Reynolds Travel Centre Monthly E-mag Issue 03 | Page 12

Travel News

No travel reforms for South African minors

South African minors travelling abroad will still be required to travel with a birth certificate, listing the names of both parents, or guardians.

Home Affairs minister Malusi Gigaba confirmed.

Gigaba addressed the media following a Cabinet statement that immigration reforms would be made to make South Africa more accessible to tourists.

While immigration regulations would be changed so that foreign minors are not required to travel with a birth certificate, this change will not apply to South African minors.

Foreign travellers will be “strongly recommend” to carry documentation to prove parental consent, or relation with the travellers.

The death toll from a cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe is rising as the water-borne disease is spreading rapidly in the capital of Harare, according to the local government.

“There are now 3 766 cases. The number of deaths is now 25,” Health Minister Obadiah Moyo told journalists.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said it was “scaling up its response” to contain the outbreak which it said was “expanding quickly in Harare” – a city of more than two million people. “When cholera strikes a major metropolis such as Harare, we need to work fast to stop the spread

of the disease before it gets out of control,”

Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa, said in a statement.

A WHO situation report revealed that first-line antibiotics were struggling to treat the disease, which has spread to five of the country’s 10 provinces.

Authorities have banned public gatherings in Harare while health ministry personnel are supervising burials of victims.

Cholera outbreaks have occurred regularly in Zimbabwe’s cities where supplies of potable water and sanitation facilities are scarce.

Zimbabwe Cholera outbreak Spreads