SW Radio Africa has been receiving frantic messages on social media forums from Zimbabweans who regularly travel between the two countries, left panicked by information that visas costing thousands of rand had been introduced by South Africa.
But Mkuseli Apleni, the Director General of the South African Home Affairs Department, denied this was the case. In response to these reports he said: "The visa situation for Zimbabweans remains the same, and there has not been any changes. All changes and policy positions are published on the Department for Home Affairs website at www.dha.gov.za. However, the Minister of Home Affairs has not issued any such statement, nor do we intend to do so."
Visa requirements between the two countries were dismissed in 2012, with millions of Zimbabweans regularly making the journey for work purposes as a result of Zimbabwe’s dire job market, and economic and political crises.
Authorities also said the relaxation in the visa rules at the time was to facilitate the legal movement of people between the countries, with hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans crossing into South Africa illegally. – SW Radio Africa
Post published in: News