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Speaker dismisses request for debate on new regs

Source: Tourism Update, 19/09/2015


The Speaker of the National Assembly, Baleka Mbete, has dismissed a
request to have the country`s immigration regulations debated in the
National Assembly.
The request was made by Member of Parliament and Democratic Alliance
Shadow Minister of Tourism, James Vos.
In a reply to Vos`s request, Mbete said: It is my view that while this
is an important matter, it may be taken forward by other means in the
near future."
Vos accused the Speaker of not considering job losses as a result of
the visa regulations as important. "The clearest indication yet of the
ANC`s indifference towards unemployment is the Speaker of the National
Assembly`s rejection of the DA`s call for an urgent debate on the
indefensible visa regulations," he said in a statement.
Vos also pointed out that a report by Grant Thornton suggested that
the impact of the new visa regulations on the South African economy in
2014 was a negative R2,6bn and a loss of more than 5 800 jobs. "The
report predicts that, in 2015, the number of foreign tourists lost due
to changes in the immigration regulations is likely to increase to 100
000, with a loss of 9 300 jobs and the total nett loss to the South
African GDP of around R4.1 billion (€275m)," he said.


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