By Enyichukwu Enemanna
South Africa has announced the withdrawal of its 90-day visa exemption for holders of Palestinian passport, alleging that the visas were being used to ‘relocate Palestinians from Gaza’,
The country’s Department of Home Affairs which announced the development at the weekend had allegedly investigated the visas and discovered “deliberate and ongoing abuse of the 90-day visa exemption for Palestinian ordinary passport holders by Israeli actors linked to “voluntary emigration” efforts for residents of the Gaza Strip.”
The department also referenced a recent incident in November where 153 Gazans arrived on a charter flight in South Africa, allegedly without prior coordination.
South Africa’s Border Management Authority (BMA) initially refused their entry because they were unable to indicate the duration of their stay or the address of their accommodation.
Out of the 153, 23 were transferred to their final destinations, while the remaining 130 were processed for entry into South Africa on a 90-day visa
The Saturday’s statement referred to the charter flight incident as an example of “systematic abuse of the short stay exemption, with travel designed not for the purposes of tourism or short-stays as intended, but to relocate Palestinians from Gaza.”
“Rather than using ordinary commercial flights, entire airplanes were chartered not by the travellers themselves, but by intermediaries. Most passengers were given one-way tickets to South Africa and prohibited from bringing luggage with them.
“Upon their arrival at OR Tambo International Airport, it was further discovered that many of them lacked departure verification and accommodation in South Africa, in addition to not possessing return or onward flight tickets,” the department said.
“Taken together, this constituted obvious abuse of the exemption by external actors for purposes other than its intended use”, it added.
It noted that the charter flights were a form of abuse against the passengers, given that they had nowhere to go, and most did not want to claim asylum in South Africa, necessitating civil society organisations to take responsibility for their welfare.
It added that it will process any asylum applications from those who arrived in the two charter flights, but that those who do not want to seek asylum will have to leave by the end of the 90-day term.
During its investigation, the department also discovered that a Dubai-based broker, with offices in South Africa, recently requested bulk quotations for more charter flights to commence in the near future.
The Minister of Home Affairs, Dr Leon Schreiber, said: “When the most recent charter flight landed at OR Tambo International Airport, President Cyril Ramaphosa indicated that the travellers may have been flushed out of Gaza. Subsequent investigations have confirmed this to be the case.
“Withdrawing the visa exemption is the most effective way to prevent further flights of this nature, while ensuring that bona fide travellers from Palestine are safely able to visit South Africa without being subjected to abuse. South Africa will not be complicit in any scheme to exploit or displace Palestinians from Gaza.”
