Issue Date: 03 July 2025
Honourable House Chairperson
Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, Honourable Njabulo Nzuza
Members of the Executive
Chairperson of the Select Committee on Security and Justice, Honourable Jane Mananiso
Honourable Members of the Select Committee on Security and Justice
Director-General of Home Affairs, Mr Tommy Makhode
Chairperson of the Independent Electoral Commission, Mr Mosotho Moepya
CEO of Government Printing Works, Ms Alinah Fosi
Commissioner of the Border Management Authority, Dr Mike Masiapato
Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Today marks exactly one year, to the day, since the Government of National Unity took office at the Ministry of Home Affairs.
It is therefore apt to start by reflecting on just how far we have already come in the past twelve months.
It has been a year of remarkable progress for the Home Affairs ecosystem.
What makes it even more striking, is that we have managed to achieve this progress in the very department that has often been derided as the epitome of government failure.
When I assumed this office a year ago, most people responded by calling it a “poisoned chalice.”
When we started mapping our five year vision to deliver Home Affairs @ homethrough digital transformation, some called it “pie in the sky.”
Today I am here to confidently report to the House that the progress we have made over the last twelve months, by working as one team with one dream, has exceeded the expectations of cynics and optimists alike.
Here are just a few highlights from the past year:
We cleared a backlog of over 306 000 visa applications dating back more than a decade.
We produced and delivered just under 3.6 million Smart IDs, surpassing the previous annual record by nearly half a million.
We deployed advanced drone and body camera technology at the border for the first time, leading to an increase of up to 215% in the detection and prevention of attempted illegal border crossings.
We launched Operation New Broom as part of intensified operations to restore the rule of law, leading to over 46 000 deportations – the highest figure in more than five years and more than countries like France and Germany combined.
We launched the Trusted Tour Operator Scheme to boost tourism from the major source markets of China and India, where South Africa has underperformed for years.
We recognised Muslim marriages on Home Affairs marriage certificates for the first time.
We enabled over 1.4 million naturalised citizens and permanent residents to obtain secure Smart IDs for the first time.
We activated the Immigration Advisory Board for the first time in a decade by appointing a diverse group of seasoned experts to help shape better policies.
We dismissed 37 crooked officials and launched the dedicated Border Management and Immigration Anti-Corruption Forum that brings together law enforcement, the Special Investigating Unit, the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigations and the National Prosecuting Authority to ensure corrupt officials and fraudsters are put behind bars.
Our anti-corruption work has led to the conviction of eight offenders with sentences ranging from four to 18 years in prison.
And we built a working prototype of the Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) system that will digitalise the visa processes from beginning to end, eliminating corruption and inefficiency.
Honourable Members,
If this is what Home Affairs could do in just one year, imagine what we can do in five.
Already, the reforms underway at the Department of Home Affairs, the Border Management Authority and Government Printing Works, is rendering these organisations unrecognisably better.
And, the reforms we will deliver in the next twelve months, will begin to redefine the quality of services that South Africans expect from their government.
All of these reforms are guided by our apex priority of digital transformation and our vision to deliver Home Affairs @ home.
The endpoint of these reforms is to enable both South Africans and legitimate visitors to apply and obtain enabling documents online, including in digital format, from the comfort of their own homes.
Immigration
Let’s start with immigration.
By the end of September, we will begin the rollout of the digital ETA system for tourist visas, starting with travellers arriving by air at OR Tambo and Cape Town International airports.
Over time, the ETA will be expanded to more visa categories and rolled out at more ports of entry.
This scale-up will continue until no person can enter South Africa without obtaining a digital visa through the ETA.
This system eliminates the space for interference, corruption or delays by using machine learning to automate the application, adjudication and communication of all visa processes.
To make the ETA work optimally, we must also link it to all ports of entry so that no person can enter our country unless their biometrics are recorded and match those on their applications.
All of this will be supported by the Supplementary White Paper on Citizenship, Immigration and Refugee Protection to create a fit-for-purpose policy framework to embed digital transformation and reform.
We know we can do this, precisely because of how much we have already achieved in this space.
Sometimes, when numbers speak for themselves, it’s best not to interrupt.
- 17 000, is the number of Chinese and Indian tourists have obtained visas to visit our shores since February 2025, after we tailor-made the online Trusted Tour Operator Scheme (TTOS) to cater to the preference of tourists in these two source markets to travel in groups;
- 1 230, is the number of estimated jobs created by TTOS tourists, using Operation Vulindlela’s research that shows how one new job is created for every 13 tourists that visit South Africa;
- 65, is the number of tour operators that joined TTOS during the first phase of the rollout.
- 246, is the number of software engineers that have been accepted into the country for just one company via the Trusted Employer Scheme (TES), that allows qualifying companies to verify documents of skilled workers they wish to bring to South Africa, shortening the adjudication process;
- 147, is the number of nuclear engineers that were brought in by Eskom to restore the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station, stabilising the national electricity grid and directly contributing to positive economic activity; and
- 71, is the number of companies that are on the TES, ranging from car manufacturing, mining, banking, services industry and telecommunications.
- It is also my pleasure to announce today that we have completed the second intake for the Trusted Tour Operator Scheme, with another 45 companies selected to bring more tourists to our shores.
And, after demonstrating the Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) to President Ramaphosa recently, I can confirm that we are on track to launch this world-class innovation by the end of September to coincide with the G20 Leaders Meeting later this year.
The ETA will not only revolutionise the security and efficiency of South Africa’s visa system.
