VISA SCANDAL: Heads will roll-chief immigration officer

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M- The ministry of home affairs is yet to complete its internal investigations into the VISA scandal and heads are expected to roll.

Chief Immigration Officer Makhosi Simelane has said that as soon the investigations are over, the findings will all be revealed to the public.

“We have not yet concluded the internal enquiry and we will in due course, divulge the full details of the findings to the public,” said Simelane.

The ministry of home affairs effected staff rotations that affected all departments to pave a way for the internal investigation into the illegal issuance of over 2 000 VISA’s to foreign nationals.In an earlier interview, he revealed that after the findings of the enquiry if the need to effect arrest and criminal charges is what is needed that is what they will do.

Simelane confirmed that the ministry was on a move to cancel all the VISA’s which were initially granted illegally by some immigration officials who had allegedly connived with police officials and foreign nationals to flout the process.

These, however, remain allegations until the Ministry of Home Affairs completes internal investigations that have been instituted to establish whether or not the VISA application process was flouted and to identify the persons behind the act.

At the same time, Simelane pointed out that the cancellation will not end with the 2 000 VISAs as they wanted to totally eradicate any element of corruption associated with the processing of such documents.

The VISAs were issued to a multitude of foreign nationals from a number of countries, including Pakistani, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Somalia, India, Nigeria, Egypt, Congo and Cameroon.

These foreign nationals are all destined for Eswatini; in fact more of them are still on their way to the kingdom.It has been reliably gathered that the foreign nationals are still being turned back and deported at the KMIII International Airport at Sikhuphe. The Ministry of Home Affairs went to an extent of sending a communication to the KMIII International Airport manager dated April 14, 2022, containing the list of some of the foreign nationals, who were expected to arrive yet their VISAs had been revoked due to their illegality.

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Most of the foreign nationals who have been turned back at the airport, Simelane said, had only oneway flight tickets instead of a return tickets as stipulated by the International Travelling Polices between countries.

“The foreign nationals had oneway tickets when they arrived in the country and thus created a burden at the airport for the police and the immigration officials. They ended up being stranded as government had no funds available for their immediate deportation,” added Simelane The ministry is said to be in effort to try and communicate with foreign nationals who are enlisted in the list of cancelled VISAs so to stop them from leaving their native countries. It has also been established that the enlisted foreign nationals who have had their VISAs revoked, were in Eswatini before the world was hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and decided to return to their native countries immediately when governments announced their intention to halt the infection rate by instituting lockdowns.

The chief immigration officer stated that in the meantime, it would be immature to point fingers and the internal enquiry would ensure that the ministry gets to the bottom of this matter as the influx of illegal immigrants spoils the good name and the relationship the country has with its neighbours. According to Simelane, the outcome of the internal enquiry would determine if there are indeed culprits or if a crime was committed.

When planning to leave your native country and visits other countries leisurely or for business, procedure says one should approach or apply through the home affairs online and it is up to the information that you submit that is crucial when the officials use to approve or decline your application.

Simelane when pressed on why this sudden harsh decision to revoke the VISAs belonging to the foreign nationals, he said that this stance was motivated by national security concerns.

Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Trade Mancoba Khumalo has advised every foreign national planning to come and invest in Eswatini to follow the right channels in applying for VISAs and work permits.

He welcomed foreign nationals and said the Eswatini Investment Promotion Authority (EIPA) is there offer them any assistance.