PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA – APRIL 10: United Democratic Movement (UDM) leader, Bantu Holomisa looks on following his appearance at the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into the Public Investment Corporation on April 10, 2019 – Photo: Gallo Images / Phill Magakoe
If you’ve tried to get over to the UK during the last decade, you’ll be painfully aware of just how laborious it is to secure a visit visa. Before then, a boom of South Africans were allowed to travel freely to Britain, for both recreational and business purposes. The laws have since changed, and the UDM’s Bantu Holomisa has had enough.
Bantu Holomisa likens UK treatment of SA travellers to “terrorists”
The experienced campaigner appeared in Parliament on Tuesday to lament the current restrictions holding Saffers back. He singled out Blighty for its “unfair” treatment of our fellow citizens, and pondered where the “distrust” in South Africans had actually come from. Holomisa said that the difficulties in obtaining visas made it feel like applicants from Mzansi were being treated as “potential terrorists”:
“For some time now the United Kingdom has required South Africans to apply for visas to visit the UK, because of their security concerns. This includes the tedious requirement to obtain a transit visa to connect with flights to other countries. Yet, South Africa is still freely welcomes UK travellers and business-people.”
“There seems to be a distrust of South Africans. Much has changed since then, and one would argue that the time has come for the British and South African governments to reassess, and to alleviate a situation that by design unfairly penalises South Africans and virtually, still brands us (as a nation) as potential terrorists.”
Bantu HolomisaVisit visas for the UK
Visit visas require a heap of paperwork from South Africans looking to travel to the UK. But British citizens travelling to Mzansi barely require anything bar their passport to gain acess here. The UDM are now hounding the ANC to prioritise this issue and meet with the UK Foreign Office.
Bantu Holomisa finished his statement by asking the UK to explain exactly where South Africa has gone wrong. He wants to know why travelling to the British Isles remains such a mission, and has asked for the relationship between the two nations to be reassessed.
But if the UDM are hoping for an audience with the UK government any time soon, they’d be a lucky bunch. There is a general election being held on 12 December, and the country is still negotiating the last few hurdles of leaving the European Union. Brexit is scheduled to take place on 31 January.
