Everything you need to know about travelling to South Africa

A number of readers have come forward in recent weeks having experienced difficulties travelling to South Africa with a child.
                                           

The latest letter came from Telegraph Travel reader, Joanne Caputo.

Joanne Caputo, writes:

In June my husband accompanied me to Gatwick Airport to travel to Cape Town via Dubai with our four-month-old son so I could visit my grandmother, who is 90, for a few days.

It’s too expensive to take the whole family to South Africa during the school holidays (I’m a teacher) so I bought a cheap off-season flight. I checked online what documents I needed (or thought I had) and knew I had to carry my son’s unabridged birth certificate. I had a letter of permission from my husband, and his passport.

Gill Charlton, consumer expert, replies:

You are the third person to contact me in as many weeks to say they’ve been refused travel to South Africa as a lone parent because they don’t have a parental consent affidavit.

An affidavit is a signed letter sworn under oath in person before a solicitor or a commissioner for oaths. It costs £5. This requirement has been in place since June 2015 when the South African Department of Home Affairs brought in new regulations to prevent child trafficking. All children under 18 must travel to South Africa with their unabridged birth certificate showing the names of their parents – even if travelling with them. If the child is accompanied by one parent, South African immigration requires consent – in the form of an affidavit – from whoever is registered as the parent on the birth certificate.

Your confirmation merely states that you should contact the visa agent CIBT to check entry requirements and that Travel Up is not liable for denied boarding due to invalid documents. Emirates could perhaps have flown you the following day as a goodwill gesture if you had booked direct with them, but it could not change an agency-issued ticket.