MP says audit indicated that some of personnel involved have left organisation and hence

The DA welcomes the finding of a forensic audit of the Automated Biometric Information System (ABIS) contract between Home Affairs and EOH Mthombo.

The irregular award of the biometrics project, and subsequent irregular payments, is yet another case of what happens when officials are appointed through the policy of Cadre Deployment.

The Forensic audit has found that disciplinary and criminal charges should be considered against SITA, EOH Mthombo and Home Affairs officials involved in wrong doing.

The audit indicated that some of the personnel involved have left the organisation and hence escaped the enquiry. It simply cannot be allowed that government employees leave one department under a cloud and simply parachute into another government department for a fresh start. The DA has called on SITA and Home Affairs to ensure that those who left to avoid disciplinary action are followed and face the consequences of their action, and will follow up on this.

Those who steal money from government are really stealing money from the people of South Africa - this is not government money, it is taxpayer money.

Despite Minister Aaron Motsoaledi claiming that only R299 864.25 was lost, millions have been lost through inflated payments and the cost of having to run the existing system, HANIS, more than 7 years past its end of life in parallel with ABIS while the contractual wrangling has dragged on.

The DA has called on Home Affairs to leave no stone unturned to recoup monies lost and will continue to hold Home Affairs to account to ensure that the guilty parties face the consequences of their actions and do not enjoy a soft landing in a new redeployment.

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The validity of iqamas (residency permits), exit and re-entry visas, as well as visit visas of expatriates, who are unable to travel to the kingdom due travel ban on countries, will be extended until June 2, 2021 free of cost, the Saudi Press Agency reported citing a royal order.

The Saudi finance minister approved the extension in iqamas and visas at the directives of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman.

The decision is part of the continuous of efforts being taken by the government to ensure the safety of citizens and residents and to mitigate its economic and financial impacts on them.

According to the SPA, the General Directorate of Passports (Jawazat) has confirmed that the extension will be done automatically in cooperation with the National Information Center.

Last month, Saudi Arabia restricted entry into the Kingdom for passengers coming from 20 countries including Pakistan, India, and Sri Lanka to stem the spread of novel coronavirus.

Kingdom announced to resume international flight operations from May 17 except for the 20 countries facing a travel ban. The ban was imposed on people arriving from Pakistan, Argentina, the United Arab Emirates, Germany, the United States of America, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Pakistan, Brazil, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Turkey, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, France, Lebanon, Egypt, India, and Japan.

Earlier in March, Saudi Arabia had extended its ban on the arrival of passengers from international flights till May 17 due to novel coronavirus

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Delays to US visas mean that Chinese students are snubbing American higher education in favor of studying in the UK. According to the Chinese embassy in the UK, nearly 216,000 Chinese students are pursuing their studies in Britain. Both the US and UK currently have a strained relationship with China, mainly over new security laws imposed on Hong Kong.

 The US, in particular, has hit China with several visa sanctions in recent years amid an ongoing tit-for-tat spat. Meanwhile, according to the Chinese embassy in the UK, the number of students arriving in Britain from China means Chinese students are quickly becoming the largest group of international students in the UK.

Statistics published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency show that, since the 2012/13 academic year, the number of students from China in the UK has exceeded the number of students from all EU countries and is constantly rising, surpassing the 100,000 mark in the 2019/20 academic year.

 Fully remove restrictions

Jia Guoqing, professor at the school of international studies at Peking University, said: “There is still work to be done before the US decides to fully remove student visa restrictions  imposed on Chinese nationals.”

“Even though the US began to ease the visa restrictions on Chinese students earlier this month, former US President Donald Trump still had both a long and negative impact on its China policy, which has made it harder for the Biden administration to turn the tables,” Guoqing added.

The US is suspicious of Chinese students, Guoqing claimed, fearing them to be spies. “For this reason America has imposed visa restrictions,” he said. Those applying for majors in the area of technology have been hit hardest, according to Guoqing.

Analysts claim that this could be one of the reasons why Chinese students are considering other destinations for study, including the UK.

UK-China relations

Commenting on China-UK relations, Shi Yinhong, the director of the Center for American Studies at the Renmin University of China, said: “As the relations between the two countries continue to deteriorate, the UK does not want to end exchanges with China on a cultural level, emphasizing that Chinese students remain an important source of income for the UK’s education sector.”

In March, the Annual Report on the Development of Chinese Students Studying Abroad (2020-21) from the Center for China and Globalization, highlighted that Chinese students aiming to study abroad have been negatively impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. However, the report added that interest in studying abroad remains strong.

While Chinese students can enter the UK, the Chinese embassy has stressed that international students must take measures due to the prevalence of race crimes triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, plus the fact that the UK blames China for Xinjiang issues.

Meanwhile, the US State Department recently announced that international students from Brazil, China, Iran and South Africa who hold a US visa would be allowed to enter the US in the fall.

US-China relations

In recent years, US-Chinese relations have deteriorated rapidly, particularly under the Trump administration. Chinese students, in particular, have suffered most amid the fallout, culminating in more than 1,000 Chinese students and researchers having their US visas revoked back in September 2020.

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CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA

Dozens of refugees were left vulnerable on Thursday, when the City of Cape Town removed the fence separating the refugees camp from the notorious Bellville taxi rank. 

