Easing travel to Malta from South Africa

We are keen readers of timesofmalta.com who follow it on a regular basis from Cape Town, in South Africa.

We have an apartment in Bel Monte Height, Sliema, which we used to visit once a year since 2011 and we consider beautiful Malta our home away from home.

Our children live in England and we are expecting our first grandchild this week.

The COVID-19 pandemic has put a stop to our routine and South Africa is considered to be on the red country category, in spite of the official statistics showing that we are, in fact, in a much better condition than amber countries like Turkey and Greece.

As one may know, there are many South Africans who made Malta their new home or vacation destination.

We are required to isolate in a corridor amber country for 14 days before travelling to Malta. The problem is that, as far as we know, there are no amber countries that will accept South Africans for this purpose.

We were advised to visit a country like Rwanda to meet such requirement. However, the people who know that country give little recommendation to go there.

We have corresponded with Malta’s health officials many times, requesting that we are allowed to fly directly from Cape Town via Istanbul to Malta and then self-isolate in our own home (or, else, be given guidance as to where we can isolate ourselves for the days required). Obviously complying to the pre-conditions of negative tests etc.

But we are hitting a brick wall every time, with no alternative consideration for our plight. We were lately told to wait for Malta to open up on June 1 but we are learning that tourism will be restricted to the eurozone and the UK only.

This ruling restricts all South Africans departing and arriving in Malta and is considered unfair in our regard.

We have gone so far to request the World Health Organisation (WHO) to reconsider the colour grading of South Africa from red to amber, based on the very good controls and results our country has achieved in the past four months. But, regrettably, we seem to be too unimportant citizens to be responded to.

The South African COVID variant has previously been mentioned to be a further deterrent to consider an upgrade but this is factually incorrect. The relevant variant was identified in South Africa only but was not the origin of it.

Is it in any way possible to promote the South African case in Malta? We are a stable community on the island and do make a large contribution to its economy.

If Malta can decide on changing the UK to amber status, we believe we could also be considered amber by the Maltese authorities. We may not make the same tourism contribution  but that was never a key determinant for the status rating change of the UK (or was it?).

We may be lagging in vaccine distribution  but we have received a large shipment recently and our minister of health promised to activate it ASAP. We are in the second group,that is the 60-year-olds plus, after the medical industry, which is nearly completely vaccinated.

Willie Mostert – Somerset West, South Africa

Restrictions for kayakers

The reserved swimming zones are intended to safeguard swimmers’ safety from any encroaching motor driven vessels navigating close to the shoreline.

Unfortunately, this restriction in respect of designated zones reserved for swimmers also applies to kayaks even though they are not motor driven.  Although a number of these swimming zones have floats to indicate launching lanes for access to the sea for watercraft vessels, a considerable number of our bays do not. This effectively renders these bays as off-limit to kayakers to reach the shoreline from the sea.

I can mention the picturesque bays of l-Imġiebaħ, Blue Lagoon Comino, Fomm ir-Riħ and Selmun among others which are completely closed off with no access to go ashore.

My appeal to Transport Malta is to revisit this restriction and allow direct access to the shoreline to kayakers, ensuring all designated swimming zones have a delineated entry/exit corridor. The access to the shoreline is also tied to the safety aspect so that kayakers can come in to land during an emergency while on the water without being sanctioned.

In conclusion, paddle sports should be strongly nurtured and encouraged by virtue of its health benefits and is a great way to enjoy our beautiful waters.

Karl Sammut – Lija

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