Minister Leon Schreiber: Home Affairs Dept Budget Vote 2026/27, NCOP

Budget Vote Speech delivered by the Minister of Home Affairs on the occasion of the Home Affairs Budget Debate (Vote 5) in the National Council of Provinces, 19 May 2026

Honourable House Chairperson,
Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, Honourable Njabulo Nzuza Members of the Executive,
Chairperson of the Select Committee on Security and Justice, Honourable Jane Mananiso,
Honourable Members of the Select Committee on Security and Justice,
Acting Director-General of Home Affairs, Mr Thulani Mavuso and DG Makhode in his absence,
CEO of Government Printing Works, Ms Alinah Fosi,
Commissioner of the Border Management Authority, Dr Mike Masiapato Leadership of the Independent Electoral Commission,
Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Over the past two years, the Home Affairs ecosystem - comprising of the Department of Home Affairs, the Border Management Authority, and Government Printing Works - has been on a transformational journey

Under our digital transformation programme, called Home Affairs @ home, we are rapidly inverting the entire service delivery model that had failed South Africans for too long.

Instead of forcing 63 million citizens to queue at only 349 physical locations, we are bringing services closer to where people stay.

Instead of making people take a whole day off of work to get a new ID, we have cut application times to as little as five minutes through our new digital partnership model.

Instead of relying on vulnerable manual and paper-based processes, we are using biometric technology to digitalise and secure the application process.

At the same time, we are bolstering South Africa's national security through immigration system reforms at a scale not seen before.

And we continue to reposition this ecosystem as a key economic enabler, unlocking the power of Home Affairs to drive growth and job creation.

Improved service delivery, stronger national security, and enabling economic growth - these are the three pillars of our reform drive.

Let us look at each of them in turn.

First, we are delivering a service delivery revolution through digital transformation.

The previous civics services delivery model was premised on forcing every South African to visit a physical location, which was often located far away and was expensive to reach in terms of both time and money.

We are now turning this model on its head.

In addition to the existing office footprint, we are decentralising and expanding access to civics services at scale.

By digitalising our long-standing partnership with the banking sector, we have already expanded access to Smart ID replacement services by an incredible 47% within just two months of launching the new system.

Just eight weeks after this project went live, 167 bank branches across South Africa now offer Smart ID replacement services.

To put this into perspective, under the previous manual model, only 30 bank branches were included in this partnership after a full decade.

During the short eight-week period that the new system has been live, an incredible 127 364 South Africans have already used it.

In fact, on the 15th of May when I delivered my budget vote speech in the National Assembly, this figure stood at 118 434.

Today, less than four full days later, another 8 930 citizens have used this new service.

This is not incremental change or tinkering at the margins. This is wholesale reform in action.

Given the stunning success of this project, we are raising our ambitions accordingly.

We have now increased our target for the rest of the year to activate Smart ID replacement services at 750 bank branches by the end of 2026, with a specific focus on rural and underserved communities.

For millions of South Africans, this means easier access to secure enabling documents in places they already know and trust.

Just as importantly, the entire application process has now been fully digitalised.

At participating branches, an application to replace a Green ID book or a Smart ID now takes as little as five minutes.

This constitutes at least a 93% faster turnaround time than the previous service model.

No queues. No prior bookings. No paperwork.

Instead, the system relies on biometric verification to protect the integrity of every application.

Over the coming months, we will add first-time ID applications, passport applications, and doorstep delivery to this new system.

This means that, for the first time ever, South Africans will be able to securely courier their enabling documents to their own homes, without the need to visit a physical location just to do a collection.

We are also leveraging the data produced through this digitalised system to implement a fully-fledged business intelligence system at Home Affairs for the first time.

We have started live monitoring of Smart ID service provision as a cohort to compare performance across different channels and enable continuous improvement.

We will expand this capacity to all services as we incorporate them into the digital partnership.

Additionally, I can announce today that we have just rolled out an upgraded online booking system.

Long-standing neglect and underinvestment meant that the old booking site was increasingly abused by unscrupulous individuals, who blocked booking slots and then sold them on to desperate citizens.

The result was that citizens struggled to obtain booking slots, which are free of charge.

Our modern new booking site has secured the system against such abuses.

We anticipate that it will take a week or two to fully stabilise the new system, which is available at myhomeaffairsonline.dha.gov.za.

This reform is yet another affirmation that we will not tolerate abuse of Home Affairs systems.

The capstone project for our civics service reform programme, is the world-class Digital Identity system we are currently designing.

This reform will fundamentally reshape how citizens interact with the state.

In the twenty-first century, secure digital identity is no longer simply an administrative function.

It is foundational national infrastructure.

Just as roads and railways enabled the industrial economy, Digital ID will enable citizens to participate fully and securely in the modern digital economy.

We recently published draft regulations under the Identification Act to establish an appropriate framework for this system.

I invite stakeholders to participate in the public comment period that concludes on 6 June.

Digital ID will allow South Africans to securely access their critical documents and Home Affairs services digitally through their smartphones.

It will also enable secure remote authentication.

Through this reform, we are engaged in state-building, laying the foundation for a more secure and efficient government and economy for decades to come.

Honourable Chair,

Through Home Affairs @ home, we are also dramatically enhancing national security.

Our digital partnership model with the banking sector is rapidly expanding the ability of the 16 million South Africans who still hold Green ID books to switch to the more-secure Smart ID.

The Green ID book is often cited as the most defrauded document on the African continent.

It sits at the heart of identity theft and illegal immigration.

Last year, we already delivered a record of 4 million Smart IDs.

Now, through our digital partnership, we are going to ramp that up even further to ensure that every citizen has access to a Smart ID.

By rapidly scaling-up access to the Smart ID, Home Affairs finally has a clear roadmap towards ensuring that every South African can switch away from the Green ID book, enabling us to eventually stop recognising the Green ID as a valid form of identification.

This will eliminate fraud and identity theft linked to the Green ID, striking