The Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs pointed out that while the deportation of 95 Libyan nationals has been effected, the need to strengthen the inspectorate unit of the department is necessary and called for an enhanced monitoring tool to track foreign nationals in the country.
Earlier this week, the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) concluded its preparations to deport the 95 Libyan nationals, after they were arrested in White River, Mpumalanga, last month.
“While the deportations end this unfortunate incident, it has exposed the need to strengthen the inspectorate division within the DHA and implement monitoring systems to ensure the monitoring of travellers who contravened the validity of their permits,” said committee chairperson Mosa Chabane.
He said the inspectorate unit was grossly incapacitated, which weakened its ability to implement its mandate.
The committee raised serious concern that there were administrative lapses in the issuing of study visas for the 95 Libyan nationals.
Chabane said it was concerning that the preliminary investigation had uncovered that there was a gap in the administrative process between the Department of International Relations and Cooperation stationed in Tunis and that there was no process to consult, seek advice or obtain authorisation from the DHA before issuing the visas.
He said this gap presented a security risk and brought into question the verification processes applied in issuing visas.
“The committee was informed that among the anomalies identified by the preliminary investigation were the offline systems at the mission which resulted in handwritten documents, the use of outdated forms that do not comply with prescribed forms in the Immigration Regulations, study visas issued despite no indication in the forms that the applicant was applying for study visas, omission of critical information in the application forms, no evidence of sufficient funds for application to maintain them while in South Africa as prescribed, and non-verification of police clearance certificates before processing the application,” he said.
Chabane emphasised that these lapses were substantial and were at the heart of the verification process before granting a visa, noting that lack of this critical information had the potential to undermine the “ineffectiveness” of the country’s immigration regulations and rendered “useless” the verification process.
“The consequence is that undesirable foreign nationals are admitted to the country putting at risk the country’s security,” he stated.
Meanwhile, the committee highlighted that the investigation into the citizenship of Miss South Africa 2024 contestant Chidimma Adetshina was at an advanced stage, calling for internal and criminal processes against officials who might have participated in the alleged fraudulent scheme.
“The illegal selling of our documents and facilitation of fraudulent entry into the country’s National Population Register for personal corrupt and greedy gains is unacceptable and consequence management must be implemented if the investigation proves that a case of fraud can be proven,” Chabane said.
The committee stated that it was of the view that digitisation of processes within the home affairs department, a process that was started by the sixth administration with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, will reduce cases of fraud to the country’s national population register.
The committee has resolved that the department must, at the end of October, present a progress report on its digitisation programme and progress in the implementation of the recommendations of the Multi-disciplinary Task Team report on the issuing of permits and visas

of four visa applications by Palestinians in the week the Coalition ramped up its political attack on Labor for letting people from war-torn Gaza come to Australia.
The latest figures show 13 visas were granted and 39 rejected between August 12 and 19, demonstrating that federal agencies continue to knock back the majority of applicants with Palestinian documents.
DFAT officials helping families travel to Cairo last year after leaving Gaza. The border is currently shut.
The data also shows no visas were cancelled over the seven days, suggesting the federal government has not changed its security approach despite Coalition demands. Children have made up 30 per cent of the 2935 visas now issued to people with Palestinian documents since the Israel-Hamas war began in October.
Former deputy immigration secretary Abul Rizvi said neither political party had owned up to their mistakes as the issue dominated parliamentary question time all week. The Coalition has accused Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of compromising national security while Labor has painted Opposition Leader Peter Dutton as divisive and distracted from Australians’ cost-of-living concerns.
Rizvi said the federal government had erred in issuing visitor visas to the majority of Palestinians rather than launching a humanitarian visa program as was typically done to assist people fleeing conflicts.
“It was a bad way of doing it and I hope both parties learn that’s not how you do humanitarian assistance,” he said.
But Rizvi said the Coalition’s attack, which has targeted the inappropriateness of visitor visas, was a “beat-up” in its assertions that there had been insufficient security checks.
“The Labor Party, they have gone down this path due to fear. And the Liberal Party is going down their path to promote fearmongering. I would suggest both of them develop a bit of integrity and honesty,” he said.
