UBC battle to go to court

A STALEMATE between the
Department of Home Affairs
and the tourism sector could
end in a lawsuit.
This comes after industry’s
lobbying to scrap the
requirement for children
travelling to South Africa to
produce an unabridged birth
certificate has come to naught.
David Frost, Satsa ceo,
said legal action against the
Department of Home Affairs
was a possibility and that the
association had already sought
legal counsel.
David said what was needed
was for the Minister of Home
Affairs, Malusi Gigaba, to
provide the basis of the policy
implementation. “Ultimately,
what you want is a court of law
to be able to put the Minister
of Home Affairs on the stand
and ask him to provide the
rational basis for the UBC
requirement: how many
children have been trafficked?
How big is the problem?”
David added that they had
sought an opinion from senior
legal counsel, which he would
table at the Tourism Business
Council of South Africa as an
option to consider.
James Vos, Shadow Minster
of Tourism, told TNW that the
DA would release a statement
outlining their comments on
the Draft First Amendment of
the Immigration Regulations,
2014 within a few days. He
said what was needed was
to remove the ambiguity from
the regulations and that the
application process should be
streamlined and made easy to
understand.
He also said that electronic
visas would be an option to
consider, where biometrics
were captured on arrival, but
that all immigration desks
needed to operate during
peak periods.