In a move to strengthen South Africa-Nigeria ties, South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa announced last night that efforts to create a favorable environment will include a simplified visa process for travelers coming in to South Africa from the West African nation.



With Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who is in South Africa for the 11th session of the South Africa-Nigeria Bi-National Commission in Parliament in Cape Town, Ramaphosa added in his opening remarks: “Qualifying Nigerian business people can be granted a five-year multiple entry visa. In addition, tourists from Nigeria can now apply for a visa without submitting a passport.”



That the visa process, previously, has been cumbersome, has been widely reported.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">South Africa&#39;s President Ramaphosa: We want to see Nigerian products on the shelves of South African shops&#8230; Nigerian tourists can now apply for a visa without submitting a passport.&quot; MXM <a href="https://t.co/4PLI7lJrb4">pic.twitter.com/4PLI7lJrb4</a>&mdash; Jonathern Thom 🇿🇦 (@JonathernThom) <a href="https://twitter.com/JonathernThom/status/1863991288649130038?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 3, 2024</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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A <a href="about:blank">2024 report</a> by the Centre for Human Rights (University of Pretoria) stated that South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs has a list of countries exempted from needing a visa for a 30- to 90-day stay in the country, but countries such as Nigeria, Senegal, The Gambia, Cameroon, Sudan, Somalia, to name a few, are not on the list.



“Despite Ramaphosa’s emphasis on immigration and tourism, the first year of his presidency saw 7,000 Nigerians get their visas rejected,” Mamadou Saidou Bah and Marie Rebecca Jolicoeur wrote in the report. “It is indeed true that South Africa is largely closed to other Africans but more welcoming to the wider world. When it comes to Africans, the visa regime of South Africa is applied rigidly and that is a contributing factor to the high rejections of visa applications by Africans.”



The president’s announcement garnered mixed reactions on social media.



“We already have a problem with these nationals in our country, now we further relaxing visa laws. Please make it make sense,” one user said on Instagram.



Another on <a href="about:blank" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">X said</a>: “The damage done by some Nigerians is hard to overlook. However, should we look into the business side of things? We can both benefit. Africa is our home. Let&#8217;s find a way to work towards making it a great continent.”



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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">At this rate, the plan of ANC is to destroy South Africa. How does strengthening our relationship with Nigeria secure comfortable future of South Africans? 😩😭&mdash; Oracle (@Oracle5152) <a href="https://twitter.com/Oracle5152/status/1864019886093062538?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 3, 2024</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">South Africans we are on our own!!!! We want to see Nigerian products on the shelves of South African shops&#8230; Nigerian tourists can now apply for a visa without submitting a passport.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/HrBttGavw5">pic.twitter.com/HrBttGavw5</a>&mdash; Sir Cabonena Alfred (@Lebona_cabonena) <a href="https://twitter.com/Lebona_cabonena/status/1863942923806818371?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 3, 2024</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">Trade between Nigeria and South Africa is significant, with Nigeria being South Africa&#39;s largest trading partner in Africa. Crude oil from Nigeria constitutes a major portion of this trade. With recent agreements focusing on easing visa restrictions for Nigerian businesspeople…&mdash; People (@MadawaMan_) <a href="https://twitter.com/MadawaMan_/status/1864270349287768511?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 4, 2024</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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Ramaphosa also stated in his address that he would like to see more Nigerian products on the retail shelves in South Africa. Nigeria is South Africa’s largest trading partner in West Africa. He wishes to see more robust trade between the two countries.



“Nigeria and South Africa enjoy strong diplomatic ties and expanding trade and investment flows,” Ramaphosa said. “The strategic positioning of both countries in their respective regions presents enormous opportunities for collaboration.”



According to <a href="about:blank" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Africa Check</a>, in 2016, there were 30,000 Nigerians living in South Africa.



“The outcome of this 11th session of the Bi-National Commission reaffirms our commitment to strengthening existing ties and deeper collaboration between Nigeria and South Africa towards a future of shared prosperity, security, and progress for our people,” Tinubu wrote on X. “As two of Africa’s leading economies, Nigeria and South Africa must keep working together to ensure shared prosperity for our countries and Africa.”

Nigeria-South Africa bi-national Commission held in Cape Town

South Africa To Ease Visa Rules To Strengthen Ties With Nigeria; Both Countries To Work Collaboratively To Boost Trade

Africa dominates the bottom of the rung in the 2020 Henley Passport Index. A majority of the continent’s passport-holders don’t have the luxury of visa-free travel around the world. 



