Desperation with the situation at the National Public Transport Regulator (NPTR) is driving vehicle operators in South Africa to distraction as they find they cannot operate their businesses without the necessary paperwork.

Tourism Update received this open letter from Enya Fehler, a tour operator and tour guide, who finds herself in exactly that situation.

She says President Ramaphosa promised the nation to cut down on red tape but the NPTR seems to be purposefully sabotaging all efforts to grow tourism in our beloved country. 

“I have written this letter as I am at my wits end and know for a fact that there are hundreds of other small operators facing the same problems,” says Fehler.

Read the letter…

Open Letter to South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa

presidentrsa@presidency.gov.za

29 November 2022

Grievances with the NPTR in regard of tourism operating permit

Dear Mr President,

Let me commend you on the many bold and decisive decisions you and your government have taken to better the lives of all people in South Africa over the last few years.

We all know that South Africa faces many challenges and that foreign investment can help to alleviate the pressure on job creation and energy crisis. That is why you just went to England to meet King Charles III, isn't it?

Tourism, in my humble opinion, translates to job creation as much as foreign investment and I wish to refer to your address to the tourism fraternity on the closing day of Africa's Travel Indaba on Saturday, 4 May 2019.

“We tend to think of tourism as being associated with pleasure motives such as visiting iconic sites and getting involved in recreational activities, but it can also embrace business, education, health or religion as a basis for travelling,” said Ramaphosa. “Tourism, as your host – Minister Hanekom – aptly put it during his opening address, is the New Gold. It is a sector that is thriving and that has tremendous potential for further growth and for the creation of jobs.”

“Most importantly, tourism holds great promise for the development of small businesses in our countries,” you said. “It is when you stay in small bed and breakfast establishments or small hotels, that you get to interact with the locals, listen to their stories about the area, and get advice on the best, least-known places to go on sightseeing trips."

You concluded by saying that Africa is a continent that is open and welcoming, and shares a common goal – to offer a unique, one-of-a-kind and unforgettable consumer and business travel experience. “Let’s go and build a brave new world that will attract the world to come back home to Africa.”

Mr President, there are many brave decisions you still have to make and my plea to address the issues around the issuing of tourism operating licences for small tourism entrepreneurs like myself are perhaps not very high on your agenda but please do hear me out.

I was raised in Germany by a mother who was vehement about human rights as she has witnessed the suffering and injustice created by the second world war and its aftermath. She was a vocal supporter of the sanctions against the old apartheid regime and supported the goals of the ANC. Naturally, I followed the development of South Africa's "Walk to Freedom" closely and decided in 1995 to immigrate to South Africa to help in building the new South Africa. First as an engineer and then in tourism by launching the very first German online travel portal in 1998 which still exists to this day.

My passion for Southern Africa, its people, culture and nature, complemented with a dash of adventure, has led me to explore the 'niche market' ‘Non-English speaking Germans over fifties’ into remote parts of Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe on guided self-drive tours. Many of those ‘adventure seekers’ started to request me to also take them through South Africa.

As our beloved country has got a reasonably well-developed infrastructure, there was no need to go on 4x4 camping safaris into the wild, which is rather hard to find around the Cape or even in the northern parts of South Africa.

As it is my nature, I like to do things right from the start, and so I did my tourist guiding licence for South Africa, bought a tour bus and applied for my tourism transport operator licence, which by government regulations should have taken no more than 3 months to be issued.

Little did I know about the road I was embarking on, driving me over the last 3 years close to financial ruin and much despair. There is no need to bother you with all the details but a few key facts are important.

I applied for aforesaid transport operating licence in September 2019 to finally get a receipt from the transport department on 13 November 2019 with the Application No. AONPTR1162951.

That's it. No word, no licence, no feedback, no absolutely nothing! Of course, I tried my best to get some feedback from the NPTR - Department of Transport, but to no avail.

Surprisingly, on 27 August 2022 I got a decision letter from the NPTR that my application has been approved and that I just need to submit a few updated documents - after all it was three years ago that I had applied for that permit, and things need to be up to date!

Just two days later I submitted the requested documents (all certified copies of course) via email to the given email address in the belief that I am now a licensed operator with a licensed vehicle to operate with and started to inform my clients waiting for me to be able to operate in South Africa.

Lo and behold, bookings came in nearly instantly for February and March 2023.

Sadly, again no word from the NPTR besides a number of phone calls and email inquiries from my side. We are now nearing the end of November 2022 and, as per letter received on 27 August 2022, I am a licensed operator but without documents to prove it. I now have to make a decision to either travel with the booked groups of German tourists and run the danger of my guests being stranded on the side of the road while my vehicle is impounded by the traffic police or to disappoint my guests by cancelling the two tours altogether.

Mr President, what would you do on my behalf?

I am at my wits end and know for a fact that there are hundreds of other small operators having to make this choice on a daily basis. You promised the nation to cut down on red tape but the NPTR seems to be purposefully sabotaging all efforts to grow tourism in our beloved country.

Kind regards

Ms Enya Fehler
Managing Director
Business Economist HWK (GER) * Certified Engineer (GER)
Registered Tourist Guide - South Africa
Africa Adventure Travel

NPTR Application No. AONPTR1162951