The department of home affairs is doing “nothing” to deal with the backlog in granting work and critical skills visas, frustrated MPs of the portfolio committee on home affairs told the department while grilling them on the delays.
“Literally nothing is happening,” said ANC MP Bongani Bongo, adding that since the committee visited the department’s Pretoria office five months ago, the piles of complaints on his desk have grown. Some applications have been delayed for three to five years, he said.
“Big multinationals and corporates are looking for visas and permits. Nothing is moving,” he said. “Every day somebody is complaining.”
He quoted the president as saying foreign investment created an economic boost, explaining that visas are needed for international business executives.
There have been ongoing delays in issuing student, business and critical skills visas to investors and foreigners whose skills or finance are needed in SA.
Deputy minister of home affairs Njabulo Nzuza, director-general Tommy Makhode and other officials addressed the committee on disciplinary action taken against officials linked to the fraudulent granting of visas. But MPs were more concerned with delays and a seeming lack of progress in understanding and resolving these despite earlier promises to do so.
Short-staffed
Nzuza said most delays were regarding relatives’ visas for businesspeople who wanted their children or spouses to join them and thus the visa holdups do not affect economic growth.
Officials also said the department is short-staffed. An investigation has been conducted into delays and a report to senior members of the home affairs department is expected to be made within a week.
The deputy minister and officials were presenting the response to a report by former director-general in the presidency Cassius Lubisi released in 2022. It found an estimated 45,000 fraudulent visas were issued between 2014 and June 2021.
Minister of home affairs Aaron Motsoaledi appointed Lubisi and his panel after the irregular issuing of permanent residence permits to Malawian fraud accused Shepherd Bushiri and his family.
Investigator Peter Bishop reported to parliament that a 37-member multidisciplinary team was set up to identify those responsible for incorrectly granted visas, and began work in March. The team includes data analysts. Eleven disciplinary processes are almost finalised and 59 officials have been identified for disciplinary action.
The team has divided the investigation into categories of irregularly awarded visas with some probes still to begin.
Fraudulent documents
Breaches, as detailed in the Lubisi report, include cases of the same passport number used by multiple individuals.
There is an investigation into 880 cases of visas granted based on fraudulent documents and 4,160 applications in which the applicant was rejected due to fraudulent documentation, but reapplied for a different visa and was accepted.
Categories in which the investigation still needs to start include finding out who was responsible for visas that were fast-tracked in a day or less, and visas with missing numbers or vital information. There will be an investigation into officials processing visas at weekends and after hours, and visas that were future dated with some dates beyond 2031.
There were also children who were granted critical specialist skill visas or work permits.
Other investigations will try to uncover why people had student visas immediately transferred to critical skills visas without the requisite work experience.
A private firm has been contracted to conduct an investigation into how the visa application IT system was hacked and manipulated to grant irregular visas.
The team will look into the sharp rise in retirement visas granted between 2016 and 2018 with some granted to people under the age of 55.
Four officials are being investigated regarding the residency visas granted to Bushiri and his family.
In response, Bongo said while he appreciates the action on corruption, the visa backlog should be dealt with promptly.
DA MP Adrian Roos said if home affairs employees had not been so busy granting irregular visas, staff would have had the time to issue legitimate visas to those that require them.
In response, Nzuza said that he will report back to parliament and bring a spreadsheet to show that most delays were linked to spousal and family visas.
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