South Africa cancels Palestinian visa waiver, citing Israeli ‘emigration’ efforts

South Africa on Sunday cancelled visa exemptions for Palestinians following an investigation into a mysterious charter flight that brought dozens of people from Gaza into the country without proper documentation last month.

In a statement, South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs (DHA) said investigations had confirmed “the deliberate and ongoing abuse of the 90-day visa exemption for Palestinian ordinary passport holders by Israeli actors linked to ‘voluntary emigration’ efforts for residents of the Gaza Strip”.

The controversy began in mid-November, when 153 men, women and children arrived in Johannesburg on a flight from Nairobi. They were held on the aircraft for more than 12 hours because their passports did not carry Israeli exit stamps.

At the time, President Cyril Ramaphosa pledged to investigate the circumstances surrounding what he called the “mysterious” plane carrying Palestinians who had apparently been “flushed out” of Gaza by Israel.

“These are residents of Gaza who, in a rather mysterious way, were put on a plane that transited through Nairobi and then landed here,” he said.

DHA authorised the group’s entry later that evening after receiving assurances from the NGO Gift of the Givers that the passengers would be supported.

South Africa accepts plane of Palestinians 'flushed out' of Gaza

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Al Jazeera reported that the charter flight was facilitated by a controversial agency in close collaboration with the Israeli military.

Israeli authorities, meanwhile, said the group had been cleared to leave only after an unnamed third country agreed to receive them. 

DHA said on Sunday that investigations into two flights transporting Palestinians had uncovered the “systematic abuse” of short-stay visa exemptions, with travel “designed… to relocate Palestinians from Gaza”.

The second flight refers to an earlier arrival on 28 October carrying 176 Palestinians.

“Rather than using ordinary commercial flights, entire airplanes were chartered not by the travellers themselves, but by intermediaries,” the department said, adding that most passengers had been issued one-way tickets to South Africa and were barred from bringing luggage.