The Big Read: Home truths for Minister Gigaba

04 August 2015 - 10:08 By Justice Malala

There is a lovely quotation that economics writers like to throw about every so often. Some ascribe it to the hugely influential economist John Maynard Keynes. Others say the line was first uttered by the economics Nobel prize-winner Paul Samuelson. Others claim it was Winston Churchill who said it. The jury is still out.Even the quotation itself changes. Some say Keynes stated: "When events change, I change my mind. What do you do?"Other versions of the quote range from "When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?" to "When someone persuades me that I am wrong, I change my mind. What do you do?"Things have changed a lot since Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba walked into his new office last May. President Jacob Zuma had announced Gigaba's move from Public Enterprises to his new portfolio on May 25. Just a few days after he walked into his office the controversial new visa regulations - placing new and onerous obligations on visitors to these shores - were announced.On June 5, with just 10 days in office, Gigaba was asked by a reporter whether he didn't think the new visa regulations "will have a negative effect on companies".Gigaba replied: "It will not have a negative effect and that is precisely why we are introducing the visa facilitation centres."Gigaba was new in office. He can be forgiven for defending the policies he found being implemented by his predecessor and Home Affairs officials. One does not, after all, arrive in office and assume that one's predecessor was all rubbish. One listens, one learns, then one acts if necessary.Gigaba was adamant on that day that the visa regulations were necessary for security reasons. He had started the press conference by saying: "It is equally important for us to explain, foremost, that the Department of Home Affairs is a security department that delivers services to the citizenry. In this regard, the security of our country is paramount and central to all our endeavours in pursuit of our key objective of together moving South Africa forward."What if, since those first few days of Zuma's second administration, things have changed? What if the information used to implement these new regulations has changed? Does Gigaba have the humility, the political nous, the honesty, the self-reflection needed to acknowledge that his department was wrong - and to change? Isn't that what a wise leader would do?There is no shame in acknowledging that one has been wrong. Indeed, for many of us who have seen stubborn leaders refuse to face the truth, the sight of a leader acknowledging his or her own human frailty - embodied in the fact that we all get it wrong sometimes - is a huge boon. Only a strong, confident, empathetic and authentic leader admits to being wrong. It is a sign of strength.The figures on which Gigaba's department decided to implement the current visa regulations were wrong. This newspaper reported two weeks ago that the "figure of 30000 children being trafficked in or through South Africa annually to justify the draconian new visa regulations" has no basis in fact. The truth, it turns out, is that only 23 cases of child-trafficking have been uncovered in the past three years in SA.The ministry is correct to say that "every single child trafficked is one too many". How these new visa regulations actually ensure that this one child is not trafficked does not seem like an issue that the ministry wants to pursue at all. The truth is that there isn't a shred of evidence that these new regulations stop child trafficking.Instead, tourism is suffering. Accounting firm Grant Thornton says South Africa has lost about R1.6-billion in direct spending from overseas tourists - the worst decline in more than two decades. Grant Thornton advisory services director Lee-Anne Bac said the country had shown a loss of 1600 tourists - or four jumbo jets - a day, reported The Times.She said: "The 6% decline recorded in foreign tourist arrivals equates to a loss of 150000 tourists when compared to the same period recorded last year. We have never seen such dire levels of decline in the last 21 years of our tourism history."Gigaba would do well to listen to his comrade, ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe, who told the Sunday Times: "There is a lot about the [immigration] act that is good. But when aspects of it hurt other areas of government [such as tourism], then standing by and doing nothing is not an option."The facts have changed. It is now patently clear that these were some of the most stupid regulations yet introduced by our government in the past 21 years. There is no shame in scrapping them and starting afresh. A real leader would know this, instead of digging in his heels and being macho about it...

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