Visa fraud in SIU’s sights
• Ramaphosa gives crime-busting unit the go-ahead to probe 20 years of rot in department of home affairs
President Cyril Ramaphosa has given the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) the go-ahead to probe allegations of maladministration in the issuance of visas and other official documents by the department of home affairs.
According to a proclamation issued by Ramaphosa on Friday, the SIU will also investigate allegations of “improper conduct” by some in the department’s ranks.
The corruption-busting unit’s investigation will have to stretch back at least 20 years and look into the issuance of corporate visas, permanent resident permits, work visas and the naturalisation of foreign nationals.
The proclamation comes two years after a report commissioned by the department and compiled by former directorgeneral Cassius Lubisi, which found numerous incidents of fraudulent issuance of visas.
The report recommended further investigations.
It flagged about 45,000 fraudulent visas issued between 2014 and 2021.
According to Lubisi, the review detected a spike in the issuance of retired person visas and permit applications in 2018, but it was not clear what caused it. The biggest increase involved Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Nigerian and Indian citizens.
The Lubisi investigation was hamstrung by the fact that until quite recently home affairs’ processes were largely manual.
The SIU will now have to dedicate significant manpower and put in many hours sifting through paperwork relating to visas, permanent resident permits and naturalisation of foreign nationals. It will arguably be the entity’s most intensive investigation to date, spanning four administrations.
The weaknesses in the department of home affairs’ systems were exposed when questions arose in the media over the visa paperwork of controversial Malawian preacher Shepherd Bushiri and his wife, Mary, who face extradition after fleeing SA to avoid charges of fraud and money laundering.
A probe by home affairs found that in 2015 Bushiri was initially awarded a holiday visa, and in 2016 a permanent residence permit and SA identity document, which were found to have been issued irregularly.
The naturalisation of the Gupta family also brought to the fore flaws in the system.
In 2023 the department fired its director for appeals, Major Kobese, for attempting to facilitate the illegal processing of visas for Gupta associate Ashu Chawla and others in Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates. In August the department suspended three officials deployed in Ghana and China, who are accused of issuing visas and permits fraudulently.
To counter the rot in the system, home affairs has since created and filled a new post of chief director: prevention & analysis, whose job is to analyse all systems, identify gaps and weaknesses and prevent fraud.