• Home Affairs departments were non-operational for more 36 000 hours in the first half of 2023.

• South Africans are not informed when the system is down, which means people travel long distances to get to branches only to be turned away empty handed.

• The State Information Technology Agency has invested R400 million to modernise and upgrade the networks.

Offline systems are bringing the Department of Home Affairs to its knees as offices across the country lost more than 36 000 hours of work in the first half of 2023, primarily due to system downtime.

Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi revealed this in his response to two sets of parliamentary questions from the DA`s home affairs spokesperson, Adrian Roos.

He said his department`s offices were not operational for a collective 36 772 hours from January to May this year.

Home Affairs offices are responsible for the provision of vital documents, such as passports, IDs, and birth certificates, which people need in their daily lives.

In fact, in a 2021 National Council of Provinces budget debate in 2021, Motsoaledi said: `Home Affairs is the anchor of economic activity, social activity, and the legal system of the country.`

Motsoaledi previously blamed the downtime on the State Information Technology Agency (SITA), which provides the department with many of its IT systems.

At the 2021 budget debate, he even described the department`s IT systems as the `original sin of home affairs`.

But the downtime data he has now provided, paints a different picture, according to Roos.

In the first three months of the year, the Department of Home Affairs` SITA system had 95% uptime, but there were more than 13 000 hours of system downtime.

In the three months that followed, the SITA system had average uptime of 86%, but 8 600 hours were lost to system downtime.

This means that the Department of Home Affairs` IT systems had more downtime in the months that SITA`s performance was better, Roos argued.

`Other things are going on here. This story that it`s a SITA thing [is] the minister`s narrative and he wants this to be driven, but this shows it`s not right.`

SITA spokesperson Tlali Tlali explained that there were multiple points of failure through the home affairs value chain.

System downtime, he said, can be caused by copper cable vandalism, software that takes up huge memory space, and the upgrading of infrastructure.

He said that SITA invested R400 million to modernise and upgrade the networks.

But this does not remove the responsibility of the Department of Home Affairs to upgrade its package with SITA, Tlali added.

News24 asked the Department of Home Affairs for comment, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

Completely untenable

DA MP Benedicta van Minnen said the waiting times were `completely untenable`.

`Accessing government services should not come with such huge barriers,` she said.

She added that she was aware of people who sleep outside the Somerset West branch to hold their place for the next day.

`State services should not be forcing residents to be doing that to access services.`

Roos added that the department should implement systems that allow people to check whether the system is down at a branch.

He said some people may need to travel long distances, only to be turned away at a branch when they find out the system is down.

What people had to say

News24 visited a home affairs branch and spoke to people in the parking area.

South Africa’s asylum backlog worsens the suffering of applicants

Yvette Johnson was visiting the branch for the third time in the past few weeks to apply for an ID and passport.

The last time she was at the branch she was told that their system was down, but that she could wait in the queue in case it goes back online again. 

She is self-employed and said she wasted her day on both occasions.  After a morning in the queue, she was able to apply for her ID, but has to return for her passport.

She described the situation as a `gamble`.

`You have to come back again and again and you don`t know what you are going to get,` she said.

On Johnsons` advice, News24 had a look at the bathroom of the branch. There was a water leak from the urinal, which flooded the floor. 

A man, who would only be identified as Mark, was visiting the branch for the second time with his family. 

He said online resources did indicate what documents would be required at the branch, and added that some of the pages on the Home Affairs website were out of date. 

It was north of 30 degrees Celsius on the day, and two families who were registering their children told News24 that they had spent hours in the queue.

Municipalities across the country are being urged to carry out audits on spaza shops owned by foreign nationals. 

Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has made the call.

There are renewed concerns over the safety of goods sold at such outlets after the recent deaths of several children in Gauteng and the Free State.

The children fell sick after allegedly consuming products bought from their local spaza shops. 

Last month, a shop owner was arrested in eThekwini for selling expired goods. 

In Clare Estate, two spaza shops were closed down, and others were fined for improper use of premises.

Motsoaledi said the government also expects all spaza shops to be tax-compliant.

`All the spaza shops must be registered, and when you register, you must show us papers, legal papers - why you are here? How did you come to South Africa? Who gave you the permission to be here?

`If you don`t have such papers, you can`t run a spaza shop. Those who will produce papers and say, `Yes I`m here, I`ve been given papers by the department` they must register for tax.`

`The inspectors, especially health inspectors, must help us. You can`t run a business on the same premises where you run a business, you sleep in there, you cook in there, you eat in there.`

According to recent data from the South African Minister of Tourism, Patricia de Lille, more than 5.8 million people visited the country last year and more are expected in the coming years.

