Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber has assured citizens that the government is rolling out targeted interventions to curb corruption and hold officials accountable for manipulating systems to issue documents irregularly.
“I can today announce that disciplinary processes against all implicated individuals are ongoing. A total of 20 officials have already been dismissed since April last year,” the Minister said on Monday in Pretoria.
His remarks are a response to the release of the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) interim report on the investigation into allegations of serious maladministration within the Department of Home Affairs.
The investigation focused on recurring schemes involving document fraud, visa and work-permit manipulation, and facilitation networks enabling unauthorised entry into South Africa.
“I have also requested the Director-General to write to the Department of Public Service and Administration, as well as to the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, to ensure that these former officials are not reemployed elsewhere in the State while they undergo criminal proceedings.
“Over the past two financial years, a total of 75 disciplinary cases were completed, resulting in an additional 16 suspensions without pay and 22 written warnings,” the Minister said.
This work has also led to several referrals for criminal prosecution.
“I would encourage the National Prosecuting Authority to prioritise these cases as part of our collective efforts to restore the rule of law,” he said.
Furthermore, the department has also identified over 2 000 study visas that were fraudulently issued through the syndicates that were operating at Home Affairs.
“Administrative processes are now underway to cancel these visas, and we will also ringfence any subsequent visas obtained by these same individuals to ensure that all irregularly obtained documents are cancelled and that perpetrators are deported or prosecuted as required,” the Minister said.
The department is moving to shut down manual processes and replace them with new cutting-edge digital systems that leave no space for manipulation.
“As confirmed by the SIU, it is paper-based and manual processes that have long created space for crooked officials to overlook fraudulent documents or approve applications that do not meet the relevant regulatory requirements,” Schreiber said.
Last year, Home Affairs launched the first phase of the Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA), which enables visa applicants to apply online, capture biometrics, and receive approvals in real-time, eliminating lengthy processing times and cumbersome documentation.
“To date, this new system has declined over 30 000 applications that did not meet the relevant requirements for tourist visas. It does so by using machine learning to verify the authenticity of documents like passports.
“The ETA also uses biometric technology to match an applicant’s face to their passport photo, which means that they cannot enter South Africa using fraudulent documents.
“The ETA does all of this through rules-based decision-making that is overseen by the Department, but that cannot be manipulated by any official,” the Minister said.
Working together with the Border Management Authority and the South African Revenue Service, the department is currently expanding facial recognition capabilities to all international airports and to the busiest land ports of entry.
“Once this work is complete, we will scale up the ETA to become the central entry point for all tourist visas to South Africa. This means that we will shut down all other tourist visa processing, including at South African missions abroad.
“Once this is complete, we will further expand the ETA to additional visa categories, including study visas. By moving all visa processing to the ETA, we are closing loopholes that were previously exploited to grant non-qualifying or fraudulent applications,” he said.
Through the ETA, Home Affairs will ensure that a handful of officials can't manipulate processes.
“The rollout of the ETA also links to our work to build an Intelligent Population Register to anchor a new Digital ID system, which will ensure that biometrics are recorded for every person in South Africa, and that biometric verification is used to protect our citizenship and identity system.
“This is how we eliminate the scourge of identity theft by illegal immigrants, which is concentrated around the continued use of the green bar-coded identity book,” the Minister said.
