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SA Minister of Home Affairs, Malusi Gigaba, has resigned – a day before South African President Cyril Ramaphosa was due to take disciplinary action following a recommendation by the Public Protector, Busisiwe Mkhwebane.
This follows a rollercoaster ride for the Minister, where he failed to heed the escalating calls from the greater SA tourism industry to amend the Unabridged Birth Certificate (UBC) regulations, repeatedly failing to amend the regulations after undertaking to do so, most recently last month; was found guilty of lying under oath in the Fireblade operation; was rapped with the Public Protector recommendation that the country’s President take disciplinary action; and faced a leaked sex tape that left the Minister’s already-rocky reputation in tatters.
Gigaba was slated last week, in a Portfolio Committee of Home Affairs hearing, as a “constitutional delinquent”, and has been labelled the “tourism terminator”, owing to the devastating effects that UBC regulations he refused to amend have had on arrivals to South Africa. In the period June 2015 to July 2016 alone, Tourism Update reported the boarding denial of over 13 246 travellers due to UBC requirements not being met, according to statistics provided by the Tourism Business Council of South Africa (TBCSA). This equated to an estimated R7.51bn (€460m) in lost potential revenue.
In a statement released on Tuesday, November 13, Gigaba said his reasons for resigning were “for the sake of the country and the movement to which he belongs…[and] further to relieve the President from the undue pressure, and allow him to focus on improving the lives of the people of South Africa, and for him to do the best he can to serve the country and save it from this economic meltdown”.
A statement released by the Presidency on the same day states: “The president has accepted the minister’s resignation and expressed his appreciation for Minister Gigaba’s longstanding service to the government and people of SA.” The position will be temporarily filled by Minister of Transport, Blade Nzimande.
Democratic Alliance (DA) Shadow Minister of Home Affairs, Hanif Hoosen, said: “We welcome this resignation, but unfortunately he [Gigaba] didn’t do it early enough to save his own Cabinet, his own country and the government an enormous amount of pain and embarrassment. We hope that the President appoints someone who will take tourism and the country seriously, and put them before their own party.”
Tshifhiwa Tshivhengwa, CEO of the TBCSA, however notes: “The Minister may have resigned, but the issues of immigration regulations and visa waivers still stand. So we will be working on changing the status quo, as these have always been issues between the TBCSA and the Department [of Home Affairs]. We intend to continue working closely with the Departments of Tourism and Home Affairs to make sure that we resolve these issues, and work towards the growth of tourism in our country.”
CEO of the Southern Africa Tourism Services Association (Satsa), David Frost, concurs. “This is not a personal issue. This is about the competitiveness of the tourism industry. The barriers are still there and we will work together with our colleagues within the TBCSA fold to make sure that we remove these barriers so that we can grow the tourism industry and contribute meaningfully to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s promise to grow the economy. Tourism can deliver on this promise.”
Gigaba’s spokespeople remained inaccessible for comment from the Minister, having switched off their mobile phones.
With his resignation, the South African tourism industry has revived hopes that the debilitating UBCs will be constructively amended or, ideally, done away with, to throw open the doors of the country to welcome travellers and their families. SA now faces the journey to reconstruct the face of South Africa as an easily accessible tourism destination.
Former Shadow Minister of Tourism, James Vos, aptly concludes: “Good riddance to the Tourism Terminator. Hasta la Visa, baby.”
Source: tourismupdate.co.za