It will also signal our country’s ascendence to a whole new level on the global stage, as a country that is forward-looking and embraces the power of digital transformation to resolve societal challenges.
In the age of AI, the need for governments to build digital public infrastructure has never been more urgent to ensure that South Africa does not get left behind in this emerging new world.
Civics Services
The same digital transformation strategy is set to drive much greater access and inclusion of civics services, while dramatically improving the quality of these services.
Over the next year, South Africans will gain access to Home Affairs services in many more locations.
The department is finalising the technical and administrative arrangements to dramatically expand the successful pilot project that has provided Smart ID and passport services in 30 bank branches for almost a decade.
Through digital transformation, we will make Home Affairs services accessible through banks’ IT platforms, enabling these services to be provided at one thousand bank branches, as envisaged by the Medium-Term Development Plan (MTDP).
This process will also culminate in making Home Affairs services available digitally, through the same online banking applications that South Africans already use to buy electricity, data or renew a vehicle license.
National Population Register upgrade
We are also investing in urgently-needed upgrades to the National Population Register (NPR).
For more than a decade since it was launched, the under-pricing of the NPR’s verification service has deprived Home Affairs of the resources required to maintain and upgrade the NPR, which is the foundational database upon which public and private sector services are built.
This under-investment has led to a situation where more than half of all verification requests now fail altogether, directly threatening government services like social grant delivery and the financial services sector.
The cost of the system being offline can be measured.
At Home Affairs, in the five years of the previous administration, 41 000 working hours were lost because of the NPR being down.
This is four times more than the hours lost due to loadshedding.
The Department has built substantial upgrades to the verification service and has gazetted a new price structure that sets a cost-reflective price for real-time verifications during peak hours at R10, while introducing an off-peak, low-cost alternative for batch transactions costing just R1.
We have not done this out of malice.
We have done it in the national interest.
And it is working as intended.
I am proud to report that we have already successfully onboarded government’s entire justice cluster to the upgraded service, which includes key public sector entities like the South African Social Security Administration (SASSA), the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development.
This cluster alone is now successfully processing over 180 000 transactions per day through the new service, which consistently delivers results in less than one second, with an error rate well below one percent. Of course, this services is provided for free to other government entities.
Additionally, three major private sector users have already transitioned to the new service.
One private sector user has already processed over one million records through the new off-peak batch option that would previously have gone into the real-time queueand caused the system to go offline, directly contributing to a more stable NPR for all users.
Taken together, these reforms are set to improve service delivery and reduce waiting times at Home Affairs offices, while also providing South Africans with many more options to obtain critical enabling documents.
I call upon all users who have not yet done so, to urgently contactThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. so that we can work together to optimise usage.
Another key element of implementing Home Affairs @ home, is to enable doorstep courier delivery of enabling documents to the doorsteps of applicants.
This service will rely on cutting-edge facial recognition technology to ensure we deliver the right document, to the rightful owner, every time – while eliminating the need to stand in a queue to collect an ID or passport.
Digital ID
These reforms all lay down markers on our road towards building South Africa’s first ever digital ID system.
Firstly, we are creating a policy foundation that will allow the Department to shift its paper-based documents and services onto digital platforms.
The policy will also enable the framework to verify such documents and create the space for safe use of the digital identity.
The Department will be able to issue and verify e-passports, e-birth certificates and digital IDs.
This year, we’ll send the draft digital identity policy to Cabinet for approval to conduct public hearings.
At a technology level, the Department is working with the South African Reserve Bank to develop a robust digital identity system based on facial recognition.
Honourable Chairperson,
I am tabling a budget of R11 billion for the Department of Home Affairs, whose baseline increases by R321 million in 2025/26, R1.2 billion in 2026/27, and R369 million in 2027/28 to fund mainly the Border Management Authority and the 2026 local government elections.
The 2025/26 budget for the Border Management Authority is R1.7 billion, growing to R1.8 billion in 2026/27 and R1.9 billion in 2027/28.
This is clearly inadequate for the BMA, and we are considering other revenue streams to support the BMA to ensure they secure our borders for development.
The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has been provided with additional funding of R885 million in 2026/27 to cover costs associated with the 2026 local government elections.
Their budget is R2.1 billion for this financial year.
Conclusion
I believe that Home Affairs is on the most exciting reform journey our democracy has ever seen.
We are guided by our apex priority of digital transformation in all that we do, and this clear focus is enabling us to systematically solve problems that have plagued our country for decades.
Honourable Members,
If we can make Home Affairs work better, we will restore the hope that all of South Africa can work better.
The work we do in Home Affairs is important because we want it to help raise expectations.
Home Affairs delivered during the first year of this administration.
And we are determined to make our second year even more impactful by delivering the exciting innovations I have described today.
But the most important point is that, if we can do it, then so can others – and citizens must begin demand that political leaders move with greater urgency to implement modernisation and digital transformation.
In fact, the single greatest thing holding South Africa back, is complacency and a lack of urgency.
At #TeamHomeAffairs, we are working to defeat complacency, and to embrace urgency.
Because the reforms South Africa needs to prosper, cannot be delayed a day longer.
It is this commitment to do the hard work, together, that sets Home Affairs apart.
With every day that passes, we take another collective step towards achieving our goal of using digital transformation to deliver dignity for all.
Thank you.
For media enquiries, please contact:
Siya Qoza, Cell number: 082 898 1657
Duwayne Esau – Spokesperson for the Minister, Cell number: 077 606 9702
ISSUED BY THE MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS