With Namibia and Sierra Leone being the latest countries to relax their visa entry requirements, South Africans are now eligible to travel to at least 100 countries visa-free, APA learnt on Wednesday.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) said that, with this development, Monrovia and Freetown now offered visas on arrival to citizens of a number of fellow African states – including South Africans.
This means that South African passport holders can visit at least 100 countries without obtaining prior visas, enabling this travel document to move up one place to the 53rd position on the Henley Passport Index.
The index is based on exclusive data from the IATA, which said that this reflected a similar slight upwards shift for many other Sub-Saharan African states as most countries on the continent move to liberalise their visa regimes.
Despite the recent xenophobic attacks on fellow Africans, South Africa does allow most of them to enter the country visa-free for 30 days.
NM/jn/APA