Single visa for SADC member states

The privilege of Africa hosting the Soccer World Cup 2010 has prompted African leaders, under the Southern African Development Community (SADC) banner, to propose a single visa for all 14 member states. They hope this will be possible by 2010 and all soccer fans will travel from Cairo to Cape Town using what the SADC ministers have dubbed a “uni-visa.” The pledge for a single visa was made at a meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa, last year by SADC ministers responsible for tourism.
The goal behind the pledge is to encourage travellers to the Soccer World Cup 2010, in South Africa, to visit other countries in southern Africa.

“Facilitating the free movement of people throughout the 14 SADC member states would allow all member states to benefit from the dramatic influx of tourists expected to come to South Africa to see the World Cup finals,” announced the ministers in their pledge. The initiative seeks to link the World Cup event with the promotion of trans-frontier conservation areas and national parks that would boost tourism throughout the southern Africa region. In this way, the entire region would maximise the tourism benefits of the World Cup and would showcase the region’s trans-frontier parks to the world. In preparation for the event, the SADC ministers also discussed upgrading facilities at seven trans-frontier parks, including the Kavango Zambezi Park which encompasses parts of Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Renovations to all seven parks could cost as much as $100 million, according to Willem van Riet of the Peace Parks Foundation, the South Africa-based organisation responsible for establishing trans-frontier parks. SADC member states are Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.