During the same period at the BMA, 10 officials were dismissed for corruption, and one for aiding and abetting.
Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber has commended the department’s progress in rooting out corrupt officials.
The minister launched the Border Management and Immigration Anti-Corruption Forum (BMIACF) on Tuesday to combat corruption.
Schreiber said corruption in the department was not a one-man show. Sophisticated syndicates organised themselves within Home Affairs to extort and defraud both South Africans and immigrants.
“Where syndicates take control, they deliberately break the system. From the perspective of these criminals, an immigration system that creates loopholes to extort bribes is not broken. It is working exactly as they intend,” said Schreiber.
ALSO READ: Home Affairs facial recognition technology ready for rollout – Who has access?
“For this reason, our efforts to defeat corruption will never succeed if we only seek to treat the symptoms. We require an approach that tackles the problem at its root by enforcing accountability for corruption and simultaneously reforming the system to close the loopholes and weaknesses that criminals exploit.”
The department has partnered with the Special Investigating Unit, Border Management Authority, Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation and the National Prosecuting Authority to enforce accountability in the border and immigration environment.
Home Affairs successes
Schreiber announced that between July 2024 and February 2025, the department’s 27 officials had been dismissed for various offences, including fraud, corruption and sexual misconduct.
“We announced 18 of these dismissals in November last year and, since then, another nine officials have been dismissed. Once appeals that are currently ongoing are completed, this number is likely to increase further still,” said Schreiber.
ALSO READ: Committee calls for more border resources after almost 60 000 illegal crossing attempts
“Thanks to the work of our partners in law enforcement, eight officials have already been convicted and sentenced to prison terms ranging from four to 18 years, while criminal prosecution of another 19 officials is underway.”
Over the same period, 10 officials at the BMA were dismissed for corruption and one for aiding and abetting.
Another 45 BMA cases are at various stages in the disciplinary process and could result in further dismissals.
‘Can’t bribe a computer’
Schreiber, however, said eliminating the Home Affairs’ paper-based system would root out corruption.
The department is replacing paper visas with an Electronic Travel Authorisation featuring Artificial Intelligence and machine learning-based adjudication.
ALSO READ: Home Affairs sets five immigration service targets for 2025
Paper documents are being replaced by secure digital documents, including the digital ID system. The green ID book will be phased out and replaced by the far more secure smart ID and digital ID. The department is also automating the entry and exit processes at all South African ports of entry.
“The reality is that, for as long as we have paper-based visa documents, for as long as we use manual, paper-based processes, and for as long as decisions are wide-open to human discretion and interference, the space for corruption will continue to exist.
ALSO READ: Court tells Home Affairs officials to stop acting as gatekeepers
“These reforms will deliver a systems revolution in the border management and immigration environment. No more papers that can go missing or be manipulated, and no photo-swopping on green ID books. No more bribing an immigration officer to manipulate an outcome or to gain entry to our country illegally. Because you cannot bribe a computer and an electronic gate.”