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/African-countries-ranking-1.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="512" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/African-countries-ranking-1-1024x512.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-42514" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/African-countries-ranking-1-1024x512.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/African-countries-ranking-1-300x150.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/African-countries-ranking-1-600x300.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/African-countries-ranking-1-768x384.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/African-countries-ranking-1-1536x768.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/African-countries-ranking-1.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a><figcaption> [To see the infographic on Africa&#8217;s rankings, click on the image] </figcaption></figure>



The African Union may be gearing for a common African passport, but for now, it seems like most African passports don’t have what it takes to get to other parts of the world.



In the recently-released Henley Passport Index, which measures all the
world’s passports according to the number of destinations their holders can
access without a prior visa, only two African countries –Seychelles and Mauritius — are in the top 50.



The
rest of the continent dominates the bottom quarter of the rankings with weaker
passports than most, pointing to difficult and intensive visa processes in most
cases. 



Africa’s
biggest economy and one of its most influential, Nigeria, is at the end of the
travel freedom spectrum, at a pitiful number 95 with Djibouti. Nigeria’s
population of 200 million can only travel to 46 countries without obtaining a
visa in advance.&nbsp; 



Even
passport-holders from Samoa and Serbia have a better chance of traveling to
most places in the world, visa-free, than those in South Africa, the African
continent’s second biggest economy. 



Ranked
56, the number of global destinations South African passport-holders can travel
to is 100. 



It
is followed by its southern African neighbor, Botswana,
ranking at 62 with a score of 84.



Seychelles, the archipelago country in the Indian Ocean, is Africa’s
top-ranking African passport in this regard, at 29 with access to 151
destinations worldwide. 



It is quickly followed by Mauritius which is at 32 with a score of 146
destinations passport-holders of this country can visit.



The lowest-ranking African country is Somalia at 104. Passport-holders
from this tiny nation in the Horn of Africa can only visit 32 countries without
a pre-departure visa



Globally, Asia dominates the list. For the third consecutive year, Japan
has secured the top spot on the index — which is based on exclusive data from
the International Air Transport Association (IATA) — with a
visa-free/visa-on-arrival score of 191. Singapore holds on to its second place
position with a score of 190.

passports_-_flickr

Emerging Economies, But Weaker Passports

Think that £30 limit on contactless payments is going to protect you from big thefts? Think again.&nbsp;



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



Security researchers have found a way to bypass that limit on Visa cards. Their hack, which isn’t limited to U.K. cards, could let opportunistic crooks drain accounts with a single tap, and they claim they don’t even need to steal the credit card. And little on Visa’s side is being done to address this fresh fraud threat.



Forbes&nbsp;let the researchers—Leigh-Anne Galloway and Tim Yunusov from cybersecurity company Positive Technologies—try it out on a personal Visa card. They extracted three successful payments of £31 ($38). On their own cards they made contactless payments as high as £101, though it’s possible more could be stolen with just a tap.



Their hacks show how contactless fraud could get a lot worse. Typically, if a bank sees multiple £30 contactless payments, the card will cease to work, as fraud detection systems suspect it’s in the hands of a thief. But if it’s possible to make large transactions in one tap, the potential for significant frauds rises.&nbsp;



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Card thieves can now make larger payments than they could before. But now, they don’t even need to steal the card. Criminals could, for instance, take a payment from a card when the user wasn’t looking with their own mobile payments machine (though a malicious merchant would eventually be caught by banks’ fraud systems if they used the same terminal). 



Or even more dastardly, it’s possible to take a payment reading from a credit card using a mobile phone, send the data to another phone and make a payment on that second device going beyond the limit, the researchers claimed. For the hack to work, all the fraudsters need is to be close to their victim.



“So that means if you found someone’s card or if someone stole your card, they wouldn’t have to know your PIN, they wouldn’t have to impersonate your signature, and they could make a payment for a much higher value,” said Galloway.



There should be some limits on just how much a hacker could steal. Galloway said that while it may be that thieves could go much higher than the £101 they tested, into the hundreds or possibly thousands, fraud detection systems at the banks may be able to spot any wildly high transactions. 



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“What we found is that actually, we can make reasonably high-value payments. So in the U.K., we’re able to make payments of £100 without any detection,” she added.</blockquote>



They’re still testing whether the hack would work elsewhere in the world, but Galloway confirmed it was not limited to a single country. The limit, of course, differs between nations. For instance, in the U.S., it’s considerably higher at $100.



No fix planned?



