South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs has cleared the visa and permits backlog, which was 306,000 unprocessed applications since April last year, Minister of Home Affairs Leon Schreiber said Monday.
Schreiber made the remarks at an event where he gave awards to the employees who helped to reduce the backlog. The department said they have cleared 93 to 94 percent of the backlog owing to the dedication of the workers who worked during weekends.
Schreiber said the backlog has acted as a handbrake on South Africa’s economic growth prospects for a long time.
“The backlog has deprived our economy of the investment and skills it needs to grow and achieve the apex priority of the government of national unity, which is to create jobs.”