Travel has rebounded healthily from the pandemic and is expected to keep growing by an estimated 7.6% annually. Growth like this has been fuelled, in part by the combination of South Africa’s weak currency, when compared with many countries in the global north, and the ease that online payments give travellers.

The convenience of online payments has not only simplified the booking process but has also instilled new-found confidence in travellers as they embark on their adventures.

Michael Puffett, Senior Business Development Manager at Profitroom Africa, says: “The beauty of online payments is the fact that it`s not just about convenience it`s about safety too. Travellers can now make themselves less susceptible to theft and fraud. Furthermore, by offering travellers multiple payment options from credit cards to digital wall hotels can also amplify their booking potential. So, it is a win-win for everyone.”

Lee-Anne Singer, Chairperson of South African hospitality association FEDHASA in the Cape, says: “It is encouraging to see local and international travel improve so much. Visitors this year spent more than R25 billion (€1.2bn) and it looks as if that number will only continue to increase. Having a safe and convenient digital payments infrastructure is a key part of that growth.”

Safe, secure, convenient

One of the primary reasons for the popularity of online payments in the South African travel landscape is the stringent security measures employed by travel websites. Encryption technologies, reinforced by multi-layered security protocols, are deployed to safeguard users` sensitive financial information. This ensures that travellers can confidently complete transactions without the worry of data breaches or fraudulent activities.

Premium booking platform for hotels and resorts, Profitroom, has recently teamed up with digital payment specialists, Callpay, to enhance the safety, security, and convenience of online payments for travellers. As part of this collaboration, Profitroom plans to integrate scheduled token payments on selected payment gateways. This token will allow travellers to schedule payments on a specific date, such as seven days prior to check-in.

Andre Knobel, Head of Operations at Callpay, adds: “Thanks to industry-leading encryption standards we have been able to create an incredibly safe digital payments ecosystem that blends safety with convenience. This makes South Africa an appealing place to visit as international travellers can have the peace of mind that their data is secure.”

Partners in payments

The success of this combination has led to Profitroom and Callpay joining forces in a move that will help bolster the online payments landscape.

Puffett concludes: “With a shared vision of fostering innovation and bringing value to our client bases, partnering with Callpay aligns perfectly with what we want to be able to offer our clients. Payment gateway solutions have often presented difficulties for some of our clients but with our new partnership, those problems are set to become a thing of the past.

Visas and air access were among the key areas up for discussion at the BRICS Tourism Ministers’ Meeting held in Cape Town this week, with direct flights between South Africa and its BRICS partners at various stages of implementation.

Briefing the media after the meeting, Tourism Minister Patricia de Lille said: We need to work together as BRICS nations to increase air access and ease visa regimes to ensure seamless travel between our countries.” 

The post-meeting communiqué issued by all participants also highlighted “the need to raise awareness among BRICS countries to the importance of developing routes for better tourism mobility and connectivity amongst the member countries”.

Arrivals to South Africa from Brazil, India and China have still not reached pre-pandemic levels but they have shown significant growth over the past year. Russia has recorded growth from pre-pandemic levels.

In addition to giving country-specific updates, De Lille said her department had committed to “improving tourism visa and other related processes” for visitors and business events delegates from BRICS countries looking to take part in MICE events.

She also indicated that the Department of Home Affairs would be gazetting the long-awaited digital nomad visa “before the end of the year or early next year”.

Brazil

Brazilian numbers for the period January to August grew by 41.2% between 2022 and 2023.

De Lille said the resumption of flights between South Africa and Brazil would bring positive benefits for both countries. LATAM will resume flights in December, while SAA will offer flights between both Cape Town and Johannesburg and São Paulo.

“Air access between the two countries will help us grow the numbers on both sides.” She added that South Africa was working with Brazil to put together a joining marketing strategy to make sure that more South African visitors went to Brazil, so that the flight didn’t go back empty.

Vice Minister of Tourism for Brazil, Ana Carla Lopes, said: “As President Lula says, ‘We are back in Africa’. It shouldn’t be a return; we should never have left.”

Brazil and Russia are both visa exempt, allowing visitors to enter the country visa free for a period of 90 days.

“Just that waiver helps us to increase the numbers coming to our country. We can see the impact of the visa waiver in the arrival numbers from Russia and Brazil.”

She added that they were working very hard to get the same provisions for India and China.

Russia

Russia is the only BRICS country to top its pre-pandemic arrivals, recording a 126.5% increase in January to August arrivals between 2022 and 2023, and over 70% growth since 2019.

De Lille said this was especially remarkable given that South Africa was a long-haul destination.

She said in engagements with Russia, direct flights between the two countries would be looked at.