That doesn’t detract from the finding that the limit set on Visa cards can be broken. But Visa isn’t planning on updating its systems to deal with the hack. The financial industry giant argued that such a hack wouldn’t be likely to occur in the real world as the criminals would need to have their hands on the card and this doesn’t happen frequently.&nbsp;



A spokesperson for the company went as far as to say that despite the research there wasn’t a security problem that needed addressing.



“One key limitation of this type of attack is that it requires a physically stolen card that has not yet been reported to the card issuer,” a Visa spokesperson told&nbsp;Forbes, noting that Visa was continually working on improving its fraud detection tech.&nbsp;



“Likewise, the transaction must pass issuer validations and detection protocols. It is not a scalable fraud approach that we typically see criminals employ in the real world.”



READ MORE| <a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="#30Under30: Technology Category 2019 (opens in a new tab)" href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/30-under-30/2019/07/01/30under30-technology-category-2019/" target="_blank">#30Under30: Technology Category 2019</a>



Galloway disagreed that the fraudster would need to steal the card. As their tests showed, the hacker only needs to get close enough to the victim’s card for a short period of time to take a payment. This kind of “skimming” has long been proven possible, even if it relies on the card owner being caught unawares.



The Visa spokesperson also claimed that Visa’s global contactless fraud rate declined by 33% between 2017 and 2018 and in Europe by 40%. But data from UK Finance shows fraud using contactless caused £19.5 million of losses during 2018, up from £14 million in 2017. 



UK Finance did, however, note this was “low” in light of total spending of £69 billion over the same year. And neither UK finance nor Visa said they’d ever recorded a case of contactless fraud in which the card hadn’t been stolen.



How the contactless hack works



To carry out their hack, the researchers used a specialized piece of hardware to intercept and insert messages in the communications between the card and the reader. For instance, they could tell the card that verification—like a PIN—wasn’t needed, even though the requested amount was more than £30. They then told the terminal that verification has already been made by another means.&nbsp;



The researchers said these checks hadn’t been made mandatory by Visa, as they had been by its rivals. And as banks follow the guidelines laid out by Visa, it could be doing more to address the issue, Galloway said. Though Visa said that card issuers are ultimately responsible for validating transactions.



For the attack using two mobiles, Galloway explained that it was possible to use one smartphone to tap a card and effectively clone it for a short period. That first mobile takes what’s known as a “payment cryptogram” from the card. This is essentially a signature that is supposed to guarantee the authenticity of future payments. 



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The cryptogram is sent to the second phone, which simulates the card as if it were making a mobile payment. The hackers can then go beyond the limit by doing the same interception attack as before.



Stephen Ridgway, cofounder and chief technology officer at cybersecurity startup th4ts3cur1ty.company, said that addressing such attacks at a technical level could be problematic. 



“There may be no ‘quick fix’ for this, even if the payment providers mandate authentication for payments over £30, if the card and reader are susceptible to a ‘man-in-the-middle’ attack that tricks the system into believing that authentication has already taken place,” he said.&nbsp;



As for what concerned cardholders can do to protect themselves, keeping cards physically secure is vital. For anyone worried about someone reading their card through their wallet, there are covers that can prevent such “skimming” from working. Ridgway said another cheap solution was to use a phone cover, as they often provide the same protection. And monitoring transactions could help consumers detect fraudulent transactions before banks do.



Improving bank security and fresh new regulation should also improve matters. Ridgway said that should contactless limit bypasses become common, it’s very likely that payment providers will quickly learn to recognize and block them. 



And incoming new EU rules could also prove a boon. From September 2019, banks will need to ensure a PIN is required once total contactless payments exceed a value of £130 or when five contactless transactions have been made in a day.



-Thomas Brewster; Forbes

960×0

Hack Breaks Your Visa Card’s Contactless Limit For Big Frauds

Samsung has brought mobile payment solution, Samsung Pay, to South Africa. The innovative payment service is available to ABSA and Standard Bank cardholders on both Visa and MasterCard platforms. Security comes first with 5 layers, including fingerprint and iris recognition as well as tokenization to secure all your cards. It’s well on its way to become the new way to pay.

