Home Affairs to review all visas, permits issued since 2004

HOME Affairs Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi yesterday announced the establishment of a ministerial committee that would review all permits and visas issued since 2004.

This comes three weeks after the minister expressed the intention in Parliament to set up a task team to review some of the permits issued by the Department of Home Affairs over the years.

“In November 2020, during a high-powered investigation, I was alarmed when 14 members of the permitting section signed a petition demanding that the Counter Corruption Unit should stop investigating their errors,” said Motsoaledi when he addressed a media briefing at the Government Communication and Information System head office in Pretoria yesterday.

This admission, said Motsoaledi, “strengthened” his resolve to have a more transparent permit issuance regime. The ministerial committee has been tasked with reviewing all permits and visas issued since 2004. The committee will review all permits and visas issued in the following categories:

♦ Permanent residence permits (PRP)

♦ Corporate visas

♦ Business visas

♦ Professional critical skills visas

♦ Retired persons visas

♦ Citizenship by naturalisation

♦ Study visas

Motsoaledi said the ministry chose 2004 as the cut-off date because that was the year the Immigration Act, Act number 13 of 2002, came into operation.

Over the years, he said, the Counter Corruption Unit had established that 66%, or nearly two out of every three reported cases, involved permitting.

“This committee is expected to present an interim report in three months.”

Motsoaledi explained that the ministry was undertaking the review in order to ensure that each permit had been issued to a qualifying recipient.