As officials and law enforcement continue to fight the scourge of fake and fraudulent documentation, the Department of Home Affairs has confirmed that nearly 7 400 Zimbabweans were deported in the 2022/23 financial year.

This was revealed in a recent parliamentary response from the department to ActionSA MP Lerato Ngobeni.

Ngobeni had drawn attention to the department’s report of 36 647 fraudulent applications during the period.

 “The Home Affairs ministerial committee on the Issuance of permits and visas established that there were 35 479 of these applications that were rejected, of which 880 were approved, and 288 were in a
pending status.

 “Initial analysis indicates that 4 160 applicants, that had rejected applications, were successful in a later application, sometimes in an application for a different type of visa or permit,” the report read.

Which country had the highest number of fraudulent applications submitted?

Most of those who submitted false documentation in their applications came from Nigeria, 12 177.

Meanwhile, most deportations during the period were to Zimbabwe.

The ministry confirmed that 7 393, or 68%, of the 10 808 listed were sent across the border.

This was followed, on the list of countries recorded, by Malawi (3 020).

159 people were deported to Tanzania, while one each was sent back to Senegal, Algeria, and Gabon.

A task team

The committee had recommended in 2022 that an independent multidisciplinary task team be set up that includes attorneys, forensic investigators, analysts, and system experts.

This team would “fully investigate all the anomalies, fraudulent applications, corrupt activities, systemic
irregularities and maladministration and to make appropriate recommendations for criminal
prosecution, disciplinary action, removal from the system, recalling of visas, and the tracing
of offending foreign nationals for deportation”.

Fake IDs

In August, Home Affairs announced it had started the process to cancel blocked SA ID documents.

ID documents are generally blocked when their holder dies, if there is a duplicate, a query on its validity, or if there are suspicions it may have been involved in fraud.

The department gazetted a notice that anyone who had a blocked ID would have 30 days to explain why it should not be cancelled.

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

The department revealed that some of these documents have been blocked for 19 years.

The number of bank branches supporting smart ID card and passport renewal services is set to more than double in the near future.

That is according to feedback from major banks that currently support the eHomeAffairs service.

Since 2016, a pilot of the service has enabled Department of Home Affairs (DHA) staff to work in bank branches to facilitate smart ID card applications and passport renewals.

The service also uses a paperless system for making online appointments, submitting forms, and making payments to significantly speed up the process and reduce queuing time.

Many users have reported excellent experiences in using the service, which has processed over 1.4 million smart ID card applications and passport renewals.

However, in its present format, the service offers minimal benefit to participating banks — Absa, Discovery Bank, FNB, Nedbank, and Standard Bank.

To resolve this and enable an expansion, the Banking Association of South Africa (BASA) has been facilitating discussions on public-private partnership (PPP) agreements between the banks and the DHA for about three years.

BASA’s prudential head, Mark Brits, recently told MyBroadband the agreements should be mostly completed and signed by the end of September 2024, with just some final legal ironing to go.

The PPPs will allow the banks to use their own employees and infrastructure to run the service, which could make it commercially viable.

Considering the development, MyBroadband asked the banks whether they planned to expand their branches offering eHomeAffairs.

Four banks — Absa, Discovery Bank, FNB, and Nedbank — confirmed they would add the service to additional branches once the PPPs were in place.

FNB currently plans to add 18 eHomeAffairs-enabled branches, taking its total tally to 25.

“We plan to have representation across all nine provinces in urban centres,” FNB told MyBroadband.

While it did not provide specific planned branch locations, the bank’s initial focus will be on provinces where it does not currently support the service.

“Considering that we currently only have representation in Gauteng, Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo, we will start our rollout first into those provinces without any representation,” FNB explained.

“With that said, we are looking to start our rollout into other provinces once we first see an increase in customers from other provinces that are making use of the service.”

FNB said the project scope and planning would take some time to understand, so it could not confirm any specific rollout dates at this stage.

Absa managing executive for integrated channels, Tshiwela Mhlantla, said Absa had an additional 12 branches currently ready for activation.

“Further details will be shared once discussions are finalised,” Absa said.

Although Nedbank also confirmed it wanted to expand its eHomeAffairs services, it did not elaborate on how many branches it would add.

The bank said the rollout strategy would be based on a continuous review of the landscape to identify further expansion opportunities.

“The implementation of the expansion plan will be guided by the learnings and insights when the existing six pilot sites are handed over to Nedbank,” the bank said.

“Branches will be strategically rolled out in key regional nodes across the country, to ensure that we have coverage in most of the major regional centres.”

