The move announced by SA’s Department of Home Affairs (DHA) to apply visa restrictions to citizens of New Zealand – effective 16 January 2017 – comes only months after New Zealand announced visa requirements for South Africa citizens in October.
Restrictions on parents travelling with minors and needing unabridged birth certificates have already cost the South African tourism industry billions in income.
The Minister of Home Affairs, Malusi Gigaba, told the media on Tuesday that he is implementing a principal of reciprocity with New Zealand. He is of the opinion that this principal is an international one that was applied as a policy across all governments of the world.
He also said the Department of Home Affairs made decisions on a case-by-case basis. It is for this reason that, while South Africans were required to apply for a visa to visit the UK, high numbers of visitors from the UK to SA prevented the department from applying blanket visa restrictions to UK citizens.
It is not yet known what the price of a SA visa will be for New Zealand citizens.
Responding to the move on social media, one tourist operator said: “Dear DHA and Honourable Gigaba ,, it seems that “tit for tat” is your policy, what about job creation ,, your stupid tit for tat will cause job losses and further exacerbate poverty.”
