Following the public outcries that greeted the newly introduced immigration policy, South Africa has cleared the air on the various misgivings expressed by the travelling public, insisting that Nigeria and Africa remain its focus, adding that the new regulations were aimed at enhancing her security by addressing areas of weakness, risk and abuse.

The explanation was given at the Nigeria-South Africa Chamber of Commerce (NSACC) breakfast meeting, held in Lagos last week, in conjunction with Brand South Africa. According to South African authorities, the new measures were introduced to ridicule fellow Africans.

If there is any area the South African government is passionate about it would be the free movement of people, goods and services within the continent. This, according to Brand South Africa, would enable economic growth of countries within Africa.

But things must be regulated as informed by the country’s department of Home Affairs: “We must manage immigration securely and effectively in a way which benefits our economy and society, heeds our international obligations and manages risks to national security.”

Also, Brand South Africa insisted that individual countries must ensure that immigration is conducted in terms of domestic law and national priorities. “We have not introduced these regulations to disadvantage fellow Africans.

South Africa cannot be separated from Africa and we can neither shut ourselves off Africa nor shut our eyes to the enormous risks that the new world possesses in abundance. ‘‘Our commitment to African unity and development is resolute, and our track record in this regard speaks for itself.

We value the contribution of fellow Africans from across the continent living in South Africa and that is why we have continued to support the AU and SADC initiatives to free human movement; but this cannot happen haphazardly, unilaterally or to the exclusion of security concerns; and neither can it happen without standardizing population registration and immigration legislation and addressing development challenges everywhere”. The South African government believes that risks to any country on the continent have a direct impact on her country. The government has not unilaterally removed existing visa waivers agreements with fellow African countries and is keen to enter into more.

“Foreign nationals processing critical skills can now apply for and be granted a critical skills visa, even without a job, allowing them to enter the country and seek work for a period of up to 12 months.

For some time now, business stakeholders have been asking for families of workers to be considered a unit, an international best practice which the new regulations now include,” Brand South Africa noted.

The Executive Officer, Brand South Africa, Chief Miller Matola, also stressed the need for the South African nation brand viz-a-viz the promotion of the African brand in view of developing the continent as a whole and competing with international standards.

“Brand South Africa pursues its Africa programme with an emphasis on promoting the South Africa nation brand as part of the continent brand, ‘Brand Africa.’ Hence Africa’s reputation and competitiveness is central to that agenda,” Matola stated. To achieve this and more, he identifies Nigeria along-with Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Kenya and Senegal as key markets.

This is informed by South Africa’s foreign policy, both political and economic diplomacy as well as trade and investment imperatives. He challenged African business and corporate brands to invest in changing the perception of Africa from negativity to positivity.

The CEO said: “There is no doubt about the power of commercial brands to convey the overall brand of their country of origin – be it innovation, excellence or quality, which will result in investment in changing the narrative about how Africa as a continent is perceived.”

Matola also stressed the importance of the African nations having in-depth working and friendly relationships, drawing conclusions from the 2013/14 Project Thrive Study on the familiarity of Nigerians with South Africa. He disclosed that the study indicated that the average familiarity rate about South Africa amongst Nigerians stands at 46% and only 18% of the sample has a high knowledge base of South Africa.