By Doreen Mokgolo
Just months into his role, Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber is working to help his department create jobs through tourism.
The focus is on attracting tourists from China and India.
Schreiber said unemployment is the country’s biggest problem.
“We believe every department should help create jobs and grow the economy.
“We’re introducing a new tour operator scheme for early 2025 to boost tourism from China and India. We get very little tourism from these countries despite their millions of global travellers,” he said.
The minister said South Africa can attract more tourists from these countries, and his department is key to creating tourism jobs.
He’s also reforming and streamlining visa application processes and introducing points-based work visas to attract skills.
“We’re addressing the skills gap and using digital transformation to reach our goals,” he said.
In his first 100 days in office, Schreiber found over 300,000 backlogged visa and permit applications from as long ago as 2014. The department has reduced this by 60% over the past five months.
They’ve also cleared ID backlogs from late 2023 caused by a system change.
Pictured above: Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber.
Source: Supplied
