Dwelling affairs minister Leon Schreiber has hailed the significance of technological reform in closing gaps that permit corrupt networks to thrive inside the division.
Talking on the launch of the Border Administration and Immigration Anti-Corruption Discussion board on Monday, Schreiber mentioned corrupt networks exploit systemic loopholes that give authorities staff discretion over public service processes like making use of for a residence allow or acquiring an ID.
Schreiber mentioned expertise is vital to closing these loopholes as a result of “you can’t bribe a pc or an digital gate”.
“We’re dedicated to the type of programs reform that may shut the house for discretion that permits fraud and corruption within the first place. On this quest, our best ally is expertise. One of many elementary pillars of our dedication to digital transformation is to make use of expertise in ways in which forestall and detect corruption to uproot corrupt networks altogether, mentioned Schreiber.
The Border Administration and Immigration Anti-Corruption Discussion board is a joint effort by residence affairs, the Particular Investigating Unit, the Border Administration Authority (BMA), the Directorate for Precedence Crime Investigation and the Nationwide Prosecuting Authority. The intention is to implement accountability within the border and immigration atmosphere.
Bribes
Porous borders pose a severe danger to nationwide safety and place big strain on public infrastructure equivalent to hospitals and faculties. Efforts to bolster bodily safety alongside South Africa’s borders have been undermined by corrupt division officers who settle for bribes to facilitate unlawful entry into the nation.
In line with Schreiber, 27 residence affairs officers have been dismissed from the division between July 2024 and February 2025 for a spread of offences together with fraud, corruption and sexual misconduct.
“Because of the work of our companions in regulation enforcement, eight officers have already been convicted and sentenced to jail phrases starting from 4 to 18 years, whereas felony prosecution of one other 19 officers is below approach.”
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Comparable actions have taken place on the BMA, the place 10 officers have been fired not too long ago for corruption and an eleventh for aiding in malfeasance. Forty-five different disciplinary instances are “at varied levels” of being handled.
As these “dangerous apples” are being rooted out, digital improvements are being developed to make sure the programs at residence affairs are much less prone to exploitation. In line with Schreiber, these embrace changing paper-based visas with digital journey authorisation paperwork which can function AI and machine learning-based adjudication. All different paper paperwork can be changed by safe digital paperwork, which embrace new digital IDs and the phasing out of inexperienced ID books in favour of safer sensible ID playing cards.
The digital overhaul at residence affairs is central to authorities’s plan to make public providers extra environment friendly and accessible by digital channels. President Cyril Ramaphosa, in his state of the nation deal with in February, mentioned the digital functionality at residence affairs, particularly associated to the implementation of digital IDs, can be “on the coronary heart” of a digitised authorities service accessible to residents “at a contact”.
Dwelling affairs has been allotted R13.4-billion for the 2025/2026 monetary 12 months, with provisional allocation of an extra R1.5-billion put aside for “digitisation and human useful resource capitalisation”, which can be dispersed midway by the 12 months. First, although, the division should “display readiness or meet particular circumstances”, in keeping with nationwide treasury.
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“The truth is that, for so long as we’ve paper-based visa paperwork, for so long as we use handbook, paper-based processes, and for so long as selections are wide-open to human discretion and interference, the house for corruption will live on,” mentioned Schreiber. – © 2025 NewsCentral Media
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