Eight months after an Inter-Ministerial Committee made recommendations to address the unintended consequences of South Africa’s immigration regulations, the requirement that minors travel with an unabridged birth certificate (UBC) remains the biggest challenge to selling the country as a family destination.
The committee chaired by the Deputy President, Cyril Ramaphosa, recommended a special dispensation, in terms of which travellers would be “strongly advised” to bring along proof of the relationship between a child and the parent or guardian, such as an unabridged birth certificate or equivalent document with both parents’ particulars.
However, no change has been made to the regulations and airlines are turning away minors who do not have the document. According to figures from SAA, as many as 40 passengers are turned away on a daily basis.
Department of Home Affairs Spokesperson Mayihlome Tshwete told Tourism Update there would be a change to the requirement for foreign minors to travel with a UBC, while South African children would continue to be required to travel with a UBC or full birth certificate. “What we are trying to do is change it from law to a strong recommendation for people travelling into South Africa,” he said.
According to Tshwete, the department was “well on the way” in the process to make this change to the regulation. He said there was no definite timeline by when the change to the regulation would be made, emphasising that the priority was to “get it right”. However, he said that an immigration board had been appointed to look at this specific regulation and an announcement was expected within the next couple of months.
Tshwete said that making the change was not simple and that it was not just a matter of using an eraser and rubbing out the relevant section. He explained that the board would need to ensure that the new regulation was able to “stand legal muster” and adhered to SA’s Constitution, which stated that “children must be protected”. Tshwete emphasised that the Constitution did not specify South African children and the department had to ensure that parents would not be able to hold the department liable.
He said that once the change had been made, immigration officials would be able to allow entry to minors not carrying a UBC. However, he emphasised that officials would still be able to deny entry to minors who did not produce the UBC.
David Frost, Satsa CEO, said the industry had not had any engagement with the Department of Home Affairs since a February briefing where the department announced it would be relaxing the requirement for the UBC. At the briefing, Frost urged the department to meet with and work with industry, but he said the department had been “impervious”.
Frost is critical of the regulations, which he said were based on a lie. The DHA said the regulations for children travelling to SA aimed to prevent child trafficking. However, Frost pointed out that, while the department in Parliament quoted figures suggesting that up to 30 000 children in South Africa were trafficked every year, it was “a lie”. The claim has been disproved by fact-checking organisation Africa Check.
Meantime, tour operators in some of South Africa’s biggest source markets said the requirement remained the biggest challenge to selling South Africa as a family destination. Roy Davies of UK-based World Discoveries, said that while many South African exhibitors at this year’s Indaba show were marketing family holidays, the regulations for children travelling to SA went against this.
Julian Asher of Timeless Africa, which sells to the UK and US market, said the requirement was a problem for prospective travellers. He pointed out that it was a stronger deterrent for families from countries that did not require visas, such as the US, UK and Europe. He said these travellers didn’t need visas to travel elsewhere and accounted for the bulk of SA’s overseas arrivals.
Asher said these travellers were not used to the level of hassle and they could go elsewhere. “We also sell Asia,” he said, adding that families questioned why they needed to get this documentation when they could go to India instead and not deal with it. He said access to South Africa’s competitor destinations was improving, adding that it was unfortunate, given that South Africa was attractive for family travel, particularly because of the current exchange rate and because the country could offer malaria-free safaris.
