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The Minister of Home Affairs, Malusi Gigaba, says the
department will this year introduce an electronic VISA
application system in order to curb fraudulent permits
from foreign nationals. The Minister said this
when ministers in the Peace and Security Cluster fielded
questions at the National Council of Provinces on
Tuesday, 27 March 2018.
He responded to Democratic Alliance Eastern Cape Member
of Parliament, Leon Magwebu, who asked what the
department was doing to address the weaknesses that led
to foreign nationals being in the country on fraudulent
permits.
¡§During the course of the year, we are going to
introduce a number of initiatives. One of them is the
electronic applications for VISAS and for a number of
other permits to the country.
¡§That will enable the applicant to obtain information
electronically and submit their applications and the
documentation to support their applications
electronically,¡¨ he said.
The Minister said the initiative would remove the need
for the department to provide frontline services that
tended to stretch government¡¦s capacity. He said the
initiative would also pave the way for a centralised
adjudication system to enable the department to take
decisions quickly in terms of people¡¦s applications.
¡§But, we further intend to introduce an amendment to the
legislation which is going to enable the department to
have an independent citizenship advisory board.
¡§But, this is only for those who are applying for
citizenship once all other processes have been followed
in terms of the latter of the law. So all of these
initiatives are going to be introduced during the course
of the year,¡¨ he said
Initiatives underway to enhance border law
enforcement
Meanwhile, Minister Gigaba said several initiatives were
being implemented to address border line enforcement and
to deal with the number of undocumented foreign
nationals.
He said that the current model of cooperative border
management contributed to a lack of effective and
efficient border management.
In future, the Minister said the border management
authority that would be established would improve border
law enforcement based on a model of integrated border
management and the establishment of a single line of
command and the control structure in the border
environment.
Corruption at ports of entry, which leads to the
facilitation of some undocumented foreign nationals
entering the country, was also a challenge. The
department was dealing with corrupt officials on an
ongoing basis, the Minister said.
¡V Source:
SAnews.gov.za |
