Valerie Mmanthe Mampshika,[Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and English].
Tension seems to be heightened for our fellow African brothers and sisters who are not permanent residents of South Africa in correlation with the issue of passports being renewed,remaining in the country and keeping their jobs.
Dr Pakishe Aaron Motsoaledi previously as known as the Health Minister before Phophi Ramathuba is currently known as the Minister of Home Affairs in the country,and he is doing quite an amazing job due to the drastic changes he has made this year.
Motsoaledi does not tolerate illegal immigrants damaging our societies,and earlier this year he decided to hire a group of men accountable for border gates to facilitate that the immigrants are legal with proper documentation.
“We are relieved that an extension has been made to apply for new passports till June 2023”,said most of my Zimbabwean and Mozambican friends whom were terrified at first to leave the country in December,which is why most of them have tried to go back to their countries to apply for new passports.
The Minister of Home Affairs, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi has amended the fees for South African passports and travel documents in terms of section 4(1)(e) of the South African Passports and Travel Documents Act, 1994 (Act No. 4 of 1994),consulted with the new Minister of Finance Mr Enoch Gondogwana.
The amended fees, which were published in Government Gazette No. 47256 (attached) on 06 October 2022, will come into operation from the 1st of November 2022.
Section 4(1)(e) of the South African Passports and Travel Documents Act, 1994, enables the Minister of Home Affairs to make new rules regarding the fees which are payable when a South African Passport or Travel Document is issued,due to innumerable talks with the Minister of Finance.
The passport and travel document fees changed,in consequence of the Ministers being well informed by the outcome of a bench-marking exercise with other states and coming to the realisation of the fact that South African tariffs were up to three times lower.The decision was taken after the Ministers determined that production costs are much higher than what people are paying for our passports which plainly means that the Government is heavily subsidising passport holders.
Dr Motsoaledi believes that part of the general public that affords to travel out of the country are financially better off than ordinary citizens,and they don’t need to be subsidised in the way the Department of Home Affairs has been doing.
The fees payable for the issuing of South African passports and travel documents were last adjusted in 2011 when Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma was the president during his first term(2009-2014).
There are different fees for applications made in South Africa and those coming from abroad.
The fees payable respectively of applications for a South African passport or travel document made in the Republic are as follows:
Adult passport R600 for 32 pages (current fee R400); R1 200 for 48 pages (maxi, current fee R800)
Child passport R600 (current fee R400)
Official passport R600 (currently no charge)
Diplomatic passport R600 (currently no charge)
Document for travel purposes R600 (current fee R300)
Crew member certificate R600 (current fee R350)
The fees payable respectively of applications for a South African passport or travel document made outside of the Republic, at Missions, Embassies or Consulates, are as follows:
Adult passport R1 200 for 32 pages (current fee R400); R2 400 for 48 pages (maxi, current fee R800)
Child passport R1 200 (current fee R400)
Emergency travel certificate R140 (current fee R140).
In closing,Dr Motsoaledi clarified that there is nothing called an emergency passport accessible at any Home Affairs branch,also the emergency travel certificate stated above is a document available only to South Africans with an old green South African Identity book or smartcard with 13 digits stranded abroad.
