GIGABA, PLEASE HELP

WE applaud Minister Malusi Gigaba’s plans to relax visa conditions to boost tourism and the economy.

We have been frequent visitors to the Western Cape in the past 10 years, but Home Affairs has put a stop to that.

We had to extend our stay in SA in February as our 82-yearold mother’s health suddenly deteriorated. We applied to VFS Global to extend our three-month visa, paying R3 550 for both of us, but when our interview date arrived, VFS said we had applied for the wrong visa and were now “illegal aliens”. We couldn’t tell which visa we had applied for: the website and application process were confusing and wouldn’t let us print the form.

We applied to Home Affairs for “Good Cause for Legalisation”, but our “Good Cause Outcome” failed to materialise. After our mother passed away, we needed to return to our home in Canada. We knew we would be declared “undesirable persons” when we left, but we had no choice.

We filed our appeal against our undesirability the day after we left Cape Town on July 4, and to date have not had a single response to our many emails or phone calls to the appeals overstay department, not even an acknowledgement of our initial email or a “bounceback”.

We are sad that we will not be able to spend Christmas – our first without our mother – with our family in Stellenbosch this year. We are even sadder that it looks as though Home Affairs will maintain its ban on us for five years.

Minister Gigaba, as you launch your visa reforms, please ensure your department hires, trains and motivates staff to process both existing and future applications to attract visitors to South Africa. And please, help us with our case.