South Africa Discriminates Against Foreigners Despite Acute Need For Skills

Source: Afkinsider, 15/09/2016

A story in The Economist entitled "Drawbridges Up" discusses
geopolitical openness in a post-Brexit world facing a continuing
refugee crisis, along with the possibility of Donald Trump`s
presidency. Immigration lawyer Gary Eisenberg sees similar barriers
going up in South Africa.


The new divide in rich countries, The Economist article says, is not
between the political left and right, but "open" versus "closed."
Is South Africa raising its drawbridges, or is it as open for business
as President Jacob Zuma would have us believe?
Immigration lawyer Gary Eisenberg has watched for two decades as South
Africa emerged from an era of enforced isolation, only to erect the
same barriers to trade and capital flows that restricted the economy
pre-1994.


"Barriers to trade and foreign direct investment are not always
immediately visible," says Eisenberg, recalling the U.S. and Japan`s
strained economic relationship in the 1980s. "What the U.S. found
particularly worrying was that, while Japan ascribed to low quotas and
tariffs for the purposes of trade, its bureaucratic and cultural
manner of transacting business constituted barriers to the importation
of U.S. goods, services and capital."


Eisenberg detects many of these same barriers today in South Africa –
to foreigners` entry, imports, and the personnel accompanying foreign
direct investment.
Eisenberg challenged the government in High Court when it denied the
Dalai Lama`s visa application ahead of Archbishop Desmond Tutu`s 80th
birthday party in 2011. The Tibetan leader-in-exile was forced to
cancel his trip. For Eisenberg, the case represented a flagrant
disregard of the constitution and Bill of Rights. The blatant kowtow
to China would not be easily forgotten on the international
stage.


"The president flies around the world proclaiming that South Africa is
open for business," says Eisenberg. In reality, this openness has
fizzled with Zuma`s ascension.


"The concept of openness must always be accompanied by a decrease in
bureaucratic red tape," Eisenberg points out. But the time lags
involved in registering companies, reserving trading names,
successfully changing shareholders and directors, registering with
professional bodies and obtaining licensing assistance from
governmental and parastatal bodies all weigh against any semblance of
openness that the country wishes to project.


Meanwhile, Eisenberg notes that South Africa has become "particularly
uncompetitive", attributing this to corruption at central and local
governmental levels, an ineffective judicial process, widespread
bureaucratic inefficiency and, as a result of this, a compromise of
the rule of law in all manner of government dealings.


"South Africa no longer has an effective foreign policy, and the value
of foreigners penetrating the South African labor market and, indeed,
taking up residence in the country has been acutely curtailed – not
only in terms of foreign policy, but also in terms of the
ineffectiveness of South Africa`s immigration policy and its emphasis
on border security," he says.


A July 2016 policy briefing published by the South African Institute
of International Affairs (SAIIA) addresses widespread xenophobia in
the country, and the resultant weakening of its foreign policy – and
its Africa policy in particular.


"Xenophobic violence undermines and discredits South Africa`s unifying
African foreign policy vision. It cannot be a credible African leader
with violent incidents of xenophobia within its borders," SAIIA
states.


A country`s foreign policy should reflect its own domestic policy,
without which its claim to a place on the international stage rings
hollow. "Before assuming a robust external identity, foreign policy
doctrines ought to be localised," writes SAIIA.


"We have regressed from having a global foreign policy, to an African
foreign policy, to a local, inward-looking foreign policy," Eisenberg
says.


Traditionally, entrepreneurs – bringing with them both financial and
intellectual capital – have been welcomed from abroad, but they are no
longer making South Africa their destination of choice. Difficulties
in obtaining visas, along with having to deal with unprofessional,
"often aggressive and ill-trained" consular staff posted at South
African missions abroad dissuade more and more would-be émigrés with
desirable skills, qualifications, and capital from relocating or
investing here, Eisenberg has observed.


A declining GDP has not helped in attracting foreign capital.


"South Africa is no longer seen to possess an environment where
consumer spending supports innovation and new factory capacity. The
country`s labor market remains inflexible and inelastic, making it
increasingly difficult for foreigners to establish labor-intensive
industries – and added to this is South Africa`s declining labor
productivity."


It may sound like doom and gloom, but Eisenberg`s is a voice of reason
that decision-makers ought to pay heed to in the public and private
sector. The key to restoring confidence in South Africa`s economy is a
stronger focus on FDI and improved free movement into the country, he
says.


South Africa`s Minister of Home Affairs, Malusi Gigaba, "emphasises
the implementation of an indigenisation policy with scant attention to
the role of foreigners in the South African economy," says Eisenberg.
"The emphasis on border security reflects the transformation of the
Department of Home Affairs from a flexible facilitator of talent,
skills, and high-net worth influx into a fortress protecting South
Africa for South Africans."


The president himself failed to send a clear message of the
government`s condemnation of the attacks in his statement to the
National Assembly on April 19, 2015.


There are paradoxes within the bureaucracy. Submitting an application
for a general work visa is one of a handful of processes that suffers
from near-paralysis. Lawyers and immigration consultants can do little
but observe as strenuous regulatory requirements are routinely imposed
on foreigners with skills acknowledged by the government as critical,
and in the national interest.


"Business visa applicants (on the basis of foreign direct investments)
now have to obtain the support of the Department of Trade & Industry,"
Eisenberg explains. "Most of these foreigners simply give up because
the process is too frustrating and laborious to make it worth their
while."


Human trafficking has become a popular scapegoat for tightened border
security, and the exaggeration of human trafficking cases in South
Africa constitutes scaremongering. Local media claimed in 2013 that
30,000 children were trafficked in South Africa annually, unsupported
by research. Subsequent investigations by Africa Check revealed
evidence of 51 cases per year on average in the broader Southern
African region.


This emphasis on human trafficking is a government-created subterfuge
to justify the closing borders and aims to detract from foreign and
domestic policies that are clearly at odds with one another, says
Eisenberg.


The extent to which South Africa`s immigration system is working to
encourage – or at least support – the assimilation of foreigners with
the desired skills, qualifications, and capital can only be measured
if the department publishes statistics on the number of foreigners who
applied for visas, along with the results of such applications.


Failure to publish these statistics raises questions about the
department`s agenda.


Eisenberg raises "questions about the integrity of the South African
government in maintaining its role in an open, increasingly
liberalized global order, while in fact aiming for … an isolationist
indigenisation policy."