SOUTH Africa will not retaliate by imposing a visa requirement on Britons wanting to visit this country.
Foreign Affairs spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa said yesterday that there is no such decision [to implement a similar requirement].
This follows the British government's decision to slap a visa requirement on South Africans wanting to enter the UK .
Tens of thousands of Britons are expected to visit South Africa this
year for the British and Irish Lions rugby tour, and next year for the
Soccer World Cup.
Mamoepa said: Our government will continue to engage the British authorities on this issue.
The British H igh C ommissioner to South Africa, Paul Boateng, said the
visa decision was made after a global review of the UK's pre-entry
immigration controls.
Britain has warned South Africa in the past that this country's passports were being used illegally to gain entry into the UK.
Travel agencies have expressed concern that the move might result in a decline in business.
The new visas will cost £65 (R928), meaning that the more than 420000
South African visitors to the UK each year will collectively have to
cough up an extra R428- million in travel costs.
Thompsons Holidays' general manager of marketing, Angela Wood, said the
UK was one of the most important overseas destinations for South
Africans, especially for tourists and those wanting to visit family.
Wood said visas are costly and time-consuming and might deter
travellers because a trip to the UK had always been easy to organise.
Many European bus tours originate and terminate in the UK for this very reason, she added.
Home Affairs M inister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula admitted in the National
Assembly on Monday that the implementation of the visa requirement was
an indictment of her department.
Yesterday, the director-g eneral of the foreign affairs department,
Ayanda Ntsaluba, admitted that the country faced challenges when it
came to its passports system.
Boateng said the British government was aware of the department of home affairs' ambitious turnaround programme.
If and when these plans are successfully implemented, the risk to the
UK border originating in South Africa [might] be significantly
reduced, he said.  Additional reporting by Sapa