Business has a clear incentive to find a solution, writes BLSA CEO.
A lack of critical skills is holding back the South African economy, and we are not solving the problem as fast as we should be. There is a backlog of 74 000 applications for all kinds of visas at the Department of Home Affairs according to an official quoted by Bloomberg last month, many of those in the scarce skills category.
This despite concerted efforts by government, led by the Operation Vulindlela programme, to drive implementation of policy that will substantially improve access to scarce skills visas.
The backlog is staggering, a number in line with the headcount of some of South Africa’s biggest companies. If those skills were to suddenly be working in our economy, the impact would be significant.
The fact that companies can’t fill the positions means they can’t invest and expand. Expansion would enable much further employment, more tax to be generated, and the overall business environment to be greatly improved. The presidency has estimated that one additional job is created for every skilled post that is filled.
I have been told anecdotally by companies that service has improved from the Home Affairs Department, but the backlog remains a problem to get on top of.
I have highlighted what poor visa policy does to business in the past and the good work that has been done under OV to overhaul the policy. The presidency has said access to visas is the second biggest constraint on the economy after loadshedding. The new policies include the introduction of a trusted employer scheme that will allow certain companies to fast-track applications. Home Affairs said in April that it would have the scheme in place in three months.
There has certainly been progress, with application forms published in October. However, to date no company is yet benefiting from the scheme and there does not appear to be a clear timeline for when they will. Home Affairs has also missed deadlines for other visa reforms including remote working visas to enable so-called “digital nomads” to work from South Africa and visas for founders of start-ups that choose to launch their companies in South Africa.
I appreciate that some policy reforms can be challenging, requiring legislative amendments and changes to regulations in multiple domains. But not all are so difficult â€` remote workers, for example, can be changed simply by revising the immigration regulations, a relatively straightforward process.
But even when improved policy outcomes are delivered, the backlog will still be a problem. It appears to be fundamentally administrative in that Home Affairs simply does not have the capacity to process the applications. That needs a long-term fix that must be made by the department, with appropriate resourcing to manage the load. But there is clearly a need for a short-term stopgap to get on top of long-outstanding applications.
Business could help. The private sector has extensive administrative capacity that could be drawn on to process the backlog. While the procedures to do so would need to be

determined, and staff capacity will need to be built through some training, the backlog could be resolved in a matter of months.
The right technology could also be brought in to improve processing, given that Home Affair’s computers work at roughly one-sixtieth the speed of those in most banks.
In much the way that business has assisted government with technical skills to resolve infrastructure breakdowns ranging from sewerage treatment plants through to electricity stations, the visas backlog could be tackled through a partnership between business and government. It is certainly a possibility worth exploring.
Business has a clear incentive to find a solution. The inability to bring in foreign skills risks pushing many companies out of South Africa entirely. We have long marketed ourselves as a “gateway to Africa”, attracting companies to set up their regional headquarters here.
Yet many companies who have done so now encounter extreme frustration in bringing in the skills they need to operate. They would have no such problem had they opted instead to set up in Dubai or Mauritius. OV says that applications for similar visas in Kenya take three months, while in Nigeria it is two.
Analysis by OV suggests that about 900 000 South Africans emigrated in 2020. Many of those were skilled, so freeing up the ability to attract foreign skills is very important to support the economy. The backlog represents applications made through an arduous process that includes police clearance certificates from every country that applicants have previously worked in.
About half of the applications that Home Affairs does process are rejected. Countless more are never made in the first place because potential applicants are discouraged by the bureaucracy. Unsurprisingly, given the delays and difficulty in making an application, the numbers have been declining, with about 3,000 scarce skills applications in 2021 compared to 7 000 in 2017. The policy overhaul proposed by OV urgently needs to be delivered.
The visa chaos is a clear example of good policy thinking failing to be implemented. Business is willing to work with government to get to the outcomes that would leave everyone better off.
The function of business in economics is to contribute production of goods and services to society and the employment of labour for which it is reasonably taxed by the state.
