Johannesburg – An interim report by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) reveals a litany of fraud and corruption committed by Home Affairs officials involving millions of rand in bribes for visas during a 20-year period.
The SIU probe into the Department of Home Affairs revealed widespread corruption from 2004 to 2024, in which officials took bribes to issue visas and permits to persons who did not qualify.
Four unnamed officials received more than R16.3 million in bribes, funding luxuries that included mansions.
Crimes included document fraud, visa manipulation, bribery, and facilitation of unauthorized entry by syndicates colluding with officials.
The SIU found that as a result of the chicanery, the State lost over R180 million.
Commenting on the report on Monday, 23 February 2026, by Home Affairs Minister Dr. Leon Schreiber, who described the findings as a “watershed for restoring the rule of law” at the department
“In other words, what the SIU has presented to us today is the result of up to 20 years of maladministration and malfeasance,” stated Minister Schreiber.
“Over the past 20 months of this administration, the Government of National Unity (GNU) has moved with urgency and focus to address the root causes of these decades of damage.”
Minister Schreiber said for the first time, the SIU has “helped us to shed light on the deepest and darkest crevasses” of these processes.
He said by exposing both the alleged perpetrators and the systemic loopholes that enabled their manipulation, Home Affairs has been empowered to take decisive action against perpetrators who have gotten away with misconduct for far too long.
“Perhaps the single most extraordinary and important finding of the SIU’s work is that the bulk of the malfeasance was allegedly committed by a handful of officials,” stated Minister Schreiber.
“By exploiting loopholes and the manual nature of visa processes, a mere handful of people had the ability to inflict all this damage on our country.”
The minister said disciplinary processes against all implicated individuals were ongoing.
“Our goal is to restore the rule of law in Home Affairs, and our strategy to achieve this is based on three key pillars.”
Minister Schreiber said at least 20 officials have been dismissed for wrongdoing since April last year.
“I have also requested the Director-General to write to the Department of Public Service and Administration, as well as to the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, to ensure that these former officials are not reemployed elsewhere in the State while they undergo criminal proceedings,” Minister Schreiber said.
“Over the past two financial years, a total of 75 disciplinary cases have been completed, resulting in an additional 16 suspensions without pay and 22 written warnings.
“This work has also led to a number of referrals for criminal prosecution, and I would encourage the National Prosecuting Authority to prioritise these cases as part of our collective efforts to restore the rule of law.
“But we are not stopping there.”
The Department has also identified over 2 000 study visas that were fraudulently issued through these syndicates.
Minister Schreiber said: “Administrative processes are now underway to cancel these visas, and we will also ringfence any subsequent visas obtained by these same individuals to ensure that all irregularly-obtained documents are cancelled and that perpetrators are deported or prosecuted as required”.
The minister said digital transformation is the apex priority of Home Affairs under the GNU, and we have made extraordinary progress on this front over the past 20 months.
“At the heart of our work to close the space for manipulation of visa processes is the Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA),” stated Minister Schreiber.
“Following the release of today’s SIU report, there can no longer be any doubt that the ETA is the single most powerful tool we have ever developed to clamp down on visa fraud.”
The minister said the new system has declined over 30 000 applications that did not meet the relevant requirements for tourist visas.
“It does so by using machine learning to verify the authenticity of documents like passports,” he said.
