South Africa’s reputation took a fresh beating today as the government admitted to a visa processing shambles that has left thousands of World Cup fans stranded and furious. Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi, looking like a man who’d rather be anywhere else, owned up to the catastrophe in a hastily convened press conference. “We have failed,” he said, his voice flat. “The system was not ready.” The admission came after days of chaos at airports and borders, with travellers from cricket-loving nations like India, England and Australia being turned away or held up for hours.
Internal documents obtained by this paper reveal the department had been warned repeatedly over the past six months about capacity shortages. A confidential memo from February, marked “urgent”, flagged that the online visa platform could only handle 500 applications a day — a fraction of the expected surge. The memo was filed. No action was taken. Now, with the tournament under way, the consequences are playing out in real time.
Sources inside the department tell me that at least 3,000 applications are stuck in limbo, many from journalists and team officials. “It’s a bloody shambles,” one official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “We’ve got highly paid consultants earning a fortune, and they couldn’t see this coming? It’s incompetence or something worse.”
The “something worse” is the question that hangs over this mess. Follow the money. Who benefits when bureaucracy collapses? Private visa processing firms, for one. Several have been awarded lucrative emergency contracts over the past week, raising more than a few eyebrows. I’ve seen the contracts: vaguely worded, exempt from normal oversight, and worth millions of rand. The minister claims he knew nothing about them. Claims.
South Africa’s image has taken a hammering. The world is watching, and what they’re seeing is a government that cannot manage a basic process. For a country that prides itself on hosting major events, this is a humiliation of the highest order. The Cricket World Cup was supposed to showcase the nation’s capability. Instead, it’s exposing its rot.
Motsoaledi promised urgent reforms. He said a task force would be set up. Vague assurances. Promises. We’ve heard them before. Meanwhile, fans are sleeping in airport terminals, their dream trips turned into nightmares. The tournament goes on, but the damage is done. South Africa has been caught off guard, and the world has seen it all.
I’ll be digging deeper into those contracts. Expect more soon.
