Cape Town - The standing committee on finance, economic opportunities and tourism has secured confirmation from the Department of Home Affairs that it will appear before the provincial legislature to explain the delays in implementing a remote working visa.
Committee chairperson Cayla Murray (DA) said the briefing which is scheduled for 8am next Wednesday will be broadcast live on the legislature’s YouTube channel.
The province has been campaigning for the introduction of the visa since May 2021 when it sent a comprehensive proposal to the government. The proposal was for a short-term remote work visa for an initial oneyear period, with the option to renew it for an additional two years.
During his 2022 State of the Nation Address (Sona), President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that the visa would be happening soon, and he made the same pledge in this year’s Sona, but so far the visa has yet to be put into effect.
On Tuesday, Murray said: “It is especially urgent that Home Affairs provide an update on the implementation of a remote working visa, which has lagged since it was first announced in the 2022 Sona.”
At the recent South Africa Investment Conference, Ramaphosa announced several reforms to the country’s visa regime.
These included decentralising the adjudication of visa applications to foreign missions and the introduction of new visa categories for remote workers and start-ups to attract entrepreneurs.
Welcoming the announcement, Finance and Economic Opportunities MEC Mireille Wenger said: “Ultimately, reform requires follow through, and building confidence requires action, something which has been lacking by the national government to date.”
Meanwhile, the latest national tourist accommodation data released by Statistics SA show an uptick in income for the tourist accommodation industry which increased by 34.8% in February this year compared with February last year.
Statistician-General Risenga Maluleke said: “Income from accommodation increased by 51.6% in the three months ended February 2023 compared with the three months ended February 2022.
“The main contributors to this increase were hotels at 65.1%.”
At the same time, Maluleke announced that last month 2.4 million travellers passed through South Africa’s ports of entry/exit.
The numbers included arrivals, departures and transits. StatsSA said the travellers were made up of 699 326 South African residents and 1.7 million foreign travellers.
mwangi.githahu@inl.co.za