Technology prevents refugees from using SA online systems

As if life weren’t hard enough for refugees trying to forge a new life in South Africa, the online system set up to help them has thrown a big new barrier their way.

Experts say government technology is not fit for purpose, arbitrarily rejecting pleas for help and slowing aid to eligible refugees and millions of local welfare recipients.

“I was shocked,” said Rachel, 36, a social worker whose work integrating refugees in downtown Joburg has given her a front-row seat on the system’s litany of errors.

Costs

E-mails often bounce back unanswered, she said. Automatic, proforma replies are spewed out in response to carefully completed extension forms.

Even the costs needed to apply for state permits can be prohibitively high, she said, while many refugees are told to find their way to far-flung offices and apply for aid in person. It was not supposed to be like this.

“This was meant to make refugees’ lives easier, not harder,” said the social worker, who asked to use a pseudonym for fear of reprisals at her inner-city base.

The online asylum seeker and refugee visa extension was set up in 2021 to save applicants time and money and unblock what had become known as a corrupt and cumbersome system. It was a no-brainer for SA, which followed a slew of countries in creating an online systems.

Further barriers

But social workers, human rights lawyers and applicants say the system is often down, while the cost of accessing the internet and lack of digital education are further barriers.

“Technical issues raised on the online system are dealt with on a case by case basis,” said Siya Qoza, spokesperson for the department of home affairs, adding that applicants can be asked to come to its offices in person to finalise their case.

Other online state systems – such as welfare grant applications and online ID registrations – are similarly struggling to meet demands of their millions of users.

The technology is lagging, according to experts familiar with the system, and the poorest pay the highest price.

Almost one in two South Africans get welfare grants, but the department of social development reported delayed payments to some recipients this year due to cyber security breaches, connection errors due to power cuts and difficulties verifying bank details.

“Sometimes the online [grant] systems leave me feeling lost,” said 36-year-old street cleaner Zibuyile Bukula. “I try to go in person to government offices but for that I need cash and even if I get there, the power can be out.”

Steep internet costs and low levels of digital awareness and literacy held back 86% of respondents in a Research ICT Africa survey from accessing government services.

“These products should be targeted at reaching the underserved, like those living in poverty who need them the most,” said Andrew Partridge, a senior economist at the think-tank.

Refugees say before the system went online, permits they needed to work legally, access healthcare or enrol children in school were renewed in person every three to six months.

“It took time and money but it did work,” said Nina, 27, a Congolese refugee. When Covid shuttered in-person centres, the online system seemed the best way forward for refugees and asylum seekers who had not been able to renew their permits.

It was also meant to root out corrupt officials soliciting bribes from the roughly 260 000 refugees and asylum seekers from countries such as Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Nina said applicants turned to internet cafes to submit their forms, before wily cafe owners spotted a business opportunity in their clients’ new need for connectivity. Refugees said they are charged up to R300 to send one e-mail, compared to the usual R15 for an hour of internet access.

Those without digital knowhow are tricked into taking the pricey option. After several attempts, Nina accepted the online system was “broken” and used her savings to pay the R150 to get to a refugee reception office in Pretoria in November.

She left before the sun had risen only to find hundreds of refugees at the entrance. Some had slept there the night before.

Those willing to press rolled bank notes into security guards’ hands made it inside the building, she said. From there, further money had to be paid to get a permit.

This account was confirmed by other refugees, social workers and human rights lawyers. However, Qoza said the department did not tolerate corruption, urging those making allegations to provide the names of corrupt officials so they can investigate.

Nina, who did not resort to bribery, says she was turned away five times. “On my sixth visit, the officials told me I was being stubborn and I must just go apply online again,” she said.

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