Question NW738 to the Minister of Home Affairs
19 April 2016 - NW738
Madisha, Mr WM to ask the Minister of Home Affairs
(1)Whether his department was using any sustained intelligence driven investigation to uncover corrupt officials in his department who were working in cahoots with criminals and organised syndicates to (a) steal identities and (b) breach security devices built into Smart ID cards; if not, why not; if so, (i) what has been the rate of success for each office during the period 1 January 2014 up to the latest specified date for which information is available and (ii) to what extent is the specified problems being eliminated; (2) whether his department has a dedicated office that is staffed by specialists where persons who have had their identity stolen can go in order to have their nightmare ended without being shunted from pillar to post year after year; if not, why not; if so, where is the specified office(s) situated?
Reply:
- Yes. The department does have sustained intelligence driven integrated efforts with the Law Enforcement Agencies aimed at detecting corrupt practices by officials of the department who collude with criminals and organised syndicates to defraud DHA systems and processes.
The cases of identity theft that were dealt with by the department were isolated incidents, for instance, the Metro police official who was arrested for misrepresentation of the Late Registration of birth process by furnishing false details and acquired a RSA ID, following which he was appointed as a traffic officer. The Late Registration of Birth is a process that is afforded to people who could not have registered birth at an early stage for whatever reason. To this date, there has been no breach of the security devices built into the Smart ID Card.
Detection mechanisms and process reviews are conducted regularly in the areas of Asylum Seeker Management, ID Smart Card, Supply Chain Management, IT Modernisation and Permitting with the view of identifying corruption and security loopholes and developing mitigating strategies to address these shortfalls.
During the 2015/ 16 financial year, forty two (42) arrests were carried out for fraud and corruption. Officials constitute 57% of the arrested while non-officials make 43%.
(2) As part of government‘s Minimum Anti-Corruption Capacity requirement, the department has a dedicated anti-Corruption Unit where fraud and corruption is reported and investigated. Reporting mechanisms are the National Anti-Corruption Hotline: 0800701701 and email address: report.corruption @dha.gov.za.