Home Affairs failing to implement amendments to ‘job-killing’ visa regulations
24 November 2015
The Democratic Alliance (DA) condemns the failure by the Department of Home Affairs to implement the revised visa regulations after government’s much-hyped promise to amend the job-killing visa regulations last month.
Key members of the Tourism Industry players are complaining that the visa changes have not been implemented by the Department. For instance, the unabridged birth certificate requirement is still in place, nearly four weeks after the announcement by Minister in the Presidency, Jeff Radebe, that SA would amend its visa regulations following a drop in numbers of visitors to the country and billions lost in revenue.
Department of Home Affairs spokesperson, Mayihlome Tshwete defended the Department on twitter today, stating that “because the law came through Parliament they can’t be changed overnight.” Minister of Tourism, Derek Hanekom, however rebuffed this assertion quipping at Tshwete that “you really ought to know that the provisions are in regulations, not the Act.”
While the Departments of Tourism and Home Affairs slug it out, it is the South African tourism industry, and the jobs it supports, that continues to suffer.