Our international fall from grace continues, this time thanks to corrupution in the Department of Home Affairs.
The United Kingdom is "likely" to strip South Africa of its "visa-free" status this year because of rampant corruption in the Department of Home Affairs, the Sunday Times reported.

South Africans would have to pay £63 (nearly R1 000) and provide fingerprints, "facial biometrics" and travel documents to obtain visas, the newspaper said.

More than 250 000 tourists, business people and family visitors to Britain would have to apply for visas each year.

"The door is being shut because corrupt home affairs officials have been dishing out genuine passports to people-smugglers, foreign asylum seekers and -- allegedly -- suspected terrorists wanting to enter Britain," the report said.

As a result, British immigration experts said, the South African passport was "no longer worth the paper it's written on".

South Africa leapt to the top of the British government's visa "hit list" last month following a British trial that heard that at least 6 000 illegal Asian immigrants had been smuggled into Britain on South African passports.
full story from M&G here