Now, let me give you another reason, hon Minister, why these regulations are going to destroy more jobs.
The introduction of VFS Global to facilitate the handling of all visa applications will now render the hundreds of private immigration companies completely redundant. All of these private practitioners employ thousands of South Africans who will now join their jobless counterparts on the streets. Explain, again, to the nation, hon Minister: Where do you expect these thousands of people to go when finding a job in our country is becoming nearly impossible?
Now, you announced very recently that already VFS Global had received about 4 000 applications. Do the maths - at R1 350, this company has made some R5 million in one month, and you've shut down all the private immigration companies so that one company can make R5 million and put all those people on the street. [Interjections.]
The tourism sector - another reason - employs about 600 000 people. The National Development Plan suggests that the sector has the potential to add a further 225 000 jobs by 2020 and that this sector can contribute about R500 billion to the economy. However, the new regulations are causing havoc for thousands of tourists wanting to travel to South Africa. Already Chinese and Indian travel agents are advising their clients to seriously consider other destinations in Africa. I have no doubt, hon Minister, that your regulations are going to have a huge impact on our tourism sector, and I am sure that this will lead to further job losses.
I can give the Minister another 20 reasons why these regulations are bad for our economy and bad for job creation. But let me now focus on why they are bad for the image of our country.
The value statement of the Department of Home Affairs includes its being committed to being people-centred, caring, professional and having integrity.
As a consequence of the new regulations, hundreds of foreigners who are forced to leave the country because the department does not have the capacity to grant them visa extensions in time, are now being marked as "undesirable", and they are banned from entering the country for another five years. Many of these foreigners have families and sometimes children who are South African citizens.
It simply does not make sense why you, hon Minister, are hell-bent on punishing innocent foreigners for something they have absolutely no control over. This is tantamount to punishing innocent people for the department's incapacity. These hurried regulations are now tearing innocent families apart.
Now, I understand, Minister, that people can have their undesirable status overturned and can submit appeals. I understand that. But it doesn't make sense, for example, to give an innocent person a criminal record and then ask him to appeal it to have it removed. That doesn't make sense. It also does not make sense to expect thousands of foreigners in the country to use only 11 newly established visa centres when previously this service was offered at scores of Department of Home Affairs offices countrywide.
Let me also tell you that if you want to apply for a visa through VFS Global in Johannesburg, the next available appointment is somewhere in the middle of August. This office can only accommodate a certain number of interviews in a day and the diaries are filling up very fast. Soon one will have to wait months for an interview and this will have a knock-on effect on the number of people who travel in and out of our country. This will also make us look like we are running some sort of Mickey Mouse operation, because we don't have the capacity to meet the demand. [Interjections.] Hon Chair, I want to tell this House the story of a Pakistani citizen who recently had to be interviewed by a Home Affairs official for a residency permit. The new regulations require that the husband and the wife are interviewed separately on the same day and at the same time to determine the authenticity of their relationship. Quite understandable. But this young man had to suffer the indignity of describing the type, the colour and the style of his wife's underwear that she wore to bed the night before the interview. [Interjections.] He also had to answer other similar questions that invaded his wife's right to privacy. This is not an isolated incident. I ask you, sir: Is this the caring, professional and people- centred service that we should be delivering? [Interjections.]
Now, what boggles my mind even more ...