‘Home Affairs would gain nothing by destroying tourism industry’ – Motsoaledi on visa circular outrage

Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi says claims that tourists were being chased away from South Africa due to expired visa documents are misleading.

Motsoaledi on Sunday held a media briefing in Pretoria regarding immigration related matters.

In particular, the minister spoke on the circular that was issued by his department in December 2023.

The circular sparked public outrage, with the Department of Home Affairs being accused of risking the collapse the tourism industry.

Home Affairs won’t destroy tourism sector

In the briefing, Motsoaledi explained that the circular was directed to the commissioner of the Border Management Authority (BMA) and managers of ports of entry, among others.

The minister said the circular was meant to guide BMA officials at the ports of entry on what to do when they encounter foreign nationals at the borders.

This included individuals who have applied for visa extensions, waivers or appeals and have not yet received an outcome on their applications.

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“I wish to emphasise that this circular was an internal communications document. It was targeted for Home Affairs and BMA officials, who I have mentioned.

“Rather than guide anybody, unfortunately this document raised a storm in the media and within establishments that have to do with tourism,” he told reporters.

He said the accusations of chasing away tourists from the country levelled against Home Affairs were “full of generalities” and “anecdotes”.

“I wish to state categorically that the Department of Home Affairs would gain nothing by destroying the tourism industry, which is regarded as one of the pillars of the economy, not only in South Africa but in many other countries,” the minister said.

Tourism Minister roped in

Motsoaledi revealed that he had contacted Tourism Minister Patricia de Lille in light of the allegations intensifying to discuss the matter

The minister indicated that he even tried to clarify the matter in Parliament on two occasions by conceding that the “very unfortunate” circular should not have been issued because the issues mentioed were already addressed between BMA and Home Affairs.

“Judging by the reactions, it appears that my explanation in Parliament was not enough. We arrived at the conclusion that if indeed the circular had the effect of chasing tourists out of the country, we needed to find a way to resolve that.

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“Hence, we needed to check at the borders if there was a significant spike of people who had visited South Africa as tourists and are leaving. If there was such a spike, we wanted to act in mitigation.

“In this regard, we reasoned that if tourists are in trouble, their first port of call will be the tourist industry operators and the ministry of tourism.

“If the industry feels threatened, they will approach the tourism ministry. It is with that in mind that we approached minister De Lille to find out how many people approached her as a consequence of actions emanating from this circular,” he said.

Watch the briefing below:

Motsoaledi said only one case was referred to the Department of Tourism.

According to the minister, the matter was resolved to the satisfaction of the individual concerned after a call made by De Lille.

He said they also scouted ports of entry, especially the airports, to see if such individuals were encountered.

“It was at the Cape Town International Airport where five people are said to have encountered problems because they were declared undesirable due to their overstay in the country. We have instructed officials to take steps so that this undesirability status could be lifted without any waste of time,” he said.

Immigration Act’s ‘undesirable’ person clause

Furthermore, Motsoaledi sought to explain why some individuals are declared undesirable.

“The word undesirable is perhaps by itself unfortunate because it sounds scary, but it is the term used when the Immigration Act of 2002 was enacted in Parliament.”

He explained that Home Affairs has an electronic movement control system (MCS) in all the ports of entry in and out of South Africa.

This system records the date and time when people enter the country.

“As you would know, your passports and visas indicate the number of days you have been allocated to be in South Africa. If you exceed your allocated days, even by just one day, the MCS at the borders will pick it up, regard it as an overstay, and automatically declare you undesirable.

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“Fortunately, lawmakers in this country also realised that there could be myriad reasons that may cause a person to exceed their allocated days.

“Hence in the [Immigration] Act, the legislature empowers the minister to review and set aside an undesirability status on application by the affected individual if cogent reasons are provided,” he said.

Motsoaledi also highlighted that an individual is given a receipt, which has a reference number with which they can trace their application, when they applies for the extension of their visa before it expires.

“In case your visa expires before the department has responded to your application, that receipt will act as an extension of your visa until such time you get a response, negative or positive. This means that no law enforcement officer, immigration officer or officials at the port of entry may trouble you while you are carrying such a receipt.

“As I said earlier on, when the circular was issued, it was an attempt to guide BMA officials because they were regarded as new at the borders.

“If there is anybody who was declared undesirable whilst they were carrying their receipt, they need to present themselves to the department so that their undesirability status can be removed.”