Paper-based methods that create loopholes for corruption have to be changed by “watertight” digital methods, the house affairs minister has mentioned.
New dwelling affairs minister Leon Schreiber has referred to as for the modernisation of the methods at dwelling affairs from handbook, paper-based procedures onto digital platforms.
Talking to Bongani Bingwa on Johannesburg’s 702 radio station on Monday, Schreiber mentioned the digitisation of handbook methods will shut the loopholes permitting corrupt officers and the syndicates they staff up with to perpetrate id fraud inside the division.
“The query we have to ask is why it’s doable for these officers to govern the system. How does it work that one particular person can course of 192 pretend passports? The reply may be very clear to me: we have now method an excessive amount of discretion of people to intervene within the system,” he mentioned.
“In different phrases, when issues are paper primarily based, when they aren’t being tracked, when they aren’t digital or on-line, there’s simply far an excessive amount of area for folks to train discretion and say, ‘When you pay me one thing, I’ll course of it within the following method.’ That’s the reason the actually elementary reform we’d like at dwelling affairs is digital transformation.”
Schreiber mentioned dwelling affairs must comply with the instance set by the South African Income Service, which additionally relied on paper-based methods for a very long time, by overhauling its processes onto a “watertight” on-line system that “has dramatically enhanced effectivity and lowered corruption”.
Miss South Africa
Schreiber mentioned the high-profile case of the mom of former Miss South Africa contestant Chidimma Adetshina, who was below investigation by the division for suspicion of id fraud. Schreiber mentioned he would first report back to parliament earlier than giving extra particulars to the media concerning the investigation’s findings. He additionally identified that such circumstances are “symptomatic of bigger systemic points”, with the shortage of safe digital methods at dwelling affairs chief amongst them.
House affairs has blocked many ID paperwork which can be both suspected to be fraudulent or have been utilized in fraudulent exercise. Many South Africans who’re victims of fraud have been blocked as a consequence. Shreiber inspired all these with blocked IDs to strategy the division to assist it “separate the true from the pretend”.
Schreiber additionally inspired South Africans with inexperienced ID books to use for the safer and digital ID playing cards. “If you wish to fight fraud, please go change your inexperienced ID e-book with a sensible ID. You can find that your inexperienced ID e-book is extra prone to fraud. Actually, some analysis suggests it’s the most cast doc in Africa.”
The matter of 95 Libyan nationals who entered South Africa illegally and stayed in a army coaching camp close to White River in Mpumalanga additionally took centre stage within the interview. Whereas the group has been deported, Schreiber mentioned it was “unacceptable” that these international nationals might enter South Africa utilizing handwritten paperwork, one other signal that digitisation is urgently wanted.
“Within the 12 months 2024, how is it doable that somebody can enter a rustic with a handwritten doc. How simply can a handwritten doc be cast?” Schreiber requested. “We have to transfer away from all this human interplay, handwritten paperwork and going to international missions. The expertise is there in 2024; we should safe the system, we should enable on-line purposes and we should circumvent all these alternatives of potential fraud taking place.” — © 2024 NewsCentral Media
