A cyber forensics investigation has uncovered large-scale fraud at the Department of Home Affairs (DHA), with officials colluding with foreign nationals to illegally issue visas and permits.
This emerged yesterday, when the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) briefed media on the investigation outcomes, authorised by president Cyril Ramaphosa under Proclamation 154 of 2024. An interim report has been submitted to the president.
The investigation revealed that South Africa’s immigration system was treated as “a marketplace, where permits and visas were sold to the highest bidder”.
“Officials entrusted with safeguarding the integrity of the Department of Home Affairs instead turned their positions into profit-making schemes, while external actors, including religious figures and entertainment industry personalities, exploited influence, fabricated documentation, and manipulated systemic weaknesses to secure fraudulent residence permits,” said Leonard Lekgetho, acting head of the SIU.
With a special tribunal order and the Hawks’ assistance, the SIU searched five refugee reception offices, seizing laptops, desktops, cellphones, external drives and files. A total of 237 items were imaged for cyber forensic analysis.
Cellphone analysis showed communication between officials and foreign nationals, with payments via e-wallet ranging from R500 to R3 000 to facilitate unlawful permits and visas.
“Payments were made through various methods: cash hidden in application forms, with office doors closed to avoid cameras; e-wallet deposits using non-RICA registered or fraudulently RICA registered numbers; asylum seekers sending e-wallet payments to themselves and providing OTPs to officials; and in-kind payments, such as covering officials’ private rent or services. Officials used dummy phones to conceal transactions and communication,” said Lekgetho.
The “nefarious syndicate” − a coordinated group of department officials responsible for lawful visa processing, instead engaged in systemic corruption and illicit enrichment.
“The SIU can reveal that, so far, we have uncovered that four officials, who earn less than R25 000 per month, have received a total of R16 313 327.00 in direct deposits.
“Evidence indicates that certain members of this group have acquired significant assets that are grossly disproportionate to their legal income. This includes the cash purchase of multiple properties and the construction of high-value residential developments.
“Some members have developed private properties with extensive infrastructure, such as large-scale solar installations and spacious parking lots, suggesting access to capital inconsistent with their official salaries,” Lekgetho said.
Open trade
The SIU confirmed that certain officials turned the permit system into a “marketplace”.
“Their modus operandi was simple: applications were sent via WhatsApp for expedited approval, and once approved, money flowed almost immediately. Payments were not made directly to officials but funnelled through accounts held by their spouses, deliberately disguising the bribes.
“In one case, a permit was approved on 20 December, and by 21 December, R3 000 had been deposited into the spouse’s account. Another transaction saw R6 000 transferred days after two permits were approved. These transactions reveal a direct link between approvals and payments, leaving no doubt that permits were being sold.”
Officials operated in syndicates, using intermediaries to collect funds, masking payments with references such as “permit”, “visa process” or “building material”. Secondary accounts belonging to spouses received hundreds of thousands of rand in unexplained deposits.
Financial gains exceeding R181 million were traced to beneficiaries of fraudulent visa applications supported by fake documentation, Lekgetho said.
The SIU recommends that DHA strengthen contract management, promote an ethical culture through training and employee vetting, improve system integration with other government departments, develop step-by-step verification guidelines, strengthen verification and quality assurance before issuing visas, and enforce compliance for companies applying for business visas.
Closing manual loopholes
Meanwhile, home affairs minister Dr Leon Schreiber yesterday said over the past two financial years, 75 disciplinary cases resulted in 16 suspensions without pay and 22 written warnings.
“This work has also led to a number of referrals for criminal prosecution, and I would encourage the National Prosecuting Authority to prioritise these cases as part of our collective efforts to restore the rule of law. But we are not stopping there.”
The department identified over 2 000 study visas fraudulently issued. “Administrative processes are now underway to cancel these visas, and we will also ringfence any subsequent visas obtained by these same individuals to ensure all irregularly-obtained documents are cancelled and that perpetrators are deported or prosecuted, as required.”
Schreiber stressed that systemic reform and digital transformation are key to closing corruption loopholes.
“Digital transformation is the apex priority of home affairs under the GNU, and we have made extraordinary progress on this front over the past 20 months.
“At the heart of our work to close the space for manipulation of visa processes is the Electronic Travel Authorisation [ETA]. As confirmed by the SIU, it is paper-based and manual processes that have long created space for crooked officials to overlook fraudulent documents or approve applications that do not meet the relevant regulatory requirements.
“We are moving to shut down all of those manual processes and replacing them with new cutting-edge digital systems that leave no space for manipulation.”
Launched ahead of last year’s G20 leaders’ meeting, the ETA has declined over 30 000 tourist visa applications using machine learning to verify documents. Biometric technology matches applicants’ faces to passport photos, preventing entry with fraudulent documents.
“The ETA does all of this through rules-based decision-making that is overseen by the department, but that cannot be manipulated by any official. These are new capabilities that home affairs did not have prior to 2024.
“Following the release of today’s SIU report, there can no longer be any doubt that the ETA is the single most powerful tool we have ever developed to clamp down on visa fraud. Working together with the Border Management Authority and the South African Revenue Service, we are currently expanding facial recognition capabilities to all international airports and to our busiest land ports of entry.
“Once this work is complete, we will scale up the ETA to become the central entry point for all tourist visas to South Africa. This means that we will shut down all other tourist visa processing, including at South African missions abroad. Once this is complete, we will further expand the ETA to additional visa categories, including study visas.”
Schreiber added: “Through the ETA, we will ensure it is never again possible for a handful of officials to manipulate processes and cause such damage to our country. The rollout of the ETA also links to our work to build an intelligent population register to anchor a new digital ID system, which will ensure biometrics are recorded for every person in South Africa, and that biometric verification is used to protect our citizenship and identity system.
“This is how we eliminate the scourge of identity theft by illegal immigrants, which is concentrated around the continued use of the green bar-coded identity book.”
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