Single visa system for southern Africa

Travellers to southern Africa should find the pre-holiday bureaucracy easier in the future as the 14 member countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) have signed a deal to facilitate a single travel visa for the region.

The Univisa is designed to ease the movement of holidaymakers within southern Africa and boost tourism, AllAfrica news reports.

South Africa, Botswana, Angola, Mozambique, Swaziland, Malawi, Mauritius, Madagascar, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Lesotho, Namibia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Tanzania are all members of SADC.

The deal was signed last week at the SADC inter-ministerial conference in Luanda, Angola.

South Africa's deputy minister Rejoice Mabudafhasi told the conference the Univisa system would operate similarly to the European Schengen visa area.

There are still a number of issues to be resolved by the member states but this latest agreement is set to speed up the process.