Continuing his attack on Labor last week, Dutton claimed in parliament that: “It’s without precedent ... that a government in our country would allow people from a war zone governed by Hamas, a listed terrorist organisation … [into] our country – frankly, even on a refugee and humanitarian program, in the current circumstance – let alone a tourist visa without the proper checks.”
The comments cast into doubt whether Dutton supported any humanitarian program for people fleeing Gaza, but when asked on Friday if the Coalition was calling for a ban on all refugees, opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said it was not.
The Coalition ramped up its attack on the Australian government’s security checks throughout the parliamentary sitting fortnight. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Rizvi, however, said the comments “showed Mr Dutton has very little understanding of history”.
“The criticism, that by issuing visitor visas we put national security at risk, is a complete beat-up. And here’s why: there has been no cohort that I can remember, in our history, that has ever been subject to more checks than this cohort,” he said, noting people had been through Israeli and Egyptian checkpoints before facing Australian Border Force checks upon arrival.
The Palestinian Authority’s delegation to Australia also issued a statement at the end of the week seeking to “clarify the truth and counter misinformation ... including the claim that individuals arriving from Gaza pose a national security risk, which are not based on any credible evidence”.
It pointed out only 1300 of people with visas had managed to arrive in Australia and said it was “important to note that visa rejections have been overwhelmingly due to the Australian government’s restrictive visa policies, not due to security concerns”.
Its survey of the 230 adults who had sought consular services showed 80 per cent of adults held an educational qualification beyond high school, while 75 per cent were Muslim and 25 per cent were Christians.
Home Affairs confirmed there had been 2935 visas granted and 7150 visas refused to Palestinians between October 7 last year and August 19 – an increase of 13 approved and 39 rejected since the previous round of data issued from August 12. Of the visas granted, 892 were to children.
A spokesperson said 43 Palestinians had their visas cancelled outside Australia “after new information came to the department’s attention after the grant of their visas” – a figure that remained unchanged during the week ending August 19.
The spokesperson confirmed that all Palestinians who were granted visas had a connection to Australia and said the country had a “layered approach” to border security.
“All persons are routinely checked multiple times along their journey to, and once they are in, Australia ... The government’s security checking procedures draw on information from a number of sources, including, but not limited to, information provided in the application form, departmental alerts, alerts from other agencies, and intelligence provided by other countries,” they said.
“It would be inappropriate to set out full details of the security checking procedures as this may jeopardise the effectiveness of the process and our ability to obtain information in the future.”
Coalition immigration spokesman Dan Tehan said the federal government was once again “failing to provide clarity about what’s happening”.
Rizvi said the Home Affairs data “sounds like a very high refusal rate, but other than that it sounds like business as usual”.
Israel’s war in Gaza has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to the enclave’s Health Ministry. It was triggered by Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel, in which militants killed about 1200 people and abducted 250 others

Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber on Tuesday said his department should urgently embrace technology, or South Africa’s national security would be under threat.
Schreiber said the problems in the issuance of fraudulent visas pointed the department towards a solution that lay in embracing digital transformation in all its facets and across the department.
“It would frankly be a dereliction of duty 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,” he said.
Schreiber made the statement when the department briefed the portfolio committee on the 95 Libyans arrested during a police raid at a training camp in Mpumalanga, and the citizenship of former Miss SA contestant Chidimma Vanessa Adetshina, among other issues.
Schreiber described the two incidents as amounting to nothing less than a threat to national security.
“The point that needs to be made right upfront is that the matters we discuss today are not isolated incidents. They are symptoms of a systemic crisis that threatens the national security interests of the Republic.”
Home Affairs systems were vulnerable to fraud, corruption and discretion because they were outdated, antiquated, paper-based, manual and, therefore, open to subversion, Schreiber said.
Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber on Tuesday said his department should urgently embrace technology, or South Africa’s national security would be under threat.
Briefing the MPs about the Libyans, Border Management Authority (BMA) commissioner Michael Masiapato said the 95 Libyans entered South Africa in four batches between April and May with study visas obtained at South Africa’s mission in Tunisia.
