Britannia’s rules should be waived

It would be easy to blame colonial arrogance, or even racism, for the fact that South Africa is still on the “red list” of countries which the UK considers Covid hotspots.

Yet, the reason may be more about cynical politics or even incompetence, both of which are not unheard of in the former empire.

As it stands, the UK will only allow entry to travellers who have been in a red list country in the previous 10 days if they are residents returning to the UK or if they are holders of British or Irish passports.

Even then, the travellers are required to quarantine for 14 days at a government-specified hotel, at their own expense.

And this expense is considerable – upwards of R45 000 per adult and half that for each child.

This means that people from the UK who may have been wanting to visit South Africa to see family or to take in our world-class tourism sites and facilities, will probably be scared off because of the restrictions.

Nobody wants to have a great holiday only to be “jailed” for two weeks on their return.

It also stifles the dreams of families who have been separated for 18 months by Covid and just want to get
together again.

London’s bureaucrats have also arbitrarily decided that, even if you have been fully vaccinated in South Africa, you will be regarded by them as not being vaccinated.

This is difficult to comprehend, given that many have had the double dose of the Pfizer vaccine, which has been one of the mainstays of the UK’s own vaccination campaign.

This capriciousness will further damage this country’s tourism industry – which has already been battered by the past 18 months of local and global Covid travel restrictions – because the UK is a key market for inbound tourism.

What is bizarre is that, in announcing that South Africa would remain on the red list, the UK authorities referred to the presence of the beta variant of the coronavirus, which is no longer a problem in this country.

South African Tourism Association chief executive David Frost says figures show that you’re more likely to contract Covid in Cornwall than in Cape Town.

No less a figure than former anti-apartheid activist Lord Peter Hain believes there is “no justification at all” for keeping South Africa on the red list, while lifting restrictions on a number of other countries which have Covid infections similar to, or worse than, ours.

One of those countries is Pakistan – and people of Pakistani origin in the UK have become a sizeable and
influential community – and voting bloc.

So, perhaps, one can understand the cynical political logic at play here. We are also only the UK’s 27th-largest trading partner – with the balance being significantly in our favour … so, perhaps, we are not top of mind for the planners in Whitehall.

Yet, given that the UK is looking to strengthen trade ties with countries outside the European Union in the wake of what is increasingly appearing to be a less than wonderful Brexit, it is surprising London doesn’t consider us as a potential ally.

Many countries in Europe have lifted restrictions on visiting South Africans and have recognised our vaccination programmes.

Maybe it’s time we should start concentrating more of our diplomatic efforts on countries like those, which
treat us with respect…