Chair, as the ACDP looks at this budget and considers its potential to get the job done, the impact of the new immigration laws is uppermost in our minds. While we are acutely aware that national security cannot be taken lightly, we are concerned that the new regulations are causing difficulties for businesses, individuals and families.
New requirements for in-person biometric data collection for tourist visas and unabridged birth certificates for travelling minors are viewed by many as disadvantaging South Africa in the intensely competitive global tourism trade. And this is expected to impact particularly on emerging, high-growth tourism from countries like China and India, as large tour groups visit South Africa in the winter months, providing important business in the off- season.
Now there is an upside, of course, regarding human trafficking. Club owners in South Africa, for example, were previously able to apply for visas on behalf of women they import for sexual exploitation under the guise of exotic dancing, and the ACDP calls on the department to increase vigilance in this regard. How effectively does this budget actually speak to the issue of trafficking - the need for relevant training and other critical aspects?
Meanwhile, airline representatives have warned that South Africa could lose an estimated 536 000 visitors or roughly R6,8 billion.
We have also been advised that there is insecurity around foreign adoptions, as families face the very real possibility of having to leave the country without their adopted children. This is disturbing in view of the great need in South Africa for suitable families to adopt orphans.
Possibly the most far-reaching impact will be felt, however, by more than a quarter of a million Zimbabweans who fled the political and economic crisis at home after disputed elections in 2008. The special permits they were granted expire later this year. According to the new laws, if they want to continue living in the country, they will have to return home to apply for extensions. Hon Minister, the ACDP is appealing to you to urgently consider giving Zimbabweans the right to work in South Africa as part of a temporary permit process.
Research shows that this would have many positive benefits for South Africa, including increasing the ability of Zimbabweans to productively contribute to the South African economy through their skills' being utilised in the formal labour market and through entrepreneurialism. It would also help efforts to combat corruption, protect labour standards, upskill the economy and fight crime.
This is not to mention the huge savings for the taxpayer if the overloaded and ineffective deportation system could be scrapped. Most of the 250 000 people are unlikely to be in a position to go back and options like rounding them up, sending them to Lindela Repatriation Centre, and then deporting them by air would be a very unfortunate and costly business.
Hon Minister, does this budget ensure capacity in the department to enable it to provide the documents it will require South African travellers to present? If not, the call for unabridged certificates is likely to drastically increase applications and create yet another backlog.
And, very quickly, let me ask about an adequate budget for security outside of Home Affairs offices. This is becoming even more critical as people, especially the elderly, are extremely vulnerable because they are being attacked by thugs in those places.
The ACDP assumes, hon Minister, that you are aware of many of these issues and that you, as much as any one of us, do not want to see unintended consequences. This is no easy task but it is urgent.
We will support this budget, which will require exemplary management if it is to get the job done. Thank you. [Applause.]