Holiday dreams dashed by Home Affairs red tape
Government’s on-off visa rules leave a trail of misery as travellers are ensnared in confusion
GIFTS intended for eight-yearold Riley Fernandez and his twoyear-old sister Emmie lie unopened under a Christmas tree in Boksburg.
Riley and Emmie, from Blackburn, England, didn’t get to spend Christmas with their ailing South African grandparents after their 17-day dream holiday to South Africa was ruined last Saturday.
Turkish Airlines refused to allow Riley to board the Johannesburg flight because he and his mother Rachelle Stassen have different surnames. This is because Rachelle remarried and took the name of her new husband, former South African Martin Stassen.
The family are casualties of confusion over the government’s visa regulations, which require anyone flying in and out of South Africa with a child to have a full unabridged birth certificate. Lone adults flying with their children must provide written consent from the other parent.
The ruling, introduced in June last year to prevent child trafficking, has caused confusion at international immigration desks and resulted in a number of travellers being banned from flying to South Africa for the holidays.
Former South African accountant Grant Hughes almost missed his Umhlanga wedding on Wednesday because his children Keagan and Caitlin did not have their unabridged birth certificates.
The family were due to travel to South Africa last week but were turned away by Ethiopian Airlines at Heathrow Airport.
The family were refunded their flight fares and arrived in Durban on Tuesday night, just in time for the beach wedding.
Tourism operators say con- fusion over the visa requirements has cost South Africa many millions of rands in revenue and plenty of bad publicity, but home affairs spokesman Mayihlome Tshwete said thousands of travellers from the UK had arrived without complication because they had complied with the regulations.
“On December 18 we recorded the highest number of people, 29 000, who moved in and out of our borders. Last year at the same time, 24 000 people were recorded,” Tshwete said.
“We have requirements for people coming to South Africa and if they did not meet them they weren’t allowed to come to the country.”
He said the department had set a schedule for amending aspects of the visa regulations.
“That requires legislative change. Until January all the regulations remain the same.
“We have made concessions. We have given timelines for those concessions . . . [but] until we have created the legal instrument that makes it possible, the same requirements will still apply,” said Tshwete.
He said airlines had informed FLIGHT RISKS: Eight-year-old Riley Fernandez and his sister Emmie, left, at Manchester Airport before their holiday to South Africa was cancelled. Right, Grant Hughes and his kids Caitlin and Keagan almost did not make it to his wedding to Nadine, left, in Umhlanga travellers of the requirements.
In the case of the Stassens the airline refused to budge even after South African immigration authorities gave a written assurance that the family would be allowed into the country.
Turkish Airlines stood its ground, claiming the Stassens did not have written permission, drawn up by a lawyer, from Riley’s father to allow him to fly to South Africa. This is despite the fact that the boy’s father went to Manchester Airport to tell the airline he was aware the child was travelling abroad.
Martin Stassen said his family were devastated their R80 000 holiday was ruined. “My dad has cancer. This was a holiday planned in detail so we could spend quality time together. I’m not sure if I’ll see him again. We can’t afford to travel again and we’ve used our leave.”
The airline has promised to refund two-fifths of the price of their tickets.
Southern African Tourism Services Association chief executive David Frost said the onus was on home affairs to keep the international tourism sector abreast of new requirements.
“They did nothing until 13 days before it was due to be implemented, and even then there were six changes during this period. The requirements are complex and onerous,” he said.
“There is no standard way of notarising a document. While in South Africa we can go to the local police station, in the UK you have to pay a lawyer and the costs can be onerous.”
Although his association had communicated the requirements to the inbound market, there were limitations. “We have briefed all the overseas tour operators, but there is very little we can do regarding direct bookings through the internet. People go online and trawl through websites looking for the cheapest deals and the regulations won’t pop up there.”
Mavuso Msimang, chairman of the Tourism Business Council of South Africa, said an interministerial committee agreed people from countries that do not need visas to visit South Africa would be exempt from the birth certificate requirement.
“[But] communication has been a problem. International media write about the problems that people experience. Not only are we losing tourists but we are also losing a public relations battle,” Msimang said. “The more problems are identified which really could be resolved, the more everybody loses.”
Flight Centre’s marketing specialist Sharmila Ragunanan said the regulation was “illadvised”. “We have appealed to the government to work with the tourism and travel sector to find more workable, less damaging ways to manage child smuggling and national security concerns,” she said.
SAA said it conducted awareness campaigns, but the onus was on travellers to ensure they “meet and comply with all travel and/or entry requirements of countries they travel to”.
My dad has cancer . . . I’m not sure if I’ll see him again. We can’t afford to travel again Instead of positive words about SA, tourists say it is too difficult to get there