“Our roll out plan will also be guided by client demand to ensure that Nedbank delivers meaningful value to communities through this strategic partnership with DHA.”

Standard Bank’s approach more conservative

Standard Bank was the only bank from the big four that told MyBroadband it did not yet have a plan to expand its eHomeAffairs branches.

Standard Bank South Africa’s head of personal and private banking, Kabelo Makeke, said the bank would review the strategy once it had fully embedded the PPP agreement and operating mode.

“We will need to validate the effectiveness of the operations over a period of six to 12 months, as well as the commercial viability of the PPP model, before we can decide on expansion to any further branches,” Makeke said.

The last bank to add the service — Discovery Bank — supports smart ID card applications and passport renewals at its headquarters in Sandton.

The bank said it planned to add four more locations with eHomeAffairs services. These will be located in the following areas:

• Century City, Western Cape
• Pretoria, Gauteng
• Sea Point, Western Cape
• Umhlanga, KwaZulu-Natal

The planned additions of 34 branches will more than double the current footprint of 30 locations to a total of 64.

The table below summarises the current number of bank branches that support eHomeAffairs, the planned additions, and total that could be operational in the near future, following the finalisation of the PPPs.

Foreign truck drivers working for South African freight companies are required to have valid working permits and if they do not, insurance companies are legally not obliged to pay out claims in the event of an accident.

This is according to Gavin Kelly, CEO, Road Freight Association who was speaking to Lester Kiewit, host of radio show Good Morning Cape Town. 

Kelly was answering the question on whether or not a foreign national from a neighbouring country would need to have a work permit to work as a driver for a South African company even if the driver has a SADC licence that is recognised in the country. 

Kelly said that it is illegal for a foreigner to be in the country without the correct visa/entry permit and it is also illegal to employ foreigners in a South African company without the necessary work permit or special permit/visa.

“If an insurance policy states that employees including drivers must meet all legal requirements - then the insurer has the right to repudiate a claim if this part of the contract is not complied with,” Kelly said. 

“Work permits ensures that all employees are registered with the relevant Council, receive the minimum benefits and wages, and all employment opportunities that are available are made available to qualifying South African citizens first.”

According to Kelly, freight drivers that are transporting goods from one country to another country are only required to be employed legally where the company is registered. 

For example, if a driver is hauling freight across borders from South Africa to Namibia, then the driver is required to be employed by the South African company. 

The driver is only allowed to enter the other country if it is a part of their work and if the contract with their employer has stipulated it.

Depending on the country, the driver will have a number of days to pick up the load and come back to South Africa. 

SADC countries

According to Kelly, SADC licences are recognised as the National Road Traffic Act makes specific allowances for this.

“Foreign nationals who come in on tourist visas can drive hired vehicles or their own if the are resident in neighbouring countries,” Kelly said.

“Foreigners who in the cause of their employment by companies outside of South Africa are authorised to drive the categories of vehicle used to transport goods into, and out of, South Africa."

While he did not specify what other changes may come into effect, he did say over the next three years the changes would result in 50,000 fewer SOWPs being issued to the spouses of international students, as per the CIC news report.

Hi everyone, I am sharing this to clear up any misunderstanding in this regard 

The ZEP waiver for general work visa applications issued /signed by current Minister on 6 August 2024 is not a blanket waiver. 

ZEP applicants still need to individually apply for DOL and if applicable SAQA to be waived AND receive the said waiver outcome before they can submit a general work visa. 

This is an excerpt from a response on the topic received from DHA (Senior Official Rachelle Reyneke). 

„The waiver referred to is not and was never intended to be regarded as a blanket waiver. In the case of a blanket waiver, it is clearly indicated as such in the subject line.

 The purpose of the circular, as can be seen from the contents of the attachment, was to correct the thousands of waivers already signed by the previous Minister, in which only one of the prescribed requirements was for a waiver, resulting in potential mass rejection of general work visa applications by ZEP holders. Another reason for the directive was for Minister to show leniency towards the 178 000, ZEP holders who have been allowed to reside and work in South Africa since prior to 2010. It is also a mechanism to attempt to address the court’s sympathetic stance towards the plight of ZEP holders and to at least mitigate the reasons advanced by the Helen Suzmann Foundations’ why ZEP holders should be allowed to continue to live and work in South Africa.

 As already indicated, the directive is not a blanket waiver and ZEP holders who are interested in applying for a general work visa are required to individually apply for a waiver. Should a general work visa application be submitted without a waiver letter, such application will be rejected by the Departmental Advisory Committee. There has not been many such rejections so far, but there has been some.“