To call South Africa an
ineptocracy is too kind.
The bungling government
bureaucrats almost dealt
a body blow to one of the
few remaining industries
that was functioning.
The Immigration
Amendment Act of 2011
became effective on May
26, four days after it was
gazetted.
It leads the charge in
anti-trafficking legislation,
so much so that it would
have shut down travel and
tourism.
Overseas tour operators
started scrambling to look
for alternative destinations
as it soon became clear
that nobody in either the
Departments of Home
Affairs or Tourism had
realised the implications
of what their government
had just done when it
insisted that people under
18 crossing the border
must have an unabridged
birth certificate in their
possession.
The Department of Home
Affairs then clammed
up, not willing or able to
comment on their roll-out
plans.
Barsa met with the
Department of Home
Affairs on June 3 to
request a 12-month
delay to the policy
implementation to
allow for full and
proper consultation
and collaboration. To
date there has been
no confirmation that
the proposal has been
accepted.
Meanwhile, South
Africans planning a trip
to family destinations like
Mauritius and Mozambique
were gobsmacked
when they heard that
implementation would
begin on July 1.
With Home Affairs taking
six to eight weeks to
process applications for
unabridged certificates,
airlines started issuing
refund policies on
Travelinfo.
It became clear that
the July and August peak
season for outbound and
inbound travel was about
to turn into the world’s
greatest denied boarding
fiasco as airlines were
compelled to police the
new rules.
A spokesman for Home
Affairs finally spoke to
us and told us that they
had communicated the
new requirements to the
world by advising foreign
missions.
Airlines tried to get a
12-month postponement
and the same day we
heard that DHA had
reportedly extended it
twice, to September 1
then October 1.
There are so many
questions when South
Africa takes the lead in
becoming the first major
country to insist on such
documentation.
Once again the
government has proved
it has little idea about
the tourism industry. A
brave step indeed, and
an incredibly foolish one
if not accompanied by an
effective communication
strategy. Let’s hope Home
Affairs now has the sense
to postpone it until they
can issue an unabridged
certificate online in 20
minutes as they do in
countries like Canada.
That will look after the
South African traveller.
Then they need to devise
a communication strategy
so that not one overseas
visitor, even those who
buy flights directly online,
is denied boarding on
their last leg into South
Africa because they did
not know.
