South Africa and Nigeria, the continent’s two economic heavyweights, have a long-held rivalry, with tensions spilling over into sports and regional political influence. Amid deeply entrenched anti-foreigner sentiment, social media users in South Africa were outraged after President Cyril Ramaphosa allegedly announced that Nigerian travellers would not need to submit their passports for a visa. Some interpreted the leader’s remarks at a recent event as an introduction of brand-new measures. However, Ramaphosa was in fact talking about an online visa process which requires uploading a certified passport copy rather than a physical one — upon approval, the physical document still needs to be presented. The process was first rolled out in 2019 and includes more than 30 countries, not just Nigeria.

“President Cyril Ramaphosa announced efforts to introduce a simplified five-year multiple-entry visa for Nigerian tourists, removing the requirement to submit passports,” an X account wrote on December 3, 2024.

“South Africa plans to introduce a five-year visa for Nigerian tourists, eliminating the requirement to submit passports,” reads another X post.

“The same Nigeria that has its citizens in South African (sic) dealing with drugs, counterfeit goods, human trafficking (sic),” replied one X user.

Another X account wrote: “This man hates South Africans, you can’t tell me otherwise, he is now gaslighting us because he knows how we feel about Nigeria”.

However, AFP Fact Check found that Ramaphosa’s remarks were missing context: Nigerians are not exempt from submitting their passports during the visa application process.

What does it mean?

The confusion arose after Ramaphosa spoke at a session of the South Africa-Nigeria Bi-National Commission in Cape Town on December 3, 2024.

“Our efforts to create a favourable environment include our simplified visa process for Nigerian business people to travel to South Africa,” he said at the event attended by his Nigerian counterpart Bola Tinubu (archived here).

“Qualifying Nigerian business people can be granted a five-year multiple entry visa,” he added.

“In addition, tourists from Nigeria are now able to apply for a visa without even submitting a passport.”

In light of the public backlash, South Africa’s presidency clarified the comments in a statement the day after the event (archived here).

“Prospective travellers can apply for their visas without submitting their passports along with their applications,” it said.

“When Nigerians apply for their visa to South Africa, they only need to submit certified copies of the bio page of their passports and the physical passport should also be availed during the application process for verification and confirmation. Once a visa has been approved, they are required to submit their passports for the process to be completed and for the visa to be affixed in the passport.”

South Africa’s e-Visa system was launched in November 2019 and is so far available in more than 34 countries (archived here).

Nigeria’s inclusion was reported by local media in September 2022 during a tourism event in Lagos (archived here).

A spokesman for South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) told AFP Fact Check that Home Affairs had simplified its procedure to align with international standards.

“This is not a visa-free announcement for Nigerians, but rather an administrative procedure common worldwide,” Chrispin Phiri said.

He emphasised that this procedure applies to all nationalities — not just Nigeria.

Africa’s powerhouses

As reported by local media (here and here), Nigerians have previously missed engagements in other countries because their physical passports were stuck at the South African embassy (archived here and here).

Nigerian Grammy-nominated singer Ayra Starr cancelled multiple performances in South Africa after her visa was denied (archived here).

Local event organisers at the time said it was a persistent issue for artists travelling from West Africa.

AFP reported in October that several issues contribute to long-simmering tensions between the two continental economic heavyweights, which include divisions in sport, music and most recently a viral beauty pageant row (archived here).

South Africa attracts many migrants despite having one of the world’s highest unemployment rates. This paired with a grim economic outlook has led to sporadic bursts of anti-immigrant violence, including against Nigerians (archived here and here).

AFP Fact Check previously reported how misleading social media posts have amplified these disputes.