Budget Irish airline Ryanair still requires all South African passengers travelling to the UK from other destinations to prove their nationality by taking a test in Afrikaans.
READ MORE: Airline asks South Africans to fill in Afrikaans test to prove nationality
Ryanair does not operate flights to South Africa.
Outrage and controversy have swept the country over the policy. It has not provided any reason as to why it chose Afrikaans despite the fact that South Africa has 11 official languages.
Ryanair stated that the tests were carried out due to ‘substantially increased cases of fraudulent South African passports being used to enter the UK’, according to the BBC.
An airline faces a fine of £2 000 (nearly R40 000) if found to have taken a passenger with a fake passport to the UK from the authorities.
‘This is why Ryanair must ensure that all passengers (especially South African citizens) travel on a valid SA passport/visa as required by UK Immigration.’
As well as not explaining why it chose Afrikaans rather than any other South African language, Ryanair did not say whether it carried out similar tests for any other nationality.
The test has questions such as what is the capital city of South Africa and what is the country’s international dialling code?
Those who fail will have their tickets refunded.
The UK High Commission in South Africa said on Twitter that the Ryanair test was not a British government requirement to enter the United Kingdom.
‘The South African Govt has already warned passengers (and airlines) of the risk of syndicates selling fake SA passports, which has substantially increased cases of fraudulent South African passports being used to enter the UK,’ the budget airline said in an emailed statement on 8 June, cited by The Washington Post.
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