More than 420,000 South Africans visited the UK last year. The South African passports were one of the most abused passports detected at UK border posts.

Dixo said in the past two years there has also been a significant increase in the number of South African nationals detected working illegally or overstaying after their leave to remain in the UK has expired.

The UK government gave SA an ultimatum last July to clean up its act within six months or face the introduction of visas. Ten other countries received similar warnings, and five countries — Bolivia, Lesotho, SA, Swaziland and Venezuela — failed to meet the deadline.

From next month, visitors without UK entry stamps in their passports will need visas. All visitors will require visas from the middle of this year. The new visa will cost £64.

This follows years of warnings from the UK government that South African passports were not secure, and that SA’s home affairs department must address the problem.

Siobhan McCarthy, spokeswoman for the home affairs department, said yesterday that South African officials met UK officials in December to report back on progress made in meeting a range of security measures required by the UK to prevent identity fraud.

“We showed them that we had made huge strides in improving security around South African IDs, birth certificates and passports, but would not be able to implement them in time to meet the December deadline. While the UK welcomed the progress, they were not willing to extend their deadline,” said McCarthy.

The department will begin issuing the new South African passport, which will now comply with the international security standards set down by the International Civil Aviation Organisation, from the middle of next month.

UK authorities noted that it was aware of the home affairs’ turnaround plan, and recognised that if and when these plans were successfully implemented, the risks originating in South Africa may be significantly reduced.

“Further global reviews of our visa operations will be conducted and there will be an opportunity to assess South Africa’s progress,” said Dixon.

The UK raised the visa issue in 2004 when syndicates were found to be using forged South African passports to gain illegal entry to the UK.

“The government said it would get tough and we meant it … The message is clear — we will not shy away from widening the visa net further wherever we think there’s a risk to the UK," said British Border and Immigration Minister Phil Woolas.