Ramaphosa hits out at travel bans against SA
President Cyril Ramaphosa has hit out at countries that closed their doors to South Africans following the announcement of a new variant.
Earlier this week the country’s scientists announced the discovery of the Omicron variant.
It is believed to be behind a spike in infections in Gauteng and other parts of the country.
Following the announcement, several countries imposed a travel ban on the country - almost immediately cancelling flights from SA.
This includes the United Kingdom, United States, European Union members, Canada, Turkey, Sri Lanka, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Australia, Japan, Thailand, Seychelles, Brazil and Guatemala.
On Sunday Ramaphosa added his voice to the growing criticism of the international community’s hasty decision.
“We are deeply disappointed by the decision of several countries to prohibit travel from a number of Southern African countries following the identification of the Omicron variant,” he said.
“This is a clear and completely unjustified departure from the commitment that many of these countries made at the meeting of G20 countries in Rome last month.
“These restrictions are unjustified and unfairly discriminate against our country and our Southern African sister countries. The prohibition of travel is not informed by science, nor will it be effective in preventing the spread of this variant.”
Ramaphosa called for the travel bans to be reversed.
“The only thing the prohibition on travel will do is to further damage the economies of the affected countries and undermine their ability to respond to, and recover from, the pandemic.
“We call upon all those countries that have imposed travel bans on our country and our Southern African sister countries to urgently reverse their decisions and lift the ban they have imposed before any further damage is done to our economies and to the livelihoods of our people,” Ramaphosa said.
He added that while the country would tighten its controls at borders, SA would remain open to visitors in a bid to keep the economy afloat.
“This includes the requirement that travellers produce a vaccination certificate and a negative PCR test taken within 72 hours of travel, and that masks are worn for the duration of travel.”
The tourism sector has begun bracing itself for disruptions to business, an industry still picking up the pieces from the ravages of the pandemic.
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