Christal-Lize Muller
The South African Department of Home Affairs is to discontinue the issuing of temporary passports as an interim travel document for permanent tourist passports from September 1, this year.
Spokesperson, Mayihlome Tshwete, says the decision comes after the turn–around time for issuing passports valid for ten years, has been improved drastically by the department.
The turn-around time for a passport apllied for on the department’s Live Capture system takes 13 days while that applied for using the manual system is issued within 24 days.
Tshwete says the decision will also prevent that South Africans travelling abroad be refused entry to countries when travelling on temporary SA-passports.
According to him an Emergency Travel Certificate (ETC) will still be issued to applicants under emergency circumstances. This includes instances where passports are lost abroad or the use of ETC’s for purposes of assisting family members in distress or if a family member died.
