Minister of Home Affairs Aaron Motsoaledi says that the flexibility afforded to passport applications and collections in South Africa is being removed to protect the integrity of the document.
The change follows high-profile cases of fraud and corruption involving passports in recent months, which have damaged the country’s reputation and brought the security of the South African passport into question.
Because of the cases involving citizens from Bangladesh and Pakistan trying to pass through South Africa’s airports illegally, the department said it is withdrawing the transit visa exemption for Bangladesh and Pakistan from 1 August 2022.
Locally, the minister announced the first of three major actions being taken to protect the security of the South African passport – the end of transferrable and third-party collections and a new activation process that can only be completed by the applicant.