Smartphones have truly become an extension of who we are. It is safe to say that the first thing most people do when they wake up is to look at their mobile phones to check feeds, check messages, just generally check everything, in an always connected world. With Samsung Pay, Samsung South Africa aims to make your eligible Galaxy smartphone a tool that enriches your daily life.
As one of the world’s largest smartphone and technology innovators, Samsung’s core motivation behind developing and implementing Samsung Pay is to give South Africans a smart way of banking at their fingertips, with the security to give them the peace of mind to use it.
Loading cards from participating banks is as easy as scanning and verifying them and adding your iris, fingerprint or pin code authentication.  Once set up, it’s so easy to use. Simply swipe up from the home screen of any eligible Samsung smartphone, no need to search for the app, then select the card, enter your security verification and tap or swipe your phone on the speed point.
Tokenisation is the key to protecting consumer information when it comes to electronic payments. To achieve this, all sensitive account information is replaced with what Samsung refers to as a token. The token replaces information with a series of numbers that are card and mobile number specific. Payments are made using the token which means that this payment method adds another layer of digital security so that information is never vulnerable even in cases of theft. The token can be deactivated without going through the process of cancelling the account.
Cardholders are given a mobile payment solution that will not only benefit the digital footprint in South Africa but will make banking a less tedious process. Head of Digital Solutions for VISA in sub Saharan Africa, Geraldine Mitchley, says Samsung Pay is a life changing payment solution.
“Considering the number of smartphone users in South Africa, it is expected to reach over 25 million by 2022, we are seeing that the phone is the one item people will always have with them and VISA supports payment solutions that fit people’s changing lifestyle,” she says.
How does it work?
Samsung Pay can be used wherever Absa or Standard bank debit or credit cards are accepted on both VISA and MasterCard platforms.  The first step is downloading the app from the Google Play Store and registering your cards with your password method of choice. Then it’s simply a matter of swiping up from the home screen and then swiping or tapping their Samsung Galaxy smartphone at participating outlets. The Samsung devices that currently support Samsung Pay include the Galaxy Note 9, Note 8, S9+, S8+, S8, S7 Edge, S7, A8 and A7( 2017 edition). The 2017 edition of the Galaxy A5 will be compatible in September 2018.
No terminal updates will be needed by operating merchants in order to accept payments. Payments are made without any extra cost; the only fees that apply are banking fees.
Samsung Pay truly is innovation at its best, so get Samsung Pay, and make your next payment an adventure of innovation!
&#8211; Gypseenia Lion

paythere-1

“Samsung brings smart, effortless payments to South Africa”

With the new South African visa regulations, it’s not just the small B&amp;Bs taking a hit – the high-end is feeling the effects too.
Foreigners who want to visit South Africa must apply for visas in person at South African embassies to have their biometric data captured. Residents of countries who require a short-stay visa for South Africa, and do not have a South African embassy in their country or city, will have to travel. Parents and guardians traveling with children must be in possession of an unabridged birth certificate.
The travel and tourism sector directly employs an estimated 679,500 people, is growing at a rate of 3% and contributes directly and indirectly to 9.4% of South Africa’s GDP. But Cape Town’s top-end is feeling the brunt of the legislature. The Westin, at R2,330 ($167) a night, is situated at the entrance of the Victoria &amp; Alfred Waterfront; with views of Table Mountain, Lion’s Head and the entirety of Table Bay. Within walking distance from town it’s a firm favorite for tourists. It’s an easy sell but the five-star hotel has already taken a hit.
“At The Westin, we have started to see the ramifications that the new visa regulations is having on the tourism industry. Damage to the local tourism industry has already begun.  We definitely anticipate a lull for the festive season this year. A further concern is the collateral damage that comes from this, such as the strain on the South African economy as well as job loss,” says Rob Kucera, FEDHASA (Federated Hospitality Association of South Africa) Cape Chairman and GM for The Westin Cape Town.
Occupancy rates have dropped significantly for The Westin. A study commissioned by the Tourism Business Council of South Africa said the tourism industry lost R886 million ($63 million) in direct spending last year because of the regulations and fears that Ebola might spread from West Africa. It’s estimated that South Africa is set to lose 100,000 tourists this year, translating into a R1.4-billion ($100 million) loss.
“We have changed our strategy to find business in other market segments and countries. We have taken a hit over our current winter period and the upcoming season will not be as good as last year,” says Kucera.
“There is no doubt that due to the new visa regulations we have challenging times ahead. As the industry body for the hospitality sector we are committed to encouraging these conversations for the benefit of the tourism industry and ultimately to safeguard the international tourist impression of South Africa as a holiday destination of choice,” he says.
South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma announced that a new inter-ministerial committee has been established to deal with the unintended consequences of the new travel visa regulations. The regulations are coming under fire – not only for the effects on the tourism industry but for the justification of them. The consequences come at a bad time for South Africa; the economy shrank by an unexpected 1.3% in the second quarter.
Tourism minister, Derek Hanekom, admits tourism has been hit. He said the number of visitors from China, one of South Africa’s major markets, has dropped by nearly 40% – and the numbers for other markets were similar.
In defense of the regulations, Home Affairs director-general Mkuseli Apleni briefed parliament. In his report, he claimed an estimated 30,000 children, 50% of whom are under the age of 14, are trafficked through South Africa every year, and that the new regulations would protect those children. The figure has since been dispelled by Africa Check and in parliament, it was stated that 23 children had been trafficked in a three-year period.
With too much room in the inn on all fronts, the tourism industry’s fears are mounting

