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The
Irish low-cost airline had from last week started forcing
UK-bound travelers with a South African passport to take a test
in Afrikaans, a language spoken by just 12% of the country's
population and often associated with the apartheid and white
minority rule.
Europe's largest airline by passenger numbers, which does not
operate flights to and from South Africa, had cited that it was
doing this to curb high prevalence of fake South African
passports.
The Department of Home Affairs in South Africa said the local
government had measures that it regularly shares with airlines
to curb any instances of fake documents.
"We are taken aback by the decision of this airline because the
Department regularly communicates with all airlines to update
them on how to validate South African passports, including the
look and feel," the department said.
All airlines have access to the 'Advanced Passenger Processing'
system which enables them to screen travelers before they depart
and the government also runs a 24-hour service which airlines
can use if they want to authenticate South African passports, it
said.
"It is not clear to which extent the airline has used these
services before resorting to this backward profiling system."
(Reporting by Promit Mukherjee; Editing by James Macharia Chege
and Frank Jack Daniel)
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