The function of the state is to use those funds and the funds from personal taxes and other taxes like VAT etc to the benefit of the citizens in the form of infrastructure, security, health and education.
The function of the ANC seems to be to deploy their inept members in state departments to steal whatever they can.
When business has to be deflected from its main function to support the function of the state, the economy slides into being unable to compete globally and the economy fails. V.5074

Australia’s plan to cap the number of new international students to 270,000 starting in 2025 has sparked widespread concern within the education sector. However, the proposal, which still needs parliamentary approval, is unlikely to have a significant impact on students from African countries planning to study in Australia. The National Planning Level (NPL) for 2025, which includes the limit on the number of international student enrolments, aims to reduce overall migration to pre-pandemic levels. V.5595
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Bethuel Ngobeni, Dumisa Moyo, Nhlanhla Magwaca, Moseki Sechele, Thabo Sechele and Khudzai Mashaya appear in court to face illicit gold mining charges. Image: Thapelo Morebudi An investigation into illicit gold mining has uncovered how one of the accused obtained a fraudulent identity document, 12 years after arriving in SA. V.5594
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• Lesotho has rekindled moves to implement localisation rules for certain types of businesses dominated by foreigners. • Indians, Chinese and South Africans dominate the 47 reserved businesses. • SA firms will be under pressure to use local distributors, and not contract Basotho labour via SA-based agents. V.5587
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Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber said that plans were underway for the Department of Home Affairs to switch from working manually to digitally. CAPE TOWN - Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber said that long queues, off-line systems, and paper-based applications at department offices would soon be a thing of the past. Schreiber said that plans were underway for the Department of Home Affairs to switch from working manually to digitally. V.5588
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‘There are various pathways and provisions in the law that recognise that people should not be stateless, and we are failing to ensure that these people have papers,’ says Global Movement Against Statelessness’ Christy Chitengu. Christy Chitengu was born in South Africa and regards herself as a South African, despite her parents being Zimbabwean. V.5589
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Inspection at workplaces set to increase Newly appointed home affairs minister Leon Schreiber will increase inspections at restaurants, spaza shops, farms and mines to heighten the crackdown on undocumented workers in these industries. Schreiber said while SA welcomes those who contribute to the country legally through skills, investments and as tourists, it needed to do more to combat illegal immigration. V.5592
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CAPE TOWN - Minister of Home Affairs Leon Schreiber says since March, his department already reported 109 cases of document fraud to its counter corruption unit. Three officials have been convicted and sentenced during this same period. V.5593
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Key Takeaways • As of August 28, Canada has banned temporary residents on visitor visas from applying for work permits within the country. • The policy`s early termination is part of IRCC`s efforts to manage the influx of temporary residents and combat immigration fraud. • Starting September 26, 2024, Canada will cut the number of temporary foreign workers by about 65,000. Canada has recently launched a new policy that prohibits temporary residents on visitor visas from applying for work permits within the country, a decision that significantly impacts their ability to work and stay in Canada. V.5583
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The United Kingdom has long been a favoured destination for South Africans seeking work or residency, thanks to shared language, time zones, and historical ties. However, according to JP Breytenbach from Breytenbachs Immigration Consultants, the profile of South African migrants is changing. “There is a significant increase in business migration, with companies aiming to expand into the UK as a gateway to Europe or the US,” he shared in an interview with Biznews. Many of these South Africans businesses feel they have reached a ceiling in their local markets or are tech entrepreneurs who believe their products are not yet viable in South Africa. This year, new UK immigration rules are set to take effect as the country seeks to limit net migration. V.5584
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Applicants who prefer hard copies of ZEP waiver letters will still be able to collect them at branches. Leon Schreiber, Minister of Home Affairs, during the swearing-in ceremony of the new national executive members at Cape Town International Convention Centre on 3 July, 2024 in Cape Town. Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber has announced that the first batch of Zimbabwean Exemption Permit (ZEP) waiver applications has been processed. ZEP holders will no longer need to go to Home Affairs branches to find out the outcome of their applications. The department will be sending them out digitally. V.5585
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