Home affairs minister Leon Schreiber has hailed the importance of technological reform in closing gaps that allow corrupt networks to thrive within the department.
Speaking at the launch of the Border Management and Immigration Anti-Corruption Forum on Monday, Schreiber said corrupt networks exploit systemic loopholes that give government employees discretion over public service processes like applying for a residence permit or obtaining an ID.
Schreiber said technology is key to closing these loopholes because “you cannot bribe a computer or an electronic gate”.
“We are committed to the kind of systems reform that will close the space for discretion that enables fraud and corruption in the first place. In this quest, our greatest ally is technology. One of the fundamental pillars of our commitment to digital transformation is to employ technology in ways that prevent and detect corruption to uproot corrupt networks altogether, said Schreiber.
The Border Management and Immigration Anti-Corruption Forum is a joint effort by home affairs, the Special Investigating Unit, the Border Management Authority (BMA), the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation and the National Prosecuting Authority. The aim is to enforce accountability in the border and immigration environment.
Bribes
Porous borders pose a serious risk to national security and place huge pressure on public infrastructure such as hospitals and schools. Efforts to bolster physical security along South Africa’s borders have been undermined by corrupt department officials who accept bribes to facilitate illegal entry into the country.
According to Schreiber, 27 home affairs officials were dismissed from the department between July 2024 and February 2025 for a range of offences including fraud, corruption and sexual misconduct.
“Thanks to the work of our partners in law enforcement, eight officials have already been convicted and sentenced to prison terms ranging from four to 18 years, while criminal prosecution of another 19 officials is under way.”
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Similar actions have taken place at the BMA, where 10 officials were fired recently for corruption and an eleventh for aiding in malfeasance. Forty-five other disciplinary cases are “at various stages” of being dealt with.
As these “bad apples” are being rooted out, digital innovations are being developed to ensure the systems at home affairs are less susceptible to exploitation. According to Schreiber, these include replacing paper-based visas with electronic travel authorisation documents which will feature AI and machine learning-based adjudication. All other paper documents will be replaced by secure digital documents, which include new digital IDs and the phasing out of green ID books in favour of more secure smart ID cards.
The digital overhaul at home affairs is central to government’s plan to make public services more efficient and accessible through digital channels. President Cyril Ramaphosa, in his state of the nation address in February, said the digital capability at home affairs, especially related to the implementation of digital IDs, will be “at the heart” of a digitised government service available to citizens “at a touch”.
Home affairs has been allocated R13.4-billion for the 2025/2026 financial year, with provisional allocation of a further R1.5-billion set aside for “digitisation and human resource capitalisation”, which will be dispersed halfway through the year. First, though, the department must “demonstrate readiness or meet specific conditions”, according to national treasury.
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“The reality is that, for as long as we have paper-based visa documents, for as long as we use manual, paper-based processes, and for as long as decisions are wide-open to human discretion and interference, the space for corruption will continue to exist,” said Schreiber. – © 2025 NewsCentral Media
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