On July 8 home affairs minister Leon Schreiber returned to parliament for the budget vote debate in the National Assembly to deliver a progress report on “Home Affairs @ Home”, his signature digital transformation agenda.
Coming exactly one year after his swearing-in as minister, his delivery was heavy on vision and numbers, reaffirming the essential role of public sector modernisation.
Achievements worth acknowledging
Beyond the numerical milestones Schreiber reported, there is visible momentum unfolding on the ground. Building on the success of the Trusted Tour Operator Scheme, the rollout of two new digital visa streams — Screen Talent and Global Entertainment Scheme (Stages) and Meetings, Events, Exhibitions & Tourism Scheme (Meets) — reflects a targeted strategy to position SA as a hub for film, sport and cultural events.
These initiatives, linked to global showcases such as the SA20 cricket tournament and World Rugby Sevens, signal not just operational foresight but a welcome embrace of visa policy as a lever for economic growth and job creation.
Meanwhile, permanent residents have now begun accessing Smart ID cards for the first time, a change that cannot be overstated in its symbolic and practical significance. Visa applications submitted in 2025 are already being processed faster, with markedly improved turnaround times, suggesting that the department’s internal efficiencies are not just statistical, they are beginning to translate into service delivery.
The implementation of the long-awaited remote work visa has quietly but effectively positioned SA within a global mobility trend, while the introduction of a points-based system for general work visas, rarely praised as it deserves to be, represents a structural shift and overdue recalibration that also takes into account employer-driven value assessments.
These are not just operational successes, but early signs that reform is under construction. Yet, caution remains essential. These achievements must still prove sustainable and will rely on consistent implementation, infrastructure resilience and institutional support far beyond the minister’s office.
One of the most evident challenges confronting Schreiber’s reform agenda is the constraint of budgetary reality. While his vision is expansive, spanning digital IDs, smart delivery channels, biometric and even drone-based border control and global visa facilitation — the funding remains relatively modest.
The R11 bn tabled for Vote 5 in 2025/26 includes baseline increases over three years, yet the Border Management Authority (BMA), a cornerstone of the modernised home affairs ecosystem, will see its budget grow by only R200m — from R1.7 bn to R1.9bn.
Over three years this remains modest. For a department tasked with executing one of the most ambitious post-1994 transformations in the state, this fiscal envelope is tight. The gap between vision and resourcing may prove to be one of the greatest tests of the minister’s ability to sustain momentum.
Old roadblocks still loom
As Schreiber painted with confidence a picture of exponential growth, his metaphorical reference to “compound interest”, while promising, may ultimately prove too optimistic. Compound interest depends on the quiet growth of surplus capital, resources left untouched to mature over time. The reality is that the department Schreiber has inherited is not wealthy in any such reserve. It is a system historically depleted of capacity, infrastructure and trust. There is no idle capital here, only the urgent need for active investment, relentless management and structural repair.
Digitisation alone cannot deliver institutional renewal. Too often missing from these reports, and from Schreiber’s otherwise candid assessments, are the structural issues technology cannot solve: inadequate training, uneven recruitment standards and chronic constitutional illiteracy among front-line staff. These are not peripheral concerns; they are central to any reform that aims to be rights-based and service-orientated.
While the minister has rightly condemned the corruption and inefficiency that plagued the department for far too long, the enduring issues of power abuse, poor accountability and a lack of basic public administration skills remain deeply entrenched. No amount of digital infrastructure can compensate for institutional cultures that are unprepared or unwilling to apply the law fairly and competently. Without urgent investment in human capacity, even the best systems risk being misused, or simply underused.
Turning ambition into action
A modern immigration regime must be both efficient and rights-based. The sharp increase in deportations — 46,000, the highest in five years — should raise serious questions: what due-process mechanisms are in place? What protections for asylum seekers? These concerns remain largely unaddressed.
In his first year Schreiber has succeeded in turning ambition into action and that alone is more than most of his predecessors can claim. But applause must be candid. As both critic and believer, my hope is that Schreiber uses year two to shift from start-up momentum to system sustainability by promoting training and accountability far more relentlessly.
Worthy of note in this context is the appointment of former director-general in the presidency Cassius Lubisi, a clear signal of renewed focus on institutional integrity. Dr Lubisi previously led the independent, ministerially mandated Lubisi Report into corruption within home affairs, a probe welcomed by the portfolio committee for exposing malfeasance and recommending decisive reforms.
That same integrity-first ethos will now come to underpin the Government Printing Works, where Schreiber has tasked Lubisi with heading a high-level advisory committee on digital transformation.
The message is clear: the printing works’ modernisation will not be purely technological — it will be grounded in the hard lessons of oversight, audit and consequence management. If those align “Home Affairs @ Home” could shift from a slogan to a model.
• Pizzocri is CEO at Eisenberg & Associates.
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