“They had valid documents to enter the country,” he said.
Tommy Makhode, the department’s director-general, said his department picked up lots of irregularities in the issuance of the visas.
“All the applications were submitted by an agent. None (of the Libyans) appeared at the mission,” he said.
Makhode explained that the department did not have a presence in all the 115 foreign missions and that they relied on Dirco officials to process applications in at least 38 missions.
“Capacity constraints are coming back to haunt us.
“There is a need to digitise our system so that we have a single view of applications in the missions.”
He told the MPs that their probe found that the Dirco official issued the handwritten visas without consulting her supervisors.
Makhode said the official had indicated that the system at the mission was off-line when the handwritten visas were issued.
“The application forms used are outdated and do not comply with the forms prescribed.
“There is no indication on some application forms that the applicants were applying for study visas. “However the official decided to grant study visas.”
Meanwhile, Home Affairs counter-corruption unit head Constance Moitse said the investigation into Adetshina’s birth registration was at an advanced stage and now included the involvement of the Hawks.
Moitse said their preliminary investigation found prima facie indications of fraud by Adetshina’s mother.
“We do have evidence received from the hospital, Home Affairs archives and the municipality that points to the real person whose identity was stolen,” she said.
The officials who registered the birth at their offices in Johannesburg have been identified.
But the investigation was continuing before action was taken against them.
“One of the officials has since passed on. The department is investigating two other officials who may have been involved in the alleged fraudulent scheme,” she said.
Moitse said Adetshina’s mother was issued with a Promotion of Administrative Justice Act letter on August 7.
“Her response will determine the final decision that the department will take regarding the ID she was currently carrying.”

Police are investigating a stampede that took place at the Home Affairs offices in Marabastad in Pretoria in which one person died and 20 more were injured.
The story of Chidimma Vanessa Adetshina and how she became a contestant in the Miss South Africa pageant has cast notions of nationality and access to documentation for foreign nationals living in South Africa into the spotlight.
The reality is that inefficiencies and corruption at the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) have created a powder keg where foreign nationals living in South Africa are forced to live in a state of desperation and as illegal immigrants because the department is just not working effectively.
This was exhibited in a fatal stampede at Home Affairs offices in Marabastad in Pretoria on Tuesday, where foreign nationals had queued to reapply or renew their refugee or asylum papers.
The tragic stampede resulted in the death of one individual, with 20 others being injured.
“Police can confirm that one person died and more than 20 sustained injuries and were taken to hospital, following a stampede at one of the government buildings in Pretoria on Tuesday. Police have since opened an inquest docket for investigation,” siad Lieutenant-Colonel Mavela Masondo of the South African Police Service in Gauteng.
In the meantime, migrants who are struggling to get their documentation are pleading with the government to intervene regarding the conditions at refugee centres in South Africa.
Prison-like conditions
According to a source, the stampede highlights what foreign nationals living in South Africa have to go through to get their documentation.
“For over three years I stood in the same lines as the people who were caught in the stampede, and I can tell you that it was a result of the desperation, of people fed up with just waiting without really knowing what direction they are going,” an asylum seeker told Daily Maverick.
The migrant who shared his story with the publication preferred to stay anonymous, but will be referred to as Kendi in the article. Kendi shared the conditions that could have led to the deadly stampede from his personal experience.
“People queue in those lines from as early as 5am, and most times we don’t get assistance. Usually what would happen when an officer first walks out, and people are waiting in line, there is usually no order. So when they see an officer walk outside, even if they aren’t walking out in an official capacity, people will just rush to the front so they can be the first person in the line. That’s how stuff ends up in a mess because people are pushing, grabbing each other, and that’s how a stampede can happen, you know, people just tussling out of desperation because they have probably been there for a long time, and they just want their papers,” he said.
Kendi sent Daily Maverick footage showing how the queuing area of the Marabastad office was set up. The video shows an enclosed area that looks eerily like a cage.
