‘The days of ‘system offline’ need to come to an end, because I want to be the Minister of ‘System Online’,’ says Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber.
Leon Schreiber laid out his priorities as Minister of Home Affairs during his maiden budget vote speech in Parliament on Monday, saying his department would prioritise, among other things, dealing with the visa backlog and stabilising the department’s online system.
The Department of Home Affairs has a budget of R10.49-billion for the 2024/25 financial year – a slight increase from R9.75-billion in the previous financial year.
Schreiber’s speech covered five key issues.
Visa backlog
Schreiber said the department had assigned a “dedicated team” to deal with the permit backlog.
“I am pleased to report that we are starting to see progress. Our dedicated team has already reduced the backlog by processing 92,886 applications out of a total of 306,042. This is a reduction of 30%,” he said.
A day after Schreiber was sworn into office, he extended a temporary concession for foreigners with pending visa applications, including those who were appealing against rejections, to 31 December 2024, Daily Maverick’s Georgina Crouth reported. The concession was needed to protect applicants and deal with ongoing delays in visa processing.
In April this year, the department revealed in response to a parliamentary question that the visa backlog had increased by 18,000 – from 74,000 in August 2023 to 92,000 in February 2024.
Schreiber said that “clearing this backlog is the only way to avoid another extension of the concession on visas, waivers and appeals that has already been granted three times”.
“This is an abnormal situation, and we must get this problem under control so that extensions are no longer necessary. For this reason, I have asked to be provided with daily reports on the state of the backlog until it is eradicated,” he said.
The ANC supported the department’s budget. ANC MP Mosa Chabane said, in addition to clearing the backlog on processing visa applications, “capacity should be increased within the permits and refugee section”.
Immigration Advisory Board
In the House on Thursday, Schreiber announced that he was, in terms of Section 4(2) of the Immigration Act of 2002, reactivating the Immigration Advisory Board as a matter of urgency.
South Africa has not had an Immigration Advisory Board in more than a decade, which is in breach of the Immigration Act, Daily Maverick reported. Schreiber said the department is “inundated with costly court cases”, often due to an inability to process applications timeously.
“This board provides a powerful platform for key stakeholders to engage with the department on an ongoing basis about problems affecting the sector,” said Schreiber.
“Importantly, the advisory board can provide the minister with evidence-based advice on tackling critical matters, such as the court-ordered process of consultation on the future of the Zimbabwean Exemption Permit.”
“The Advisory Board will serve as a vital forum where problems can be ironed out before they escalate to the courts,” said Schreiber.
ActionSA MP Lerato Ngobeni said the party will be watching the work of the board closely, “because South Africans have simply had enough”.
“ActionSA will not support any budget that fails to unapologetically put South Africans first,” she said.
Border management
“Even as we work to implement the GNU [government of national unity] mandate for a better visa system to welcome people who want to contribute to South Africa legally through their skills, investments and as tourists, we must acknowledge that there is another side to this coin,” said Schreiber.
“South Africa needs to do much more to combat illegal immigration.”
To tackle illegal immigration, Schreiber said the department would increase the number of inspections at restaurants, spaza shops, farms and mines by more than 50%, to “take action against people illegally employed, including deportations.”
These inspections will be done in collaboration with other departments, including Employment and Labour and the SA Police Service, according to Schreiber.
Schreiber’s predecessor, Aaron Motsoaledi, was frequently questioned throughout his term about his hardline views on foreigners, and with Schreiber’s promised crackdown on illegal immigration, it seems he has set a similar tone for the department.
In response to Schreiber’s speech, uMkhonto Wesizwe (MK) party MP Mariam Muhammad said “serious defects in our immigration system” had to be addressed, adding that it was “time for a comprehensive overhaul of the migration system guided by a clear policy framework that balances compassion with security”.
Online systems and reducing queues
People wait in long queues at the Soweto Regional Home Affairs Office. (Photo: Gallo Images / Fani Mahuntsi)
Another priority of the department, Schreiber said, was to stabilise its online system.
Home Affairs offices lost more than 36,000 hours of work in the first half of 2023, primarily due to system downtime, News24 reported. The department has in the past been hamstrung by offline systems, causing long queues outside offices.
“It is unacceptable that, in the year 2024 and the age of artificial intelligence, we still do not have a reliable IT system at Home Affairs. The days of ‘system offline’ need to come to an end, because I want to be the minister of ‘system online’,” he said.
He said the problem of long queues had to be similarly tackled.
“While technological upgrades will also assist in this regard, I intend to review the way in which queues are managed at Home Affairs offices to identify appropriate business process reforms that optimise the online booking system and better manage queues on the ground,” said Schreiber.
DA MP Nicole Bollman welcomed the minister’s pledge to end system failures, saying the steps outlined by Schreiber were “promising, but swift implementation is essential”.
“Over the past five years, Home Affairs has lost 77 years’ worth of office hours due to systems being offline. This extensive loss of hours highlights the critical need for reliable IT systems. We also welcome the minister’s indication that online booking systems will be extended to other civic services beyond IDs and passports,” said Bollman.
Electoral Commission
The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) falls within the department’s budget vote.
The IEC, according to Schreiber, has a budget of R2.3-billion for the 2024/25 financial year.
The 29 May polls were beset by operational and technical challenges which caused long queues at voting stations. Some MPs in the House on Monday called for a probe into what went wrong to rectify the issues before the 2026 municipal elections.
“Honourable members, we cannot shy away from the fact that the IEC struggled during the 2024 election; however, the attacks on its credibility have been unwarranted. We need to, as a portfolio committee, probe where it went wrong and what interventions are needed,” said IFP MP, Liezl van der Merwe.
Schreiber said the IEC was set to undertake a review of the election.
“This process will include key stakeholders, including political parties represented in this House. South Africans expect the review process to be thorough so that operational and technical challenges are addressed ahead of the 2026 local government elections,” he said
