The South African High Commission in Nigeria ineptitude and seeming visa fraud

Nigeria is home to 34 consulates and 59 embassies, including the South African Mission.
Generally, embassies serve and protect their citizens, promote political and economic
cooperation, promote cross-cultural exchange, and provide consular services, such as the
processing and issuance of travel documents and visas for a variety of purposes, including
business, study, temporary employment, and medical trips. Embassies have a responsibility to notify the approval or denial of valid visa applications in a timely, transparent, and accountable Manner.

Therefore, a number of embassies, including those of Nigeria, the United Kingdom, the United States, and many others, use digital technology to expedite the application and processing of visas, close the information asymmetry between those seeking visas and the relevant authorities, and proactively generate feedback throughout the visa process. Nigerians, meantime, have recently been subjected to SA’s unfavorable visa policies and procedures. Unfortunately, President Mohammed Buhari, who frequently travels to the UK for routine medical procedures, and the majority of top government officials, who do not need visas to travel, may be unaware of the suffering that Nigerians endure at the hands of incompetent embassies that have unfavorable visa policies toward Nigerians.

Over 40,000 Nigerians seek for tourist visas to South Africa each year. The highest possible visa fee is N30600, which translates to almost N1.22 billion ($USD) in annual expenditures by Nigerians for SA visas. Additionally, despite Covid 19 limits and PCR tests, 11,600 Nigerians visited in 2021, according to Thekiso Rakolojane, the West Africa regional head of SAT, in March 2022. It is crucial to note that both countries signed memorandums of understanding in December 2021 during President Cyril Ramaphosa’s visit to Nigeria. The agreements aim to increase trade, crosssectoral program cooperation, and strengthening ties and special relations between the two countries. However, problems with South African visas for Nigerians were exacerbated further during the 2022 African Oil Week when hundreds of Nigerian business leaders were prevented from attending Africa’s premier oil and gas event in Cape Town, South Africa, from October 9– 13, 2023. A number of prominent Nigerian oil and gas industry representatives had their visas delayed by South Africa’s allegedly inadequate visa system, and they were only notified weeks later in the most impolite and unapologetic manner. The absurd response from the embassy is, “Your visa application is now declined because the event is over,” but alas, the fee paid for the visa processing is nonrefundable. Similar to this, Nigerian nurses who register for the NCLEX exam in South Africa experience awful bad luck as opposed to their friends who apply to the UK and Philippine centers, where their visas are approved in less than two weeks. Several Nigerians have had traumatic visa experiences from the South Africa mission such as

• Constant denial of visas to investors, tourists and students from the country’s mission even after meeting the visa requirements
• Unnecessarily prolonged visa processing time- ordinarily short-term visits to south Africa visa is processed within 10-15 days, but sadly in recent times Nigerians applying for such visa had to wait for over a month to get back their passport
• Lack of communication and feedback on status of visa application. Recent trends show that the majority of applicants for visas are not informed of the status of their applications, which raises severe questions about accountability and transparency.

It’s interesting to note that Article 47 (b) of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (1961) mandates that governments provide to one another more favorable treatment than is required by the Convention through custom or agreement. According to Nomasonto Ndlovu, chief operating officer of South African Tourism (SAT), South Africa launched an e-visa procurement portal (www.dha.gov.za) in September 2022 to lower barriers, expedite visa processing and acquisition within 10-15 days, deepen its presence in Nigeria, and speed up the adoption of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (ACFTA). According to the Punch of September 29, 2022, the introduction of the e-visa had ironically made the system worse off with the only notable improvement being the elimination of the VFS intermediary role. However, the same ineptitude forced a reversal to the old order and submission of applications at the VFS Lagos and Port Harcourt offices in July 2022.

It is crucial to note that the harsh visa policies of South Africa forced a Nigerian airline career to suspend its international flights to Johannesburg from August 22 to October 8 2022 in the hopes that the issue with visas would have improved over the course of the 60-day period. A potentially sour diplomatic foist may arise between the predominant economic players on the African continent unless both countries quickly adopt strategies to establish safe relations and mutually advantageous visa regimes. Among other things, this should address the problems with;

• increased capacity for processing visas at the SA embassy
• increased accountability and openness in the application and processing of visas
• better business protocol through the recognition of corporate representatives and
  protocol officers. These individuals play a crucial part in the business visa value chain and should be mainstreamed by the SA embassy so they can provide the essential visa
  support to their principals in the pursuit of their right to decent work and the advancement of continental trade and investment.
• Friendly visa pick-up policy: Presently, the SA mission mandates applicants to use the
  embassy’s in-house courier company to return their passports, which is against industry
  standards where the applicant or a designated third party can readily pick up their
  passport.
• a joint investigation into visa fraud and a practical solution and effective remedy for
  victims from Nigeria.

While embassies are protected by diplomatic immunity, Nigerian and South African governments are required by Article 43 of the UN Convention Against Corruption to work together and look into cases of visa-related fraud and corruption against Nigerian citizens, particularly when third party agents like VFS are involved in the visa processing, and to make sure that Nigerians have access to effective remedies and information about the status of their visa applications.
Finally, Section 40 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, and the right to freedom of peaceful assembly give Nigerians the ability to peacefully protest and demand that the South African and Nigerian governments provide victims of SA visa fraud with just compensation and an effective remedy. We anticipate the Nigerian government to defend its citizens now more than ever because the wellbeing of citizens is the primary obligation of the government.

Micheal Ikinbor , MPIA UNILAG – Executive Secretary, Association of Certified Protocol
Practitioners in Nigeria (ACPPN) wrote from Lagos. November 18,2022. Email:
[email protected].