Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba has bemoaned red tape and a ministerial revolving door that make it difficult to push through policy changes.
Gigaba, who himself has been public enterprises minister, home affairs minister and finance minister, before moving back to the home affairs portfolio, told a Black Business Council (BBC) roundtable in Sandton on Friday: “The biggest problem the ANC needs to address is that a vision can’t be carried by an individual but needs to be carried by an institution. The vision must be sustainable even if the individuals aren’t sustainable.”
In references to the various cabinet reshuffles in the past few years, he said: “We don’t even know whether we’re still going to be here to carry out these visions.”
While the Department of Home Affairs had ambitious plans to make the department completely paperless, to review critical skills work permits and to manage SA’s borders, it was difficult to make changes, he said.
“The immigration act couldn’t deal with a number of challenges, we need a new policy framework,” he said.
“Red tape makes it difficult for decisions to move speedily. To get something approved takes over a year. Things that need to move quickly, take forever.”
Critical skills
One of the problems that needed to be addressed was that students from other countries who study scarce skills in SA are then lost to the workforce because they struggle to get documentation allowing them to stay.
“The manner in which the last white paper was drafted, didn’t allow us to attract critical skills. Students who studied critical skills here would leave and we would lose those skills,” said Gigaba.
Changes that are in the works would allow students to skip certain stages to get permanent residence immediately, he said.
A new white paper on immigration was passed in 2017 but implementation will take the next two years.
It is intended to make criteria for immigration clearer, and make it easier to apply and submit documentation.
Criteria for permanent residents to acquire citizenship will also be made clearer.
It also aims to create a clearer distinction between the citizenship process and the refugee regime, and to create a more durable refugee system.
“We are also looking at introducing long-term visas for low-skilled migrants from the Southern African Development Community region,” Gigaba said.
“It will … provide them with documentation and ensure they are integrated into society.”
Gigaba said economic migrants abused the asylum-seeker system instead of seeking regularization.
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: Sunita Menon via BusinessDay [1]. Image sources: [1].
SA Immigration Changes Gradually Progressing in DHA
Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba has bemoaned red tape and a ministerial revolving door that make it difficult to push through policy changes.
Gigaba, who himself has been public enterprises minister, home affairs minister and finance minister, before moving back to the home affairs portfolio, told a Black Business Council (BBC) roundtable in Sandton on Friday: “The biggest problem the ANC needs to address is that a vision can’t be carried by an individual but needs to be carried by an institution. The vision must be sustainable even if the individuals aren’t sustainable.”
In references to the various cabinet reshuffles in the past few years, he said: “We don’t even know whether we’re still going to be here to carry out these visions.”
While the Department of Home Affairs had ambitious plans to make the department completely paperless, to review critical skills work permits and to manage SA’s borders, it was difficult to make changes, he said.
“The immigration act couldn’t deal with a number of challenges, we need a new policy framework,” he said.
“Red tape makes it difficult for decisions to move speedily. To get something approved takes over a year. Things that need to move quickly, take forever.”
Critical skills
One of the problems that needed to be addressed was that students from other countries who study scarce skills in SA are then lost to the workforce because they struggle to get documentation allowing them to stay.
“The manner in which the last white paper was drafted, didn’t allow us to attract critical skills. Students who studied critical skills here would leave and we would lose those skills,” said Gigaba.
Changes that are in the works would allow students to skip certain stages to get permanent residence immediately, he said.
A new white paper on immigration was passed in 2017 but implementation will take the next two years.
It is intended to make criteria for immigration clearer, and make it easier to apply and submit documentation.
Criteria for permanent residents to acquire citizenship will also be made clearer.
It also aims to create a clearer distinction between the citizenship process and the refugee regime, and to create a more durable refugee system.
“We are also looking at introducing long-term visas for low-skilled migrants from the Southern African Development Community region,” Gigaba said.
“It will … provide them with documentation and ensure they are integrated into society.”
Gigaba said economic migrants abused the asylum-seeker system instead of seeking regularization.
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: Sunita Menon via BusinessDay [1]. Image sources: [1].
Ethiopian Government Ready to Sell Tech Stakes
Ethiopia will split its state-owned telecommunications company and sell stakes in the two new entities piecemeal to international operators, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said.
Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation, or EthioTelecom, has more than 60 million mobile and fixed-line subscribers, dominating a phone market that has long been coveted by MTN Group and Vodacom Group, Africa’s biggest wireless operators by sales and value respectively.
“Certain amounts of shares will be sold gradually in 10, 20, 30 years,” Abiy told lawmakers in the capital, Addis Ababa, on Monday.
“We are not giving it up in one go, it is not possible.”
Ethiopians will be offered 5 percent in the new companies, and between 30 percent and 40 percent will be sold to telecommunications operators that are top-10 players globally.
There’ll be at least a year or two of “intensive study,” Abiy said in televised comments.
Abiy, who took office two months ago, is speeding up long-awaited market reforms, such as liberalising state companies and reducing the role of the military in the economy. Ethiopia’s output has expanded faster than any other in Africa over the past decade and is poised to grow by 8.5percent this year, according to the International Monetary Fund.
Ethiopians in the $80billion (R1.08trillion) economy apply for between 1000 and 1200 new SIM cards daily and keeping the company as a monopoly denies subscribers the benefit of competition and the nation much-needed income, Abiy said.
“Keeping it the way it is now is dangerous; transferring it like some other African countries can be disastrous too,” he said.
For information as to how Relocation Africa can help you with your Mobility, Immigration, Research, and Remuneration needs, email marketing@relocationafrica.com, or call us on +27 21 763 4240.
Sources: IOL [1]. Image sources: [1].
Using and Converting Foreign Drivers Licenses in South Africa
Please note that we are not able to assist with license conversions of any kind. This article is for information purposes only.
Moving to a new country is confusing enough, without also having to wonder whether or not you are driving around legally, using your existing license from overseas. Below, we provide some details about the legality of using your foreign license in South Africa, as well as how to go about converting it to a local license.
According to South Africa’s National Road Traffic Act, a drivers license issued in any country other than South Africa is valid to drive within SA if:
The foreign drivers license will remain valid until an individual has been permanently resident in SA for a continuous period of 1 year. After this point, it is necessary to obtain a South African drivers license. Once you have been granted permanent residency in SA, you will need to convert your foreign license within 5 years. If this noes not occur, your license will no longer be valid.
Your foreign license will be converted if it is:
To do the conversion, you will need to go to any driving license testing center in the province where you obtained your permanent residence, and complete the Application for exchange of a driving licence form (DL1).
The time-frame for exchanging the licence varies from one testing center to another, due to internal auditing processes. It is a good idea to call the center ahead of time to find out what the costs involved are, and when the best time of day will be to go (so as to avoid long queues).
For a list of what you will be required to submit, and links to South African municipalities for further information, 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: Jessica Furtney on Unsplash [1].
Mercedes-Benz Announces €600mn Investment in South Africa
German luxury car manufacturer Mercedes-Benz has announced a new €600mn (R9.5 billion) Investment in South Africa.
The Stuttgart-based marque will make its next generation C-Class sedan in the Eastern Cape city of East London, which will safeguard the existing jobs at the factory and contribute to growth in the region.
The plant, opened in 1958, currently employs 3 300 people and will be extended by two-thirds to accommodate new manufacturing capacity. The plant produced 110 000 vehicles in 2017.
“The announcement by Mercedes-Benz Cars to inject R10-billion into the South African economy signals the positive momentum we are making to realise the ambitious target of raising 1.2 trillion rand in new investment,” President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a statement issued by the car-maker.
The investment will come as a relief for Ramaphosa who came into office pledging an economic turnaround but has been buffeted by soaring living costs, a weak currency and dire growth and business confidence data.
Mercedes’ move “endorses South Africa as a favourable destination for investment,” said Ramaphosa.
Ramaphosa, who replaced former president Jacob Zuma in February following nine years of ballooning national debt and unemployment and weak growth hopes to attract $100-billion of new foreign investment within five years.
Despite Tuesday’s announcement and a separate statement from Statistics South Africa revealing that employment increased by 56 000 in the first quarter of the year, the country still has unemployment in excess of 27%.
“The decision to have the new generation of the C-Class built in East London re-affirms the plant and Mercedes-Benz South Africa,” said Mercedes executive Markus Schaefer in the statement. “The investment is also a sign of our commitment to South Africa and efforts to revive economic growth.”
For information as to how Relocation Africa can help you with your Mobility, Immigration, Research, and Remuneration needs, email marketing@relocationafrica.com, or call us on +27 21 763 4240.
Sources: [1], [2]. Image sources: Nicolai Berntsen on Unsplash [1].