By Paidashe Mandivengerei
The South African government has relaxed it’s travelling conditions on Zimbabwean children entering and departing from their country,
A directive sent to immigration officials, on Sunday the 8th of November, South African Home Affairs minister, Aaron Motsoaledi said foreign visa exempt children can now enter the country without providing supporting documents like birth certificates, parental consent letters or a court order.
Motsoaledi goes on to emphasize that all other requirements should be complied with foreign children visit.
Before these changes were communicated, children from Zimbabwe and other foreign countries could not enter South Africa without the additional documents.
“I, Dr PA Motsoaledi, MP, Minister of Home Affairs has with the powers bestowed upon me in terms of sections 31(2)(c) of the Immigration Act, 2002 (Act No 13 of 2002), decided to grant a waiver to foreign children from visa exempt countries entering and departing the Republic from complying with the provisions of regulation 6(12B)(c) of the Immigration Regulations, 2014 whilst the Department is in the process of finalising the amendments to the Immigration Regulations in this regard.
“This means that foreign visa exempt children are no longer required to present a birth certificate, parental consent letter of other supporting documentation such as a death certificate or court order when travelling with one parent/legal guardian or someone other than a parent/legal guardian,” reads part of the letter.
