Minister of Home Affairs, Dr Leon Schreiber, held nothing back as he spoke in the National Assembly on 20 August, where he said the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) requires a digital transformation, and urgently.
Reflecting on case studies and recent discoveries made by the department, Schreiber pointed to “the lack of a modern digital system to process all applications, adjudications and communication at Home Affairs [as] the root cause of the national security threat we face in this sector.”
Schreiber went on to say that “the common denominator is that Home Affairs systems are vulnerable to fraud, corruption and discretion because they are outdated, antiquated, paper-based, manual and, therefore, open to subversion.”
Speaking on his department’s recent deportation of Libyan nationals, who were in South Africa on tourist visas, Schreiber revealed they obtained visas that were written by hand.
“How can South Africa regard ourselves as a serious nation when we still allow entrance into our country based on hand-written documents that even a child could forge?”
Among other irregularities discovered were visa applications which were processed even though they did not contain all the requisite documentation. Further, several applications were approved without verifying the information contained in the applications. Schreiber disclosed that overseas, Home Affairs is reliant on officials from another government department to process applications at foreign missions.
Commenting on the dire state of the department’s processes, Schreiber 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. If we collectively fail to do so, the repercussions for national security will be on all of our hands.”
Schreiber stated that until Home Affairs transforms “into a digital-first department, these abuses will keep happening and the system will remain offline.”
“For as long as we fail to use technology to make up for the capacity shortfall and close the gaps for human discretion, it is not a question of ‘if’ abuses will be exposed,” said the Minister.
Calling for “bold steps,” Schreiber said if Home Affairs is not transformed into a digital-first department, “we will be wasting each other’s time for the next five years.”
The Minister emphasised that Home Affairs must be given the tools and support it requires, to not only address current concerns but to “start preventing fires into the future.” Schreiber went on to highlight “the sterling work being done” by the department in handling a backlog that accumulated for over a decade.
“This work is being done because we are focused on a clear goal, working collaboratively with partners in other departments and sectors of society, and embracing technology.
“The progress of the backlog project demonstrates that officials at Home Affairs are indeed capable of solving seemingly intractable problems if they are given the leadership, support and resources required.”
Schreiber implored members of Parliament to support his department, adding “South Africa can solve this problem, because we have done it before.” Referring to how the South African Revenue Service (SARS) embraced digital transformation, Schreiber noted SARS had become “one of the best state entities in the country,” and further, had become “one of the most effective tax authorities in the world.”
The department aims to introduce a digital platform to process all applications, adjudication and communication, similar to the systems at SARS, something which the Minister hopes “would not only restore our national security.”
Minister Schreiber noted South Africa is at a point where “we could decide to continue with things the way that they are, in which case we would doom South Africa’s national security and spend the next five years dealing with abuses but never preventing them. Or we could boldly go into the future by embracing digital transformation to decisively deal with fraud and corruption while fixing service delivery and creating jobs.”
Adding that “South Africa always defies expectations when we work together with one purpose,” Schreiber stated his department was determined to prove this once again.
The Minister closed his remarks by stating that the DHA now has a clear and unambiguous goal, “to rapidly transform this department into a digital-first organisation where fraud and corruption is not only combatted, but where it is prevented. This is how we will make Home Affairs work so that South Africa can work.”