“Going with my mother and sister was always tough because I would always have to protect them from the chaos. The security wouldn’t allow you to move around. Once you’re in you can’t leave. It was a very enclosed area and we feared leaving because if you leave you lose your spot, and there are already so many people there. Even stuff like bathroom breaks are a luxury. I would meet people who spent the night there waiting for an opening and ask myself ‘How can they endure this?’” he said.
Four-year wait for assistance
Kendi is no stranger to queuing at the Home Affairs offices in Marabastad. He or a family member have been doing so since 2008, when his mother fled the Democratic Republic of Congo due to the conflict there.
At the time Kendi was only nine years old and was listed as a dependent on his mother’s asylum papers. Kendi recounted how during his school years, he and his mother had to go to the Marabastad office to renew their papers every year.
Years later, in a stroke of bad luck Kendi ’s papers expired in April 2020, just as South Africa was going into lockdown as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. He had no way of renewing his asylum status.
Eventually the Department of Home Affairs made a link available for people to renew their passports online. However, according to Kendi the process was inefficient.
“Home affairs systems are so trash, on their website all the phone numbers are out of date. There are probably one or two phone numbers that are still in use, but even then nobody answers,” Kendi said.
“I used a link to apply to have my asylum papers updated. I received an automated message that requested specific documentation. I rounded up the documentation and got it certified. The waiting period is supposed to be two weeks, but we waited over a month, and calls to officials went nowhere.”
He waited for the entirety of 2020 but received no response from home affairs. At the time he was living undocumented.
“It was very stressful during the lockdown. The people were adamant about seeing people’s documentation, and I was constantly scared that I would be caught outside and that I would be sent back to the DRC without documents. For a long time I was moving with a lot of fear,” he said.
In 2021 when the hard lockdown ended Kendi went to the offices in person with printouts of his email correspondence.
He said he incurred large personal costs on the days that the office saw congolese nationals (Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays).
“I would take off on Monday, still not get my papers, go back on the Tuesday and its still a no. I would go back on the Friday, and by the end of the week, i was out of money,” Kendi said.
“I went there in person at about seven in the morning and stood in line till 11am, and that is when they come and tell us the system is down for a bit, and then at 12.30pm the officer would come and tell us they are on their lunch break. An hour later, he would appear, and you could just see them dragging their feet,”
Kendi said that he would see officials taking bribes from people.
“It was so bad that you could just see them shaking another person’s hand or taking a piece of paper because it had money in it.”
Further stumbling blocks
Though Kendi had been consistently queuing in lines since 2020, he only actually set foot in the building in 2023, where he said he was met with further stumbling blocks.
“There is a deep language barrier, some of the officials I encountered could not speak English properly, and there were no translators available. I remember at one stage they had me there doing translations for a guy that was at the department to renew his papers. I had been there so many times it was like I became an employee of home affairs,” Kendi said.
Things got better through intervention from the Sophiatown Community Psychological Services, which contacted the Department of Home Affairs on his behalf.
“It’s only then that I started getting smooth service. It was weird because before that my emails would not be answered and I would have to wait in long lines. But after (the department) was contacted things changed. I was even offered a chair when I arrived,” Kendi said, adding that he finally received his renewed papers in May 2024.
“It’s annoyinging that I had to bring in lawyers to get my papers. This could have been done more effectively and efficiently. So much funds, opportunity and time was wasted trying to get this thing. The trouble is that these guys don’t seem like they are willing to help you. Most people want to be documented, but it’s really hard to get them,” Kendi said.

STOP RENTING YOUR HOUSES TO ILLEGAL FOREIGNERS – Gauteng Police Commissioner.
Gauteng Police Commissioner Elias Mawela has cautioned South Africans against offering their properties for rent to illegal immigrants.
The Immigration Act states that letting to an illegal foreigner, is classified as aiding and abetting an illegal foreigner, and this is a criminal offence.
Section 42(1)(a)(ix) of the Immigration Act prohibits anyone from aiding and abetting, assisting or enabling, or in any manner helping an illegal foreigner by letting or selling or in any manner making available immovable property to him or her.