- This topic is empty.
Viewing 1 post (of 1 total)
-
Posts
-
Big change proposed for South African passports By Myles Illidge
South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs wants to upgrade the country’s passport to be more secure and better aligned with other nations by adding digital biometrics.
Speaking to eNCA about how South Africa’s passport has climbed the Henley Passport Index ranks, Minister Leon Schreiber said Home Affairs must do more to secure the document further.
“There are really two parts to making sure that your passport is valued or trusted around the world. The first part is the document itself,” said Schreiber.
“The document should be secure and it should use modern technology. Now, South Africa has fallen a bit behind when it comes to the use of e-passports.”
He explained that European passports, for example, have “something that looks like a little camera” at the bottom on the front of the document.
Schreiber said that element of the passport’s design contains the biometric information of the document holder.
“So, that is a very secure document because, when you arrive in another country, they scan that little chip, that little camera, and it shows the face of the traveller. It shows the biometric information of the traveller,” said Schreiber.
“Then you can confirm that the person who’s travelling is actually the owner of the passport. We need to catch up and we need to add that new passport functionality.”
In a Statement. the Minister highlighted the department’s plan to introduce biometric or “e-passports” featuring a similar microprocessor chip to authenticate South African travellers.
This will form part of its Medium-Term Development Plan.
“Our plans to introduce an e-Passport and to digitally secure both document and passport processes for South Africans as well as visa processes for foreigners will combine to meaningfully increase the power of our passport over the coming years,” said Schreiber.
He said the second area of focus regarding increasing the value or trust related to a nation’s passport document is how it is obtained.
“That’s where we have a lot of work to do because we must make sure that only people who are entitled to getting a passport can get one.”
Schreiber said newer technologies would play a critical role in this regard, as Home Affairs must ensure that people who apply for a passport will only get it if their biometric information matches the department’s records.
The latest Henley Passport Index showed that South Africa’s passport ranking increased by 10% between 2024 and 2025. It also broke into the top 50 worldwide for the first time in 10 years.
“The relative improvement in the strength of the South African passport is only the beginning, as it coincides with the reform process that is underway at Home Affairs,” said Schreiber.
“By fully digitalising and closing off to fraud and manipulation the process to obtain enabling documents — including passports — we will significantly enhance the integrity of our documents.”
Home Affairs fraud and corruption crackdown
Since he was appointed Minister of Home Affairs, Schreiber has prioritised digitally transforming the department. He believes that removing human intervention from its processes will eliminate opportunities to commit fraud.
In October 2024, Home Affairs announced that it had finalised 31 disciplinary cases between July and September of that year, including officials who had committed immigration fraud.
“We have zero tolerance for unethical conduct or corruption,” said Schreiber.
“As our accelerated action against errant conduct demonstrates, officials who fail to heed this message will soon find themselves out of Home Affairs and on their way to prison.”
One implicated individual, Mogale Raseone, faced fraud charges after being dismissed from the department in 2023 for manipulating its systems to administer immigration for foreign nationals fraudulently.
The Home Affairs Counter-Corruption Branch implicated him in various dodgy transactions that primarily benefitted Pakastani nationals.
“He allegedly conducted this fraud by manipulating the systems Home Affairs uses to administer immigration,” the department said.
Another official, Dora Ncube, who worked for the Border Management Authority, was arrested for allegedly trying to smuggle six foreign nationals into South Africa in Beitbridge.
source:Big change proposed for South African passports – MyBroadband
Viewing 1 post (of 1 total)
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.