South African Home Affairs Minister Dr. Aaron Motsoaledi on Monday announced visa-free travel for 11 countries in an effort to boost tourism to the country, reported Ecofin Agency. This had been suspended since March when the government had stopped delivering free visas to other countries in a bid to control the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
In a media briefing, Motsoaledi said that the visa-free status of citizens of some countries and territories was temporarily suspended at the start of the lockdown period.
“In line with the commitment of Government to take urgent steps to address the economic and tourism stagnation brought about by the outbreak of Covid-19, visa-free status of citizens from a number of countries and territories has been reinstated,” said the South African Home Affairs Minister.
The visas will now be available to visitors from France, Germany, Portugal, UK, Singapore, Spain, Italy, South Korea, Hong Kong, Iran and the USA.
However, Motsoaledi said that visa-free status does not alter the current Covid-19 regulations. He said the officials have been told to communicate this decision to the aviation industry, embassies and other stakeholders as a matter of urgency.
“The port managers have been instructed to adhere to the SADC protocol and guidelines regulating the movement of essential goods under Covid-19 regulations,” the minister said. “The guidelines regulating truck drivers travelling across the border will continue to apply as has been the case for the past seven months.”
The South African minister said that immigration officers will be required to assess the movement and place of origin of the traveler and not the country of origin of the airline concerned.
He said transit travelers through South Africa by air will be allowed to connect to their destinations, subject to them complying with applicable health protocols. The travelers will now have to present a negative COVID-19 test result dating less than 72 hours, under penalty of a mandatory quarantine of 10 days.
South Africa is the worst coronavirus affected country on the continent, with more than 679,716 cases detected to date with 16,938 deaths and 612,763 recoveries.
