Online Reporter
Thupeyo Muleya, Beitbridge Bureau
South Africa’s Minister of Home Affairs, Dr Leon Schreiber, has said the new Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) for visas and the introduction of the Digital ID for civics services, will eliminate the space for human discretion and interference exploited by criminals.
It is understood that the ETA system is scheduled to launch later this month for short-term visitors.
This AI-powered system will streamline visa processing by allowing eligible travellers to apply and receive a digital code online before their trip, which will be verified via biometrics on arrival.
The exact list of eligible nationalities will be announced at the official launch, and the system aims to reduce administrative burdens and enhance border security.
Minister Schreiber was responding to the conviction of a dismissed Home Affairs official, Dawn Pieterson, who has been found guilty on nine counts of fraud and two counts of contravening the Births and Deaths Registration Act.
“This latest successful conviction is another step forward in our ongoing work to clean up Home Affairs. It is the ninth conviction secured through the collaboration between the Department and law enforcement agencies,” he said.
“I applaud the Department’s Counter Corruption unit for this conviction, as well as our partners in the Hawks and other entities. Importantly, the modus operandi used in this case again confirms the fundamental importance of our digital transformation agenda.
“By fully automating and digitalising all departmental processes, as we are doing through the Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) for visas and through Digital ID for civics services, we will eliminate the space for human discretion and interference exploited by criminals like Pieterson”.
Dr Schreiber said his ministry was determined to both put criminal officials behind bars, while simultaneously using technology to close the loopholes they exploit.
“This is how we can defeat the scourge of corruption once and for all,” he emphasised.
In the latest corruption case, Ms Pieterson was formerly employed at the Department of Home Affairs office in Calvinia in the Northern Cape, where she abused her access to departmental records to commit fraud and corruption between February 2019 and September 2022.
The official is accused of opening funeral policies on clients’ identity numbers, nominating herself as the beneficiary, then falsely declaring the holders of the ID numbers as deceased in order to access the pay outs.
Minister Schreiber said the Department of Home Affairs will continue to monitor this case as Pieterson is scheduled to be sentenced on 26 January 2026.
He said the case also follows the dismissal of 37 officials since July 2024.
Recently, the neighbouring country’s Border Management Authority working together with the specialised police, the Hawks have arrested two immigration officers at the country’s border with Zimbabwe (Beitbridge) on allegations of corruption and fraud involving the illegal processing of six Malawians passports.