India

While India and China do not benefit from visa exemptions, De Lille said both were among the list of 34 countries eligible to apply for e-visas to South Africa.

Of the BRICS nations, India recorded the highest number of visitors to South Africa between January and August at 54 867, an increase of 65.3% from the same period the previous year.

De Lille said there had been discussions with India to either return the SAA direct flight to Mumbai or to provide an opportunity for Air India to fly direct to South Africa.

She said discussions had started at the G20 summit in September, and they were optimistic that air access could be improved there too.

China

China recorded an almost 250% increase in visitor numbers between 2022 and 2023, helped along by the resumption of the direct Air China flight between China and Johannesburg in March. De Lille said they were now also working with Air China to bring a direct flight to Cape Town.

She said work was also being done with the Department of Home Affairs to ensure that the e-visa system worked smoothly for Chinese travellers, who typically liked to travel in groups.

I was intrigued to read the piece in Tourism Update reporting the views of Marcus Lee, and the subsequent comments by readers. The headline was Change is needed for SA to attract more Chinese visitors but it is just as relevant to other Southern African countries.

A topic dear to my heart, for two reasons.   

Firstly, I help out at Self Drive Tours Botswana at busy times. My wife is one of the directors. Chinese travellers tend to be well educated, engaging, and intensely interested in all manner of things. We would love to have more of them.

Secondly, I’m a retired university professor. A decade ago I was involved with research looking into the experiences of Chinese fully independent travellers (FIT) in New Zealand.

Some of the research team were native Mandarin speakers. Chinese tourists use social media, and we could follow their reports to their friends and families back home on WeChat.  This was something of an eye-opener. You can interview Chinese tourists face-to-face and get useful information, but it is always filtered through a veil of good manners.  WeChat posts to friends and families are tailored to a different audience.

Asked face-to-face about the cuisine, a tourist might say, “I found it different and interesting.  I didn’t know there were so many ways to cook potatoes.” On WeChat they will tell their friends “Eaten potatoes every night for the last week. Cooked many ways, but I would give anything for a bowl of steamed rice. If you come here yourself must bring rice cooker.”

Simple posts like this highlighted some simple changes that NZ providers could make. Say you own a self-catering cottage, advertised via social media to Chinese FIT guests. They may not want or need the usual large oven, but may be really pleased to have a rice cooker and a wok. Advertise that you have them.

For sure, most tourists will want to experience the local cuisine. But when renting a self-catering apartment they may want to cook something familiar.

Watching domestic tourists in China told us a lot too. For example, Lijiang (Yunnan Province) is the fourth most popular destination for internal tourism within China. Horse trekking through the surrounding forests and hills is very popular. There are over 5 000 trekking horses kept in the villages surrounding Lashi Lake alone, attracting up to 10 000 riders per day in peak season. But horse trekking operators in NZ seldom if ever attract a Chinese tourist. Why not?

A typical horse trek in NZ involves taking full control of a big animal and following a mounted guide into the hills or along a deserted beach at a gallop. A horse trek in Yunnan involves sitting on a small Tibetan pony, one of a string of similar animals. A guide leads the string on foot. 

The trek proceeds at walking pace, and the riders are never in control of their mount. The opportunity to dress up in cowboy apparel and be photographed on horseback is an important part of the excursion. So is the opportunity to care for the pony. Tourists are invited to interact with their pony by buying it treats at each refreshment stop, brushing it at the end of the ride, and singing to it along the trail.

If tourists value the opportunity to feed, groom and sing to horses more than galloping over the horizon with the wind in the hair, surely we can deliver.

The Chinese FIT traveller market has been very important for New Zealand. The number of tourist arrivals has grown dramatically over the past two decades. So has the proportion of those tourists choosing to drive themselves around the country independently. A large part of the increase shown on both graphs is due to the Chinese.

Chinese FITs are now visiting old goldfields and historic sites in out-of-the-way places. They are photographing wildflowers and flocks of sheep; checking out locations of their favourite movies; marvelling at the stars in the dark night skies; and enjoying walking barefoot on deserted beaches. They are even finding their way to my home village of Ranfurly, population about 800.

Yes, the tourism offerings have had to change a little. But not greatly. The NZ government commissioned more research into the Chinese FIT market, which ended in the production of ten training modules for providers. You can find an overview here https://irp-cdn.multiscreensite.com/859a5f60/files/uploaded/mbie%20china%20fit%20visitor%20market%20reseach%20report.pdf. I suspect that the NZ government would happily share all the training materials with other Commonwealth countries if asked. Botswana Tourism Organisation, please take note!

I’m sure Marcus Lee is correct. To attract more Chinese tourists to Africa we need to make some changes. If New Zealand can do it so can we. Get the horse treats ready!