Too Much Room In The Inn

The new controversial South African visa requirements have been labeled an economy killer and sparked widespread jitters in the tourism business.
Foreigners who want to visit South Africa must apply for visas in person at South African embassies to have their biometric data captured. Residents of countries who require a short-stay visa for South Africa and do not have a South African embassy in their country or city, will have to travel. Parents and guardians traveling with children, must be in possession of an unabridged birth certificate.
<div id="attachment_3789" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3789" class="size-medium wp-image-3789" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/0000223010-300x196.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="196" />CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA &#8211; APRIL 28: Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, Fatima Chohan meets to discuss the recent xenophobic violence on April 28, 2015 in Cape Town, South Africa. The Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs hosted a meeting with Ministers of Home Affairs, Small Business Development as well as Police on the challenges of xenophobic violence and looting of foreign owned shops. (Photo by Gallo Images / Die Burger / Deon Raath)</div>
While the tourism industry cries foul, Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, Fatima Chohan, defended the new regulations. She argues that the migration laws have not been changed for 15 years and that the regulations are in line with international rules against child trafficking. An estimated 30,000 children are trafficked through South Africa each year, according to government.
“Research suggests that it will cost the South African economy 21,000 jobs and around R10 billion ($809 million). By the end of 2014‚ the number of visitors from China and Brazil had dropped 70% and 62% from the year before‚” says Beverley Schäfer‚ the spokesperson on Economic Opportunities‚ Tourism &amp; Agriculture from the opposition party, the Democratic Alliance.
South Africa began implementing new immigration regulations in May 2014. From May to December, South Africa lost 66,000 foreign tourists due to changes in the immigration regulations.
The Association of Southern African Travel Agents (ASATA) has estimated the new rules will hit 15% of tourists.
“In 2014, South Africa received 9.55 million foreign overnight tourists, an increase of 7,5 percent over that recorded in 2013. Demand from all overseas markets steadily dissipated throughout the year, coming off highs of 8,6 percent in the first four months of the year to a decline of 1,2 percent in the last four months. Assuming a 20 percent drop in demand from the family market will result in a direct, indirect and induced loss to the South African economy of at least R10 billion ($809 million) per annum and potential job losses of around 24,000,” says ASATA.
The damage to the South African economy so far is R2.6 billion ($210 million) and a threat to more than 5,800 jobs, it says. In the future, ASATA warns of the loss of 100,000 tourists with R1.4 billion ($113 million). This translates to a net loss to the GDP of around R4.1 billion ($331 million) and 9,300 jobs.
Despite South Africa’s economy facing another hit, the hospitality sector is poised for further growth in the next five years in the wake of a number of inbound travelers into the African continent, according to a report issued by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in June. The hotel industry in 2014 benefited from an increase in foreign visitors and rising room rates. The new visa regulations, could scupper this.
“Many in the industry fear that international tourists will not consider South Africa as a destination, which already has a number of issues and concerns despite being a cheap destination. International visitors especially those from India or China or those traveling with families may chose a destination where entry requirements are less onerous,” says Nikki Forster, a director and partner at PwC.
South Africa’s Minister of Tourism, Derek Hanekom, admits tourism has been hit. At the World Economic Forum on Africa he hinted that there would be a review.
“The current requirements [are] up for discussion right now as we speak, so it is not engraved in stone… We are in very intense discussions on this and I think we will find each other and find the right balance between legitimate defending, legitimate interests of the state and defending your national security interests and not putting unnecessary requirements on people wanting to travel to South Africa,” he said.
The Department of Tourism has since stated there will not be a review, but that talks about implementation will continue. The ministerial cabinet has resolved to set up a team of ministers to discuss and engage with any concerns to address the unintended consequences of the regulations.
With reports that Air China has cancelled the launch of direct flights to South Africa over the regulations, many of the continent’s finest resorts fear the threat of too much room at the inn.

Tag: Visa

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA

South Africa To Ease Visa Rules To Strengthen Ties With Nigeria; Both Countries To Work Collaboratively To Boost Trade

Emerging Economies, But Weaker Passports

Hack Breaks Your Visa Card’s Contactless Limit For Big Frauds

“Samsung brings smart, effortless payments to South Africa”

Too Much Room In The Inn

The $809-Million Question