Friday, October 26, marked D-Day for the SA government’s promised gazetting of the amendments to the unabridged birth certificate (UBC) regulations, as announced on September 25, at a televised media briefing on visa-related reforms.
Yet this amendment was conspicuously absent in Friday’s Government Gazette – the last issued in the month of October.
On September 25, named in Parliament as the ‘Tourism Terminator’ for his intransigence on the matter, Minister of Home Affairs Malusi Gigaba, was recorded as saying: “As indicated by the President, we are simplifying the rules on travelling minors who are foreign nationals to minimise disruption to legitimate travellers without compromising the safety of minors and the rights of their parents. To this end, we will issue an international travel advisory before the end of October 2018, after consultation with the Immigration Advisory Board (IAB).”
The day after the briefing (September 26), the Department of Tourism released a statement, with Minister Derek Hanekom reiterating: “From the end of October 2018, South Africa will issue a Travel Advisory for minors not travelling with both parents. The amendment to the regulations will be gazetted by the Minister of Home Affairs for information in October 2018.”
Airlines, who effectively administer the Act by denying boarding to minors who don’t comply, before they reach South Africa, say they are compelled to follow the law until it is changed.
Tourism Update attempted to reach Gigaba and the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) to request an explanation, and an indication of when the industry could expect the amendments to be gazetted. Phones were either switched off or not answered and, at the time of publishing, all email requests for comment were ignored.
Gazetting an amendment to any regulation is required to make it official law, so until such time as this is done, the original law remains in place. Which means that parents travelling with minors will still be required to produce a UBC on request at airline immigration stations.
A source informed TU that Gigaba has not yet even met with the Immigration Advisory Board – a prerequisite for gazetting any regulation changes.
Shadow Minister of Tourism, James Vos, told TU that by Gigaba not honouring his publicly made promise, he was damaging the tourism industry yet again, sending out the message that South Africa was not a serious contender as a tourism destination, not a serious player with the good of the tourist in mind – and that this created an opportunity for other countries to move in and claim the arrivals, who scrap SA from their list of destinations to visit owing to the unnecessary and admin-heavy UBC requirements. “Tourism is a very competitive industry, therefore any pronouncements indicating that there will be changes to travel regulations making it easier, sends a message to prospective tourists and visitors. And when these announcements don't happen, it certainly damages our tourism reputation and brand.”
TU further spoke to the Shadow Minister of Home Affairs, Haniff Hoosen, who echoed Vos’s sentiments. “It’s very unfortunate that Minister Gigaba has, again, not gazetted the amendments as quickly as possible and communicated it as quickly as possible. He has a track record of creating confusion in the Department, which ultimately impacts on tourism and the economy. Under our current economic circumstances especially, where South Africa is so desperate for any investment and any contribution to the economy, one would expect that Minister Gigaba would act with a little more responsibility.”
June Crawford, CEO of the South African Board of Airline Representatives (BARSA), said: “If the industry receives no communication whatsoever by the end of October, we will need to regroup. Small concessions are not enough. We need bold supportive decisions.”
Vos concludes: “I will immediately submit Parliamentary questions to both Ministers [Home Affairs and Tourism], insisting that they fulfil their commitments to scrap these unabridged birth certificates, which mean nothing other than putting our tourism growth in jeopardy.”
Extract from Tourism Update 34 months ago, on 12 February 2016:
Mayihlome Tshwete (then DHA spokesperson) told Tourism Update the law still required that children carry this document. According to (12)(a) of the Immigration Amendment Act: “Where parents are travelling with a child, such parents must produce an unabridged birth certificate of the child reflecting the particulars of the parents of the child.”
Tshwete said that in order to change this requirement, amendments needed to be made to certain sections of the regulations. He said this process, which included setting up an advisory board, was under way and would probably be concluded in the next three months.
Airlines have insisted that they have no choice but to continue to deny boarding to children not meeting this requirement until the regulations are amended.
