South Africa to open borders for 2010
Tom Burgis | Thursday, 12 June 2008
South Africa is set to throw open its borders to its poorer neighbours under plans to introduce visa-free travel across southern Africa in time for the football World Cup in 2010.
The move would see nationals from the 14 members of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) -- including Zimbabwe, Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the relatively prosperous South Africa -- allowed to move across the bloc's internal borders on a passport alone.
Francis Mfune, executive director of the Regional Tourism Organisation of Southern Africa, SADC's tourism arm, said talks were "quite advanced".
"They have in principle said yes," he said, although there was still friction over some particularly sensitive borders.
There are fears that relaxing migration controls would precipitate an influx of economic migrants to South Africa. Gross domestic product (GDP) per head in South Africa is $3,827 a year compared with $103 in Congo, according to International Monetary Fund (IMF) data.
Patrick Craven, spokesman for Cosatu, South Africa's trade union federation, said the plan could help spread economic benefits in the region. But he warned that there were risks to boosting immigration to a country where employment officially stands at 23 per cent but which Cosatu estimates at almost 40 per cent.
SADC's immigration ministers met in March and instructed officials to work out the "nitty gritty" of the scheme in order to present a blueprint for approval by heads of government at their August summit in South Africa, Mr Mfune said.
The 2010 World Cup, the first to be held in Africa, is the deadline for implementation of the plan. In line with the Africanism of Thabo Mbeki, South Africa's outgoing president, organisers are striving to present the tournament as hosted by all of Africa rather than its southern powerhouse alone.
South Africa is spending R40bn ($5.4bn,
The move would see nationals from the 14 members of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) -- including Zimbabwe, Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the relatively prosperous South Africa -- allowed to move across the bloc's internal borders on a passport alone.
Francis Mfune, executive director of the Regional Tourism Organisation of Southern Africa, SADC's tourism arm, said talks were "quite advanced".
"They have in principle said yes," he said, although there was still friction over some particularly sensitive borders.
There are fears that relaxing migration controls would precipitate an influx of economic migrants to South Africa. Gross domestic product (GDP) per head in South Africa is $3,827 a year compared with $103 in Congo, according to International Monetary Fund (IMF) data.
Patrick Craven, spokesman for Cosatu, South Africa's trade union federation, said the plan could help spread economic benefits in the region. But he warned that there were risks to boosting immigration to a country where employment officially stands at 23 per cent but which Cosatu estimates at almost 40 per cent.
SADC's immigration ministers met in March and instructed officials to work out the "nitty gritty" of the scheme in order to present a blueprint for approval by heads of government at their August summit in South Africa, Mr Mfune said.
The 2010 World Cup, the first to be held in Africa, is the deadline for implementation of the plan. In line with the Africanism of Thabo Mbeki, South Africa's outgoing president, organisers are striving to present the tournament as hosted by all of Africa rather than its southern powerhouse alone.
South Africa is spending R40bn ($5.4bn,