South Africa cancels visa requirements for Zimbabweans

South Africa cancels visa requirements for Zimbabweans
Written by Kingsley Kaswende in Harare
Tuesday, May 05, 2009 4:48:40 PM

South Africa has cancelled visa requirements for Zimbabweans visiting that country up to 90 days. South Africa had over the past few years required Zimbabwean nationals entering that country to acquire visas as a screening mechanism for millions of Zimbabweans who have been crossing into that country in search of better life.

It is estimated that up to three million Zimbabweans have left the country in search of better life mostly in South Africa since the beginning of the economic meltdown 10 years ago.

South Africa’s Home Affairs Minister, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula announced on Monday that Zimbabweans now no longer needed to apply and pay for visas before travelling to South Africa.
She said they could instead apply for a free 90-day visitor’s permit at the border, adding that Zimbabwean citizens could also apply to do casual work while in South Africa.
She made the announcement in the presence of Zimbabwe’s co-Ministers of Home Affairs, Kembo Mohadi (ZANU-PF) and Giles Mutsekwa (MDC).

Under the new arrangement Zimbabweans visiting South Africa will now be required to produce a valid and authentic document to prove that they a genuinely Zimbabwean and their stay will last 90 days.

The Memorandum of Understanding will also allow those who are currently in South Africa to regularize their stay which will last for the next six months.

This new position, which is effective May 1, will be reviewed after 12 months.
The announcement could be seen as an acknowledgement that South Africa does not expect the stream of Zimbabweans to slow soon, despite hopes raised by the power-sharing government formed by Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change.

International donors have been slow to respond to calls for help from the unity government, waiting to see whether it endures and fulfils promises to shore up democracy and the rule of law.

Up to 50,000 Zimbabweans enter South Africa everyday while 8,000 apply for asylum daily, but Mapisa-Nqakula hoped these would now opt for the visitor’s permit. When the visa requirements for Zimbabweans were introduced, they were so stringent that travellers needed invitation letters or evidence of the host’s address in South Africa, which led to many crossing the borders illegally.

South Africa had also imposed transit visas on those passing through that country to catch flights to other destinations. Up to 200,000 Zimbabweans were being deported every year for illegally being in South Africa.
Some border-jumpers unfortunately lost their lives, as some drowned in the Limpopo River as they attempted to swim across it.

Others died from sheer exhaustion or were attacked by wild animals as they attempted to walk long distances using undesignated routes.

However, in February last year, South Africa relaxed some of the stringent visa requirements for Zimbabweans intending to travel to that country following talks between the two governments.

Invitation letters or evidence of the host’s address was no longer required while a security deposit was required only in respect of persons with a history of "overstaying" in South Africa or whose bona fides were questionable.

Applicants for a visitor’s visa were now required to submit a valid passport, one passport-size photograph and proof of funds in the form of traveller’s cheques, credit cards or foreign bank statements that showed balance of at least 2,000 rands.