SOUTH AFRICA REINSTATES TRANSIT VISA RULES

MBABANE – South Africa (SA) has reinstated its transit visa rules following the arrest of Bangladeshi and Pakistani nationals attempting to enter that country illegally earlier last week, en route to Eswatini and Mozambique.

The announcement was made by Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi on Saturday. All non-SADC countries require a visa to enter South Africa and Eswatini among other States.  
In 2015, The Home Affairs Ministry stopped transit visas for people who were passing through SA, but to curb illegal activities, they have been reinstated. Transit visas are issued to foreigners who pass through SA en route to neighbouring countries. Motsoaledi was speaking following the arrest of the Bangladeshi and Pakistani nationals attempting to enter SA illegally. He said; “We are going to demand transit visas, if you transit here to Eswatini. We must understand, even if they were not caught here, they were going to continue to Eswatini and come back through our porous borders.”

Reinstate

Motsoaledi stated that they had border management now and were deciding as Home Affairs to reinstate the transit visas. The move by SA has been welcomed by Eswatini. The Ministry of Home Affairs Principal Secretary (PS) Nhlanhla Nxumalo stated that they learnt of the transit visa reinstatement by SA over the weekend, through the media. He said Eswatini had also strengthened controls at the ports of entry in terms of issuance of visas. “What SA has done will go a long way in addressing the problem of illegal immigrants,” said the PS. According to Nxumalo, they had noticed the challenge of Asian illegal immigrants for some time, and they realised that their initial destination was SA but they used neighbouring States as conduits.
Meanwhile, five Bangladeshi nationals last Thursday appeared at the Siteki Magistrates Court after being nabbed with fraudulent and forged travel documents at the King Mswati III International Airport.

In count one, they were charged for wrongfully and unlawfully entering the country without valid visas. In count two, they were charged for being in unlawful possession of a forged entry permit. In March this year, police officers also detained and arrested three others of Asian origin from Bangladesh at the airport for being found without valid permits to be in the country and also with forged documentation. Furthermore, around February, two travellers of Asian origin, who were travelling in the same flight as Prime Minister (PM) Cleopas Dlamini from O.R Tambo International Airport, were detained upon their arrival at the King Mswati III International Airport.

The immigration officers working in collaboration with the police officers stationed at the King Mswati III International Airport Police Post managed to nab the two Asians, whose country of origin could not be established. In a previous interview with this publication, Chief Immigration Officer Makhosi Simelane said the ministry had engaged all immigration officers in all entry points to exercise vigilance in their line of duty to ensure that travellers in possession of invalid and illegal documentation were not allowed entry into the country. Simelane said they had since adopted the hardest line of approach in their scope as immigration operations were classified as high risk as they touch on national security.

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