The heavy steel gate brings women and children little comfort.

“Now anyone can come in and anyone can go out,” says Hafiz Mohammad, a spokesperson for the temporary shelter. 

Shortly after the fence was removed a minibus driver is seen on video using the women’s ablution facility, ignoring a request not to do so.

Caroline Hajira, a refugee and mother of nine children, said she fears for her children’s safety and that of the other 200 children living in the shelter. 

The removal of the fence might only be the beginning of more services at the shelter drying up. 

Law enforcement officials tasked to safeguard entrances to the camp were withdrawn months ago, says Mohammed. 

It is not clear when the remaining tent, which houses hundreds of people — 580 according to Mohammed — and the ablution facilities will be removed. 

Minister of Home Affairs Aaron Motsoaledi reiterated in April that no South African law 

provide government authorities, including the City of Cape Town, with a mandate to allocate money to citizens and non-citizens. 

Felicity Purchase, the city’s mayoral committee member for transport, confirmed that the fence was removed by the contractor because the contract had ended in March. 

She said the issue of removing the fence has been ongoing since early April after “several failed attempts due to the refugees preventing the service provider from removing the fencing”.

The fence — called speed fencing — was initially put up to separate the shelter and the Bellville public transport interchange holding area for minibus taxi operators. 

“This site is intended for use by public transport service providers, namely, the minibus taxis. The site was occupied by the refugee tent at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic without the city’s consent,” says Purchase. 

With the easing of lockdown restrictions and an increase in traffic volumes, the city’s transport directorate had to “reclaim a portion of the land by way of a temporary fence”, said Purchase. 

The City of Cape Town did not respond to the question of refugees’ safety raised by removing the fence. 

Two temporary shelters — Paint City in Bellville and Wingfield in Maitland — were erected during the hard lockdown under the Covid-19 Disaster Management Act in 2020 after the City of Cape Town enforced its bylaws to end a six-month protest by refugees and asylum seekers in Greenmarket Square in the city centre. 

The shelters, initially housing 1 500 people, were to have closed on 30 April, when the department of home affairs decided to withdraw all state departments and agencies from its temporary shelters. 

But the two camps were not closed on the due date. 

Siya Qoza, the spokesperson for the minister of home affairs, referred the Mail & Guardian to a press statement, which stated that law enforcement authorities have opted to give immigration and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) officials time to complete their work.

The parliamentary portfolio committee on home affairs was told last week that efforts between various parties, including the government and the UNHCR, facilitated the voluntary repatriation of 305 refugees and asylum seekers. Hundreds more opted to settle locally. 

But a few hundred refugees refuse to move from the camp, demanding to be resettled in a third country, an option that is only available to a few refugees who are extremely vulnerable. 

The home affairs department did not respond to queries sent to them.

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According to Order nº 4857-A/ 2021, air traffic to and from mainland Portugal is authorized to:

1.Flights to and from countries belonging to the EU and countries associated with the Schengen Area (Liechtenstein, Norway, Iceland and Switzerland), only for essential travel to and from the following countries: Cyprus, Croatia, Lithuania, the Netherlands and Sweden.

2.Flights from Australia, China, South Korea, New Zealand, Rwanda, Singapore, Thailand, and the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau, subject to reciprocity;

3.Flights that are not from/to EU countries or associated with the Schengen Area are exclusively for essential travel (namely, those intended to allow the entry into Portugal of citizens travelling for professional, study, family reunion reasons, for health or humanitarian reasons;

4. Flights planned to allow the return to Portugal of nationals or foreign citizens holding a residence permit in Portugal and flights destined to allow the return of foreign citizens who are stranded in Portugal to their countries of origin, as long as they are promoted by the competent authorities of those countries.

LABORATORY TEST RT-PCR
Before boarding, all passengers must present proof of RT-PCR test for screening of SARS-CoV-2 infection, with a negative result, performed within 72 hours prior to boarding, with the exception of children who have not completed 24 months of age. To all foreign citizens who embark without the aforementioned test shall be refused entry into national territory.

MANDATORY PROPHYLACTIC ISOLATION IN PORTUGAL
Passengers from Brazil, Croatia, Cyprus, India, Lithuania, the Netherlands, South Africa, and Sweden must comply with a 14-day prophylactic isolation period after entering mainland Portugal, at home or in a location indicated by health authorities.
Passengers who come from the countries mentioned above must complete the form on the travel.sef.pt platform.

ATTENTION:
Prophylactic isolation is also applicable to passengers on flights with initial origin in Brazil, India, and South Africa, who have made a stopover or transited through other airports, and to passengers on flights, regardless of origin, who present a passport stamp with a departure record from Brazil, India and South Africa in the 14 days prior to their arrival in Portugal.

Regarding processing of all national visas, restrictions to short-term visas processing still remain until further notice, with the exception of visas for EU citizens' relatives and for essential travels (third country nationals traveling for professional reasons, study, family reunion, for health or humanitarian reasons.

Short-stay visas for non-essential travel may only be issued to foreign citizens legally residing in the countries and Special Administrative Regions listed in Annex I of the above referred Order: Australia, China, New Zealand, Rwanda, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and the Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau

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