When you think of the Department of Home Affairs, you are usually filled with dread and other unpleasant feelings for various reasons. Corruption, lax officials and system failures, to name just a few.
It is a vital government department in desperate need of some good news after years of ineptitude, a lack of accountability and malfeasance. As is stated early in the 2022 Lubisi report on the issuance of visas and permits: “The Department of Home Affairs is regarded as one of South Africa’s most strategic and important aspects of the national security architecture. However, it also remains one of the most vulnerable and targeted departments in government.”
They control people’s identities, lives and livelihoods. People have committed suicide and many crimes have been committed on account of errors and corrupt acts by home affairs officials. Although an individual seldom needs its services, it has a social, economic and political impact like few other state agencies. In other words, good luck with doing anything worthwhile without having the proper documentation.
Claudia Pizzocri, CEO at Eisenberg & Associates, wrote in Business Day in August that “the Covid-19 backlog only worsened and made more conspicuous pre-existing conditions of disarray in home affairs”. She adds that complacency, insufficient training in constitutional governance, and a security cluster-orientated approach to immigration issues, have consistently lowered standards and caused friction between government, citizens and foreigners.
Although the department was and is admittedly not completely dysfunctional, its vast historic scope of corruption and incompetence cannot be chronicled here. This stretches down from top to bottom, and from poor policy decisions to syndicates and small-time venal officials, and to failed digital initiatives.
However, a personal anecdote and bigger news stories have contributed to a renewed sense of optimism about home affairs and especially its impact on an economy so reliant on tourism and travel.
Not able to drive to a bank branch in Cape Town at a specific date and time, I recently visited the Paarl office near my house with some trepidation to renew my passport. The queues were reasonable, all the staff were friendly and helpful, and I completed my entire application in under an hour. A week later I collected my passport with little effort. This is in stark contrast to my previous experiences at other offices.
This came on the back of news that the department had cleared – in a single month – an ID backlog of 247 500 that had accumulated since November 2023. Home affairs minister Dr Leon Schreiber has also gazetted the much-vaunted Remote Work Visitor Visa and the new Points-Based System for Work Visas. This step has drawn praise from the business and tourism sectors for its potential to draw visitors, skilled workers and investors to the country while creating local jobs through their spend.
On top of this, Schreiber has put accountability front and centre of his tenure. Some officials were sporadically disciplined, dismissed and even criminally convicted in the past, but corrupt officials have too often escaped sanction for gross misconduct. These efforts have certainly been stepped up since the formation of the Government of National Unity (GNU). BusinessLive reported that the department took action against 33 officials between July and September. This ranged from criminal prosecution to dismissal and suspension without pay. Apparently, this is only the thin end of the wedge and more arrests will follow.
Emphatically, it seems that Schreiber is making the secure digitalisation of his department’s documents the cornerstone of his tenure. Some efforts have been made in this regard, but none have largely eliminated to visit physical home affairs offices or the 30 dispersed bank branches that assist with passports and smart IDs. He is confident that the department will be fully digital by 2029. I hope he’s right and it can certainly be done.
Bearing in mind that there is a large digital divide in South Africa – as in the rest of the Third World – many people (especially in rural areas) will not be able to make use of these services in the foreseeable future. But it does alleviate much of the pressure on the existing resources, which could be diverted to offices in those areas. And it will be a huge convenience boost for the rest of us while combating corruption. No more long queues, travelling and wasted hours. After all, it is the 21st Century and there is no reason why we shouldn’t be able to do it like the Swedes, Fins and Danes do.
Turning this department around is a Herculean task, to say the least. Schreiber is up against entrenched corrupt networks inside and outside his department, hostile bureaucrats, the unions, and other government entities being able to do what they are supposed to. But green shoots are indeed showing, and this early progress could be prelude to perfection.
Dr Brink is an entrepreneur, business consultant and analyst based in the Cape Winelands.
