‘Migrants under 25 got retirement visas’ – Motsoaledi says SA passport ‘a laughing stock’

Home Affairs Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi says new legislation is required to tackle a number of issues, including fraudulent passports his department has encountered.

Motsoaledi previously announced that the Department of Home Affairs was working on a “complete overhaul” of the country’s immigration system.

Change legislation

Retirement visa

Answering questions from MPs in the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) on Thursday, Motsoaledi revealed that young migrants were obtaining retirement visas fraudulently.

“Some of the proposals are that we need to change legislation because it’s being abused.

“For instance, South Africa has got a retirement visa and a report [on the review process of visas and permits] has show that there are people who are 25 years who came to retire in South Africa.

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“There are people who as young as 16 years who came [to South Africa] to retire. When you confront officials, they say [the Immigration] Act does not mention the age of retirement.

“So it shows that this is an abuse, but I reject completely the notion that when systems are difficult then you are justifying to defraud or to bribe or to do corruption. That I will never accept,” he said.

‘People laugh and make jokes’

The minister further said that South Africa’s passport security has become “a laughing stock” due to fraud.

“Some years back, South Africa’s passport used to be respected all around the world. Recently it is doubted.

“People laugh and make jokes when they see stories on our social media. For instance, the joke that was made about a gentleman called Lebogang Ndlovu of Bangladesh,” the minister explained.

READ MORE: Home Affairs implements changes on passports to avoid another ‘Lebogang from Bangladesh’ situation

Last year, it emerged that Enlightened Christian Gathering (ECG) leader Shepherd Bushiri fraudulently acquired a South African permanent residence permit.

Five Home Affairs officials were subsequently suspended.

This also led to Motsoaledi establishing a task team in effort to review all the permits issued since 2004, which is the year the Immigration Act of 2002 came into effect.

Fingerprint verification

Meanwhile, Motsaledi revealed that the Department of Home Affairs would propose new legislation to make it possible for people to get an ID at the age of 10.

Currently, the law allows citizens to obtain an ID at the age of 16.

The minister also said passports could now only be activated after fingerprint verification.

“When passports were printed they used to be activated easily at quality assurance. We taken that away.

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“The passport won’t be activated until you come to the office and put your finger print. If you get it before that by some dubious means it won’t work.

“They will arrest you at the airport because that passports won’t be of any effect when you place it under a [scanning] machine,” he said.

“This definitely will cause problems to travellers, but we believe that is a price South Africans have to pay to secure our passports,” Motsoaledi added.