President Zuma's Kenya visit produces no visa deal
South African President Jacob Zuma (left) speaks next to his Kenyan counterpart Uhuru Kenyatta during a press conference on October 11, 2016 in Nairobi. AFP PHOTO | SIMON MAINA
The news of South African President Jacob Zuma visiting Nairobi had Kenyans upbeat that finally, his country’s restrictive visa regime would be eased.
However, last week’s visit proved anti-climax when President Zuma remained noncommittal on reviewing visa requirements for Kenyans visiting South Africa.
President Kenyatta had set the stage for a discussion when he said the two countries needed to scrap restrictive visa requirements but the response from his guest offered no immediate solutions.
“We would like to strengthen relations between the two countries. In our view, there is no reason why both our countries cannot agree on exemption of visas for each other’s citizens. Such an action would go a long way to allowing our people to get to know one another to mutual benefit,” President Kenyatta said at a joint-media briefing.
However, when President Zuma took to the stage, he remained non-committal on the visa request.
“The visa decision is a matter in progress and it is being worked on by the two countries. We have to ensure that there are no loopholes for criminals to take advantage of,” President Zuma said.
Kenya had hoped South Africa would implement the May 2 agreement with its Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba that would see Kenyans get better visa terms with frequent travellers getting up to three-year multiple entry visas or 10-year multiple entry visas for businessmen.
The EastAfrican has, however, learnt that the two countries agreed to immediately implement the scrapping of visas for diplomats and service officials, with ordinary passport holders to be considered after an assessment has been done by the South African Home Affairs Ministry.
A joint communique from the two leaders said that the ultimate goal was to work towards achieving a visa-free status.
