May 2025 Budget: Digital transformation at the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) will see the ministry prioritise the use of artificial intelligence (AI) over the next three years.
This is in an effort to streamline routine tasks and reduce the need for human intervention, according to the updated Estimates of National Expenditure (ENE) document that coincides with the budget speech.
The ENE is tabled in Parliament with the Appropriation Bill. It provides detailed information based on the allocations set out in the Bill, as well as government’s proposed spending plans and resource allocations for the full medium-term expenditure framework (MTEF) period (2025/26 to 2027/28).
According to the DHA, the AI-driven advancements will look to increase the speed of processing applications and reducing rates of error, helping to address capacity shortages by implementing fit-for-purpose technology tailored to specific use cases.
“Once rolled out, the electronic travel authorisation solution is expected to rely on artificial intelligence to process applications for travel documents,” says the document.
“The prototype of this solution will be expanded to all visa or permit categories at a projected cost of R100 million over the medium-term.”
The ENE highlights expenditure is expected to increase marginally from R12.1 billion in 2024/25 to R12.5 billion in 2026/27, before decreasing to R12.1 billion in 2027/28.
This, it notes, is due to additional allocations in 2026/27 of R885 million to the Electoral Commission for the 2026 local government elections, and R306 million to the Border Management Authority to enhance border security and improve the management of South Africa’s ports of entry.
In the ENE, the DHA highlights that lack of a modern, digital system for processing applications, adjudicating cases and communicating outcomes creates national security vulnerabilities and inefficiencies because outdated paper-based processes are prone to fraud, corruption and discretionary misuse, making them susceptible to manipulation.
“Comprehensive digital transformation remains a priority for the department, and technical solutions are required to address persistent challenges. As such, over the MTEF period, the department plans to mitigate the vulnerabilities caused by manual processes through expediting the digitisation of paper records.
“To this end, it is expected that a total of 27 million civic service records – including birth, marriage and death certificates, as well as amendments – will be digitised per year over the MTEF period. As funding for this was allocated only until 2023/24, R300 million is reprioritised from the department’s baseline in 2025/26 to continue this work.”
Over the period ahead, the department also plans to ensure all its services are fully automated, digitised and accessible online.
“Citizens who require routine civic services, such as applying for or renewing smart identity cards, passports or certificates, should be able to do so through a secure online platform that is integrated with their captured biometric data.
“Applications will be processed by an automated risk engine, requiring department personnel interventions only when anomalies are detected. Upon completion, these documents will be delivered directly to clients in South Africa or abroad. These activities are funded through the citizen affairs management subprogramme in the citizen affairs programme, which is allocated R427.3 million over the medium-term.”
For the 2025/26 financial year, the DHA is targeting 220 mobile offices to be functional, saying these will be equipped with the required hardware, systems and connectivity to operate as standard home affairs offices, and will be deployed specifically in areas with populations of 40 000 or less.
“Funds for this, amounting to an estimated R45 million in 2025/26, are allocated in the citizen affairs management and service delivery to provinces’ subprogrammes in the citizen affairs programme.
“To facilitate the application process for smart identity cards and passports, the department also plans to roll out virtual interactive self-service kiosks in 2025/26, which will enable clients to reprint birth, marriage and death certificates. These kiosks will be installed in 66 non-modernised offices at a projected cost of R60 million.”
“The days of ‘system offline’ need to come to an end,” said home affairs minister Dr Leon Schreiber last year. “In order to achieve this, we need to embrace modern technological solutions.”
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