Magang angry with visa delays

KATLEGO SIBANDA
Correspondent | Friday June 17, 2011 00:00

 

Though the move is aimed at rationalisation of operations, Magang says it is slowing the country's economic growth down. Magang was speaking at Tourism Pitso 2011 that was held at GICC, where other participants also bemoaned the sluggish service delivery of the Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs.

He called for swift and timely processing of work and residence permits and to slash the three-month turnaround period that applicants are currently subjected to.

'The most talented people are not going to wait for three months,' Magang said to a resounding applause from the audience of tourism entrepreneurs drawn from across the country. 'There is a high rejection (rate) while a number of employees are on waivers. That causes anxiety to both employer and employee (regarding) the outcome of the applications,' said another participant support Magang's point.

Magang could not stomach the pain caused to both work permits and visa applicants, amid efforts by the Minister of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism Kitso Mokaila to challenge participants to deliberate on issues related to his ministry during the Pitso.

In response, a spokesman of the Department of Labour, Reuben Mosimanyana, admitted that the process was causing delays. 'It's true that it's taking too long, four to five months, for permit applicants to get their results,' Mosimanyana said. 'Both Labour and Immigration are going through a re-engineering process to identify problem areas.

'The problem came after the computerisation process. Time and again the system is down and our hands are tied. We regret that and hope the system will be corrected.'

Nonetheless, a persistent Magang called for a paradigm shift in visa processing in order to allow for point of entry visa applications. 'We are losing out and will continue to lose out unless we change ... until we wake up to the fact that tourism is supposed to be first class travel all the way,' he said.

The Director of the Department of Immigration and Citizenship, Mabuse Pule, also entered the fray: 'We are supposed to take seven days,' Pule said.  'During the last quarter of the last financial year, we were doing seven days. Yes, there could be some situations where there are delays, but they are isolated,'

He said Botswana does not have facilities for processing visa applications at port of entry while UniVisa is still under discussion among member states of the Southern African Development Community (SADC). (Sila Press Agency)