Home Affairs Minister Dr Leon Schreiber announces the withdrawal of South Africa’s 90-day visa waiver for Palestinian passport holders following intelligence findings of systematic exploitation. Minister of Home Affairs Dr Leon Schreiber has withdrawn South Africa’s 90-day visa exemption for Palestinian passport holders after a group of153 Palestiniansarrived last month on a chartered flight from Kenya. “Following investigations and recommendations by national intelligence structures, and consultations within the Security Cluster – which confirmed the 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actors linked to ‘voluntary emigration’ efforts for residents of the Gaza Strip – the Department of Home Affairs has withdrawn the exemption,” Schreiber said.
He said that a short-stay visa exemptions are commonly used by countries to encourage tourism and short-term travel. However, investigations into the recent arrival of two charter flights carrying Palestinian passport holders revealed systematic abuse of the exemption, with travel “designed not for the purposes of tourism or short stays as intended, but to relocatePalestiniansfrom Gaza”. Schreiber said the passengers did not charter the flights themselves.
Instead, intermediaries organised entire aircraft. Many travellers, he said, held one-way tickets to South Africa and were barred from bringing luggage, allowing only US dollars and essential items.
