South African visa

This week has given us an opportunity to highlight the challenges Ugandans go through while trying to attain visas to South Africa, a country Uganda assisted during their fight against apartheid.
I remember as a young man in school in Jinja, every boarding school there having a number of their fighters. I actually had personal friends amongst them mainly because I stayed in the same room with some.

I posted on one of my Facebook pages about how some of the Ugandan tour operators have been mishandled by the South African Visa section including our (Great Lakes Safaris and Uganda Lodges Ltd) own business development manager, Sheila Kogo Malinga. At the beginning of April this year, world travel market Africa took place in Cape Town, South Africa. Tourism exhibitions such as World Travel Market Africa are very critical in trying to create networks with different operators from all the world.

Cape Town has attracted lots of tour operators from all around the world with interest in marketing the African continent. That makes it easy for us destination management companies to attract certain level of business. Cape Town is used as a base. Early April, Sheila applied for a visa to represent Great Lakes Safaris and Uganda Lodges Ltd. The day before the exhibition after taking very long with her passport, South Africa says she overstayed in their country by an hour and we had to send one of our team mates with An American passport to cover up however late it was. I personally engaged the High Commissioner whom I have known now for some time.

According to the South African visa guys, one extra hour in their country earns you one year of ban.
She delayed by one hour because the South African airways delayed their departure out of Cape Town to Johannesburg for a connecting flight to Uganda.
Here it does not matter who is on the wrong. Sheila has many years of travelling with the company and lived and worked in the UK for many years and South Africa would be the last place for her to relocate to. Anyway, the embassy tells her to apply when her one year expires which was second week of April this year.

She applies second time same month paying another $150 non-refundable to attend Indaba which happens to be the third largest tourism exhibition after ITB Berlin and World travel Market London. The South African High Commission calls her for her passport visa denied two days to the fair again and I realise many other Ugandan operators especially those attending as trade visitors had gone through the same hustle.

What annoys me is that a South African will pack their bags and arrive at our airport pay only $50 for a three-month visa where overstaying by an hour will not attract any caution.
They do not have to endure the mental challenge of facing their other office that collects information for them before they even consider your application. South Africa has more than 70 companies doing business in Uganda taking home more than $500m annually from the economy whose people they are abusing using visas.

Uganda makes less than $100m annually from them and that makes it a one sided affair. Denying genuine Ugandan businessmen travel opportunities is same as denying Uganda growth.
Many Ugandans, including our political class do not understand that our hands have been tied and we have been told, please compete with us.

Those hands have been tied using things such as visas which restrict movement which movement opens opportunities for trade.
Visas are a very clear non-tariff barriers that have kept Africa in the dark and until our own leaders wake to fight for the common man, Africans will not see wealth. We shall remain a group of people flying to China in pursuit of aid as opposed to business which dignifies humans.

The writer is an investment expert and ceo at Great Lake safaris and Uganda lodges
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