IT MAY be some time before
all citizens from the SADC
region travel with the same
passport.
According to Mayihlome
Tshwete, spokesperson of the
SA Ministry of Home Affairs,
while all African countries
support the theory of free
movement, the technicalities
need to be figured out
first. “To do this, the right
foundation is needed, as are
certain preconditions.”
One of these preconditions is
a national population register,
which Mayihlome says is
needed to ensure that people
coming from a particular
country can be identified as
such.
Earlier, media outlets quoted
Tanzania’s Foreign Minister,
Augustine Mahiga, as saying
that the SADC states were
“busy working on a common
regional passport that would
also stimulate regional trade”
creating a borderless region
and continent.
However, Mayihlome said at
a recent meeting between
SADC countries that it
had been agreed that the
introduction of a regional
passport had to be
approached with caution to
prevent any backlash or fallout.
“To say someone is coming
from the SADC is not good
enough for some countries. If
something happens and they
want to send that person back,
they need to know where to
send them back to.”
He added that skipping
the vital first steps and not
taking security measures
into account would have a
negative impact on South
Africa’s relationships with
other countries and regions.
“An SA traveller is a citizen of
South Africa, not the SADC.
Whatever we do, we have to be
accountable for our citizens.
If someone is travelling with
our documents and they are
not in line with the rules of
other countries, it will have
a negative impact,” says
Mayihlome.
He pointed out that some
progress had already been
made, for example, in Lesotho,
where travellers were only
required to be fingerprinted to
cross the border, eliminating
the need for passports. These,
he said were essential building
blocks in realising dynamic
free movement throughout the
region.
