Americans have become SA’s biggest overseas tourists – overtaking Brits and Germans

Business Insider SA – 31 Jan  2022

 

• Visitors from the United Kingdom accounted for 30% of all overseas tourists in South Africa prior to the Covid-19 pandemic.
• But travel restrictions, including the controversial red list, dropped the number of incoming UK tourists by around 90%.
• The same is true for tourists from Germany, which has traditionally been South Africa’s second-highest source market for overseas tourists, behind the UK.
• South Africa’s primary source market for tourists in 2021 was the United States, with almost 72,000 Americans having arrived by December.

South Africa welcomed more tourists from the United States in 2021 than from anywhere else overseas, with American visitors being far more common than those from the United Kingdom and Germany.

Prior to the global Covid-19 pandemic, European visitors accounted for roughly 60% of overseas tourists entering South Africa annually. Tourists from North America – the US and Canada combined – accounted for just 17%.

But the pandemic turned international travel on its head, with border closures, flight suspensions, and fear driving down tourism.

The number of overseas tourists visiting South Africa dropped by almost 80% in 2020, as the world entered hard lockdown to contain the spread of Covid-19. The following year was even worse, with overseas tourists dropping by a further 50%, as new Covid-19 variants and waves of infections led to further travel restrictions.

Just under 330,000 overseas tourists came to South Africa between January and November in 2021, according to Stats SA’s latest report on tourism and migration. Before the pandemic, roughly 2.4 million tourists arrived during the same period.

This major upset to global travel also saw major changes to South Africa’s key tourism source markets.

The UK has traditionally been South Africa’s main source market, with more visitors arriving from here than from anywhere else in the world. Of all European tourists to South Africa, those from the UK have consistently accounted for around 30%.

This all changed during the pandemic, with the UK imposing some of the strictest restrictions on travellers from South Africa. Being on the UK’s red list meant that travellers from South Africa needed to endure a ten-day quarantine in a state-managed hotel at their own cost of £2,285 (around R47,000).

South Africa was removed from the UK’s red list in early October. The number of UK tourists arriving in South Africa in November increased by more than 60% compared to the month prior, with travel agents reporting a surge in bookings. But the discovery of the Omicron variant at the end of November saw South Africa relegated back to the UK’s red list.

The UK’s proportion of European tourists travelling to South Africa in 2021 dropped to 18% and to under 10% of pre-pandemic levels.

Travellers from Germany, which has traditionally wrangled with the US for second spot on South Africa’s list of key source tourism markets, outnumbered UK visitors in 2021. But due to its own harsh travel restrictions imposed for much of the year, the number of German tourists arriving in South Africa dropped by around 85% compared to pre-pandemic levels.

South Africa’s primary source market for tourists in 2021 was the US. The number of American arrivals almost equalled the combined total of UK and German tourists.

Almost 72,000 Americans arrived in South Africa by December 2021, which is just 0.1% down from the year prior, compared to the 50% drop in overall overseas volumes.

The US’ restrictions on travel from South Africa were also in place for most of the year, but unlike those imposed by European countries, was largely targeted at barring entry for foreign nationals. Fully vaccinated American citizens were allowed to return to the US, without having to endure a mandatory quarantine, during the travel ban.

Like the UK and Germany, the US reimposed a ban following the discovery of Omicron, but this has since been rescinded.

www.samigration.co.za

 

Motsoaledi vows to clean up home affairs

City Press – 31 January 2022

 

The minister said he and Makhode were keeping a close eye on all cases of alleged fraud, corruption and maladministration.

 

A full-scale operation targeting senior officials suspected of corruption and gross negligence costing taxpayers millions of rands is under way at the home affairs department.

This was confirmed to City Press by Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi in an interview following the recent suspension of three senior officials accused of failing to execute court orders, resulting in three warrants of arrest being issued to Motsoaledi and his director-general, Livhuwani Makhode.

“A cleaning up operation in the department has started; this is not the end.” Motsoaledi said: 

We need to clean up the department, where negligence and corruption are in every corner.

The minister said he and Makhode were keeping a close eye on all cases of alleged fraud, corruption and maladministration, with the sole intention of making sure that consequence management was imposed on those officials found guilty of wrongdoing, following disciplinary hearings.

“The message that must get out is that I, as the minister, together with my director-general, am serious about consequence management. There will be consequence management for every action by a public servant, especially those in home affairs.

“I am putting my foot down on this. If anything wrong happens in home affairs because of a public servant, there will be consequences,” said Motsoaledi.

On December 21, Makhode issued suspension letters to deputy director-general of human resources Nkidi Mohoboko, labour relations director Ditsoanelo Mosikili and Sello Malaka, the department’s chief director of employee services.

The three are accused of gross negligence that cost home affairs R11 million in payouts to junior employees who were supposed to be fired from the department.

Insiders who are at close proximity to investigations into the senior officials told City Press that the millions of rands that the department purportedly unduly paid to junior employees – who were facing dismissal – were just the tip of the iceberg.

One insider painted a bleak and worrying picture of the implications of the gross negligence by the suspended senior officials, saying the reputational risk was immense.

The information emerging, said the insider, “shows that government officials have been systematically breaking down the department’s systems”.

“What is most concerning is that, where things were supposed to be fixed in order to keep the department from further operational deterioration, people simply didn’t act.

The insider said: 

We may very well find that what happened was in fact deliberate.

Another department insider with intimate knowledge of the forensic investigation was more direct about what investigations were unearthing regarding Malaka’s modus operandi.

“The chief director is accused of throwing away cases. He is the one who must set up and hand over charges. He prepares the director-general and makes sure everyone concerned, as it relates to a case at hand, is on the same page, especially when dealing with such cases where actual taxpayer money was handed over unduly, without any good reason,” said the insider.

Disciplinary charges are being formulated and will be handed to the three senior officials over the next few weeks.

The investigation of gross negligence, which covers labour relations and governance-related matters, was triggered when three warrants of arrest for Motsoaledi and Makhode were issued for their failure to execute court orders.

“People take us to court and say the department is not implementing [court orders] ... So, for myself and the director-general, in this particular case, the warrant came out three times,” said Motsoaledi.

It has since emerged that the minister and his director-general did not know about the court orders, as the information was never filtered through to them for action from the department officials who are currently on suspension.

“The main thing is that they are charged with gross negligence. The department is losing money because they ignored obvious court orders. The department has lost R11 million and, on top of that, warrants of arrest have been issued against me as the minister and the director-general for being in contempt of court over these cases.

“The warrant is for our arrest because we are the leaders of the department. But can you now imagine an official not doing their job and you getting a warrant of arrest without knowing?

“This happened without myself and the director-general knowing that we were in contempt of court. We were not aware that there was an official here who was sitting and defying a court order by not carrying it out,” Motsoaledi explained.

“For these warrants against the minister and the director-general, someone is going to have to account.”

High-profile suspensions are likely to become a disturbingly common feature in the department over the coming months and years if Motsoaledi and Makhode’s determination to flush out the wanton criminality and gross misconduct by senior officials is anything to go by.

City Press was told that, apart from the recent suspensions, the heat is being turned up on pending disciplinary cases against senior immigration officials believed to have facilitated the illegal issuing of permanent residency permits to fugitive priest Shepherd Bushiri and his family.

The officials, who are believed to have been instrumental in ensuring that Bushiri and his wife unduly received their permits, are facing serious disciplinary charges after home affairs internal investigations revealed a sophisticated network that allegedly went as far as manipulating and altering information contained in immigration application forms.

“These fraudulent documents are so prevalent, where people [such as] the Bushiris of this world don’t do it alone, they do it with home affairs officials.

“The cleaning up of home affairs has started. If it means suspending and arresting the whole department, so be it. A stern Motsoaledi: 

I am not going to concentrate on the small fish, I am going for the big fish in the department.

“Someone apparently once said: ‘If this minister wants to get rid of corruption at home affairs, he will have to get rid of two-thirds of the staff.’

“If that’s what it takes to clean the department, so be it!

“So, if we have to get rid of two-thirds of the department’s officials to clean it up from what it is, then so be it. And that process has started.”

www.samigration.com

 

Corrupt Home Affairs Officials Panick as Police Arrest Lady with 14 New Asylum Papers and R67,000.

Opera – 31-01-2022

Despite the warning issued to corrupt Home Affairs Officials on daily basis with respect to issuing South African documents to unqualified individuals, it seems these scrupulous elements are hell bent on engaging in criminal activities. View pictures in App save up to 80% data.

In an emerging report, Police in Pretoria West have successfully arrested a lady who was in possession of 14 ready-to-be-issued asylum documents gotten directly from Home Affairs on Thursday.

The suspect was apprehended in Maltzan Street near Luttig Street.

Constable Sibongile Vuma who is the police spokesperson, during his statement said that when the woman was interrogated on what she was doing with the documents and blank home affairs papers, she allegedly admitted that they were fraudulent.

Vuma added that the lady said that foreign nationals, who are already on the home affairs database, pay the sum of R600 to get the documents,while those who are not yet on the database pay R1, 200 or more to get theirs.

Vuma further stated that the police could not confirm whether the documents were authentic as at the time of gathering this information.

“Home affairs will have to confirm their authenticity. The suspect was also found in possession of R67 700, which was also confiscated as evidence. The money was booked for further investigation."

Vuma said the suspect will be arraigned in Pretoria magistrate court on one count charge of fraud.

Police appealed to the community to inform them of any illegal dealings in their policing area.

“There is no place for criminals to do their criminal activities in our precinct. We will no stone unturned.”

www.samigration.com

 

 

From quotas to critical skills exchange — four changes proposed for foreign workers in SA

Timeslive - 28 January 2022

 

Employment and labour minister Thulas Nxesi has raised concerns around illegal recruitment practices, including the hiring of foreign workers who are in the country unlawfully.
Image: Jairus Mmutle

Amid the labour department’s “mega-blitz inspections” at hospitality venues in the Western Cape this week, minister Thulas Nxesi has announced new rules aimed at foreign workers in SA.

Nxesi, who joined a team of inspectors in Sea Point, Cape Town, on Tuesday, raised concerns about illegal recruitment practices, including the hiring of foreign workers who are in the country unlawfully.

He said some employers were subjecting undocumented foreign nationals to inferior labour standards and not covering them in terms of existing social protection measures such as the Unemployment Insurance Fund , Pension Fund and Compensation Fund. 

“These practices are illegal. They are unacceptable and it is something that is preoccupying us daily in the department,” said Nxesi.

The department said the inspections led to extensive research on other aspects relating to migration management, and the department has since developed a new national labour migration policy and proposed amendments to the existing Employment Services Act. 

The proposals will be released for a three-month public comment process before the end of February/March if cabinet approves the department’s submission. 

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Social partners at the national economic development and labour council (Nedlac) will also be afforded the opportunity to adjust the policy and bill during May/June before making a submission to parliament.

The proposals will focus on four major areas which will introduce significant changes to the country’s national labour migration policy (NLMP).

These four major areas are:

Quotas

The department noted SA’s population expectations regarding access to work for South Africans, given worsening unemployment and perceptions that foreign nationals, especially those who are undocumented, are distorting labour market access. 

This practice is promoted by some employers who do not comply with existing labour legislation and continue to undermine existing minimum standards.

“The employment and labour NLMP will introduce maximum quotas on the total number of documented foreign nationals with work visas that can be employed in major economic sectors such as agriculture, hospitality and tourism, construction, to name a few,” it said. 

“The NLMP will be complemented by small business intervention and enforcement of a list of undesirable sectors where foreign nationals cannot be allocated business visas and amendments to the Small Business Act to limit foreign nationals establishing SMMEs and trading in some sectors of our economy.”

Immigration act changes

The department of home affairs is reviewing the Immigration Act, the Citizenship Act and the Refugees Act to ensure more alignment. 

“The home affairs and border management authority are also getting into action to secure porous borders and allow for the orderly movement of people and other nationals across ports of entry only,” said the department. 

Protection of migrant workers and their families

The department said it will ensure the protection of migrant workers and their families in accordance with international standards and guidelines.

“SA will also implement these initiatives within the context of its regional integration and co-operation imperatives that have already been agreed to at the Southern African Development Community and AU levels,” it said

Critical skills

The higher education and training department has released scarce and critical skills in high demand to provide guidance to all institutions to prioritise education and training interventions in those areas. 

“The list will be used as a last resort to allow foreign nationals in possession of the listed skills the economy requires, and where job offers have been made, to be allocated work visas. 

“The government will also impose obligations on both the employer and the foreign national to transfer skills to locals and permits will be limited to specific durations,” said the department. 

www,samigration.com

Home Affairs signs deal with UN refugee agency to deal with asylum seekers backlog

News24 – 28-01-2022

• As of the 2019/20 financial year, the Refugee Appeal Authority of SA says the backlog stood at more than 153 000.
• The new deal with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees will see around R147 million given to RAASA and technical support to eliminate this backlog.
• The number of people now who must be cleared via this backlog is 163 000. 

The Department of Home Affairs has signed an agreement with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR ) to eliminate delays and a backlog in decisions for asylum seekers.

Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said: "I am happy that the UNHCR is partnering with the government and people of South Africa in eliminating the backlog in the asylum seeker system.

"The start of this backlog coincided with the year 2008 when there was a global financial crisis. Up until then, the department was able to clear asylum applications which it was receiving each year from 1998, the year in which the Refugee Act of South Africa was enacted."

As of the 2019/20 financial year, the Refugee Appeal Authority of SA (RAASA), an independent statutory administrative tribunal tasked with ensuring that appeal cases are dealt with efficiently, said the backlog stood at more than 153 000. The Auditor-General said, if nothing changed, it would take 68 years to clear the backlog, without taking new cases.

"The partnership we are launching brings in financial and technical support to help RAASA eliminate the backlog and establish a robust asylum appeals management programme going into the future. Over the next four years, the UNHCR will make available US$9.6 million or around R147 million to RAASA and technical support to eliminate this backlog,” Motsoaledi said.

Motsoaledi said the agreement would see the UNHCR pay for 36 new members of Raasa, including their training and equipment. The number of people now who must be cleared via this backlogs is 163 000.

Currently in Cape Town, thousands of refugees are displaced after they fled their homes due to xenophobia fears. They have been relocated to two temporary sites - one in Bellville Paint City and the others at Wingfield Military site in Goodwood.

Parliament's home affairs portfolio committee has since intervened to either repatriate people back to their home countries or to reintegrate the refugees back into their communities.

The committee had set March 15 as the deadline for the UNHCR, the City and the Department of Home Affairs together to come up with a plan for the former Greenmarket Square refugees.

www.samigration.com