Government26.08.2024

Big plans for IDs and passports in South Africa

Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber says plans to digitise the department’s operations will help fight fraudsters who create fake documents.

Speaking before the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs, Schreiber said processes requiring human intervention open the door for fraudulent activities.

Because of this, he wants the Department of Home Affairs’ (DHA’s) processes to become fully digital.

“It is only possible for someone to steal an ID number or engage in fraudulent activity like swopping out photos because the system has gaps that allow for human intervention,” the minister said.

“Until such time as Home Affairs has been transformed into a digital-first department, these abuses will keep happening and the system will remain offline.”

“Instances like these — and potentially much worse — will keep happening for as long as Home Affairs processes are manual, paper-based, and vulnerable to human discretion,” he added.

Schreiber said that, through digital transformation, South Africans requiring DHA services will be able to access them from within the comfort of their own homes.

Manual, paper-based processes have allowed some malicious DHA employees to produce fraudulent documents to sell them to foreign nationals.

In April 2024, former DHA minister Aaron Motsoaledi welcomed the arrest of Amos Ngwenyama following a joint investigation with the Hawks, which revealed that Ngwenyama was issuing birth certificates to undeserving foreign nationals in exchange for money.

He was sentenced to eight and six years imprisonment at the Giyani Commercial Court in Limpopo on two counts. The sentences will run concurrently.

In early August, Schreiber welcomed the sentencing of Judy Zuma, a former DHA official, who was part of a syndicate that delivered fraudulent passports to foreign nationals who did not qualify for the documents.

She was paid R4,000 per passport and arrested during a sting operation after she attempted to bribe a Home Affairs Counter-Corruption Officer with R10,000.

Leon Schreiber, Minister of Home Affairs

Zuma was found to have processed 192 passports between 28 May and 12 June 2021. She received a 12-year prison sentence.

According to Smile ID’s Digital Identity Fraud report for 2024, fraudsters in Africa are particularly attracted to South Africa’s green ID booklets and driving licence cards.

It revealed that its know-your-customer checks flagged fraud in 34% of cases where South African ID books were used to access various services.

Smile ID said national IDs are popular targets as they are the most common form of government identification.

Faced with the scourge of corrupt officials supplying fake documents, the DHA has blocked approximately 700,000 South African IDs.

According to Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR), the DHA didn’t follow the correct procedure when blocking the IDs, resulting in many legitimate holders having their documents blocked.

The challenges such individuals face include opening bank accounts, securing employment, and extending beyond them to strain their families significantly.

Pretoria High Court Judge Elmarie van der Schyff ruled that blocking the identity documents was done without a fair administrative process and is invalid.

The DHA had left blocked ID holders in the dark as to why their documents were invalid.

Van der Schyff instructed the DHA to abide by the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act (Paja), which includes informing individuals when it makes such a decision. She gave the DHA 90 days to comply with the court order.

“We have not heard any from their legal representative, which is the state attorney, as to why the department has not complied,” said Thandeka Chauke, head of the Statelessness Unit at LHR.

She added that the 90-day period lapsed on Monday, 1 July 2024.

The DHA has since opened channels for blocked document holders to provide written reasons and representations within 30 days for why their ID should not be cancelled.

“Through this move, Home Affairs aims to both resolve the decades-old issue of wrongfully blocked IDs while reducing the number of fraudulent documents in circulation,” it says.

“The Department intends to end the inconvenience caused by the block to holders of legitimate IDs, while cancelling IDs held by unauthorised persons.”

Impacted individuals must send their submissions to [email protected].

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