Cape Town - South Africa should ensure it is "standing on firm ground" before approaching the United Kingdom to re-negotiate that country's recently imposed visa requirements, Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma told MPs on Wednesday.

Responding to a question in the National Assembly on when South Africans can expect to no longer have to apply for a visa before entering the UK, she indicated the decision was up to the UK government.

"As for the UK visa... it was the UK that decided on [this], it wasn't us. So it's not likely that we can determine when that will change."

There had been "objective and subjective reasons" why the UK had introduced the visa requirement.

"And until we are satisfied that we have addressed all the objective reasons, it would not make sense for us to go back to the UK and try and re-negotiate. We should know that we are standing on firm ground by the time we go to them," she said.

Issues not agreed to

In February this year, the UK government slapped a visa requirement on South African citizens visiting that country, following concerns about stolen and forged SA passports.

Responding later to a question on how long the matter would take to resolve, Dlamini-Zuma said: "We will go to the UK to re-negotiate when we feel we are ready."

She also revealed there were passport issues raised by the UK to which SA could not agree.

"There are issues that we will not as yet agree to, that the UK is asking for... for example, there are people who got to the UK on fraudulent SA passports... [about] 15 years ago.

"When they find [these people], they want to return them to South Africa. Now I'm not about to agree to that. We can discuss it with them," she said.

Visas 'a temporary measure'

Also responding to a question on the visa issue, her Cabinet colleague, International Relations and Co-operation Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane told MPs the UK government saw the visa requirements as a "temporary measure".

The matter remained on the agenda of bilateral discussions between the two countries.

"We are sincerely and clearly engaged with our [UK] counterparts on this very important matter," she said.

Earlier on Wednesday, Dlamini-Zuma said South Africa's new passports "meet international standards as we speak now".

By SAPA