles.
Whether it is immigration officials in Burkina Faso charging an arbitrary $200 (£155) for a visa on arrival, or Tanzania arresting and deporting other East Africans who enter illegally, or Tunisia refusing visas to stranded African passengers after a cancelled flight, intra-African travel is fraught with suspicion.
Double standards?
South Africa appears to be the most visible representative of the continent’s visa double standard, remaining largely closed to other Africans but more welcoming to the wider world.
Citizens of only 15 African nations can travel to South Africa without a visa, yet holders of 28 different European passports can enter the country freely.
The country’s Department of Home Affairs spokesman Thabo Mokgola defends its policy. “This is an unfair assertion – visa-waiver agreements are premised on reciprocity and we are finalising such with a number of African countries,” he told the BBC. Just how that reciprocity is applied is unclear.
Kenya, for example, gives South African citizens a visa on arrival for free. But Kenyans must apply for a visa, then pay a service fee and wait for at least five working days before travelling to South Africa.
In 2015, two years after the African Union asked members to commit to abolishing visa requirements for all Africans by 2018, South Africa did the opposite and announced stricter regulations that were widely criticised. Hit by a recession and a drop in tourist numbers, the country caved in and recently announced that it was relaxing travel rules in the hope of reviving its struggling economy.
African passport
Namibia, Mauritius, Ghana, Rwanda, Benin and Kenya have all loosened travel restrictions for other African nationals, and now either grant a visa on arrival or allow for visits of up to 90 days with just a passport.
But citizens of African countriesstill need a visa to travel to more than half of the continent’s 54 countries, protecting borders drawn up by European colonisers more than a century ago.
“Somebody like me, despite the size of our group, I need 38 visas to move around Africa,” complained Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote in an interview in 2016.
He is reportedly one of the first in line to receive the African passport which was launched in 2016. The travel document is supposed to eventually replace individual nations’ passports, but is currently only available to some heads of state, senior diplomats and top AU officials.
It is easy enough to travel within regional blocs such as the East African Community, the Economic Community of West African States, the Southern African Development Community, the Maghreb, as well as the Central African Economic and Monetary Community. But it is rarely possible to travel from one region to another without restrictions.
Extortionate prices
Another impediment to African travel is that there are very few commercial flights from one region to another and when they do exist, they are prohibitively expensive.
“Flying from Kenya to Namibia is the same price as flying to Thailand, and the cost to Dubai from Nairobi is way cheaper than flying to Morocco,” says Kenyan travel blogger Winnie Rioba. And this is on top of the visa fees. Ms Rioba was charged $90 for a visa fir Djibouti, more than the $75 she paid for a Schengen visa, which gave her access to 26 European states.
“I’ve spent more money applying for visas than transport costs in my travels across the continent,” agrees Ms Nzama.
“This is not just money paid to embassies. It’s the time and money wasted going back and forth to embassies, and preparing the required documents, which in most cases I felt were not necessary,” the South African travel blogger says.
To help her fellow Nigerians find their way through the maze of requirements, entrepreneur Funmi Oyatogun created a colour-coded map outlining which African countries were easiest to travel to:
“Our focus is to simplify travel for Africans across Africa,” she says of her start-up TVP Adventures.
She believes these efforts are a necessary part of what she calls the “African travel spring”.
“We are breaking through the barriers that made it difficult in the past – lack of information, poor flight connections, and incorrect perceptions of other African countries.”
There is widespread support for scrapping the visa requirements for Africans travelling within the continent. But as the 2018 deadline slips by, few believe it is likely to happen soon. And while we wait, it might remain more attractive to leave the continent.
“How will I convince an African traveller to go with me to Angola if the trip will cost as much as travel to five countries in Europe?” asks Ms Rioba. “They give you visas as if it is a favour.”
For information as to how Relocation Africa can help you with your Mobility, Immigration, Research, Remuneration, and Expat Tax needs, email marketing@relocationafrica.com, or call us on +27 21 763 4240.
Sources: Larry Madowo via BBC News [1], [2]. Image sources: [1], [2].