Visa mess needs credible fix, SA business group says

The South African government’s failure to fix its visa system is seriously impeding the economy and needs to be urgently fixed, one of the nation’s main business-lobby groups said.

Tens of thousands of foreigners working or intending to work in South Africa faced having their visas canceled at the end of March because the authorities were unable to process their applications, Business Leadership South Africa said in a statement on Monday. While a last-minute reprieve validated the status of those already in the country, it was of little use to thousands more people around the world waiting for their documents to be processed, the group said.

“We have major skills deficits in many areas,” BLSA Chief Executive Officer Busi Mavuso said in the statement. “We need to give international companies the sense that they are welcome in South Africa and the confidence to plan on investments here without the fear that they will simply be unable to send their people because we cannot manage our own bureaucracy.”

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is scheduled to host an annual conference in Johannesburg next week, when he will provide an update on an initiative to attraction billions of dollars of new investment to bolster economic growth and stimulate employment. Ramaphosa pledged five years ago to reform the nation’s visa regime that deters skilled foreign workers and tourists.

“The president could use the opportunity to announce a credible intervention to fix the visa mess,” Mavuso said. “That would go far to addressing one of the major sources of a lack of confidence in South Africa’s investment case.”

The Department of Home Affairs said last week it’s handling a backlog of 62 692 visa applications.

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