Home Affairs minister Dr Leon Schreiber says that his department needs to urgently become a technology-first organisation—like the South African Revenue Services (SARS)—if the country ever wants to
Addressing the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs this week, the minister said that high profile incidents of ID theft and fraud that have grabbed headlines in the past month were only possible due to “human interventions” and because the current systems created many windows of opportunity for this to take place.
These incidents include the case of 95 Libyan nationals who managed to get into the country on falsified and forged documents, using hand-written visas, as well as a Miss South Africa contestant whose mother allegedly obtained a fraudulent ID 23 years ago.
“Which person on earth could justify the use of such an antiquated, broken and vulnerable system when we live in the year 2024 with technology at our fingertips that could instantly solve every one of these problems?” he said.
“It would frankly be a dereliction of duty on the part of everyone in this room if we do not move with urgency to digitally transform Home Affairs.”
The minister said that until Home Affairs has been digitally transformed into a digital-first department, “the system will remain offline“.
Fittingly, Home Affairs’ website was down on Wednesday (21 August), with users unable to access any services.
“Incidents of identity theft, long queues, visa fraud and corruption will keep happening over and over and over again, forever, if we fail to digitally transform Home Affairs,” he said.
Schreiber said that instances flagged in the past month will keep happening—likely worse—and will pose a massive security threat to the country for as long as processes are manual, paper-based and vulnerable to “human discretion”.
He added that it is not a case of “if” abuses will happen, but “when”.
Following SARS’ example
The minister said that he is fully confident in the government’s ability to turn things at Home Affairs around, citing the clearing of the visa backlog as an example of the department being able to get things done if it is focused and working collaboratively.
The backlog has been 50% cleared, with the department on course to have it fully cleared by December 2024 after more than a decade of it building up.
He added that South Africa has also done it before, with the South African Revenue Service (SARS) embracing digital transformation and becoming one of the best-run state entities and also one of the most efficient tax authorities in the world.
“The time has come for Home Affairs to do it again,” he said.
“Imagine if, instead of talking about the latest cases of abuse—knowing that this will just be repeated again next week or next month—we were sitting here to introduce a digital platform that allows for the continuous auditing of the population register.”
“I can tell you right now, such an audit is impossible with the paper-based, fragmented and antiquated systems we are still using.”
Schreiber said that a digital transformation would not only provide the platforms needed to process all applications, adjudication and communication in the same way that SARS does, it would restore national security and create hundreds of thousands of new jobs.
He pointed to a digital visa adjudication system using platforms built on machine learning to process visas with speed and security, opening the door for growth in tourism and attracting skills and investment.
In addition, upgraded systems would defeat downtime and allow for remote processing for customers—as they would with online banking or SARS eFiling. “We must move with urgency. Sooner rather than later I want to tear up the last application form with a Home Affairs logo on it as we become a digital-first department that protects the sovereignty of this country,” he said