Minister of Home Affairs, Malusi Gigaba, has been denied leave to appeal against a lower court ruling that he lied under oath and could therefore have to resign, or be dismissed.
The SA Public Protector, Busisiwe Mkhwebane, has recommended that President Cyril Ramaphosa take disciplinary action against Gigaba.
The tourism industry has responded with relief. “He is the person responsible for the tourism decline from our key source markets with his ill-conceived visa regulations,” says James Vos, DA Shadow Minister of Tourism.
In response to Gigaba's failure to gazette the proposed changes to the UBC regulations, Otto de Vries, ceo of Asata, said: "
It is absolutely unacceptable. He has been found guilty of lying time and again. He is clearly not committed to following the steps laid out by President Cyril Ramaphosa.”He added that the process of promising to gazette regulation changes had only added to industry confusion and made the situation worse. “Further to this the proposed challenges aren’t a useful way to combat child-trafficking and aren’t aiding the trade. I would recommend that SA reset the clock and go back to the process prior to the 2014 UBC gazette.”
According to Otto, after this reset, the next step would be for the Minister to set-up a meaningful collaborative forum where the trade could be consulted and regulations implemented based on “world-best practice and in aid of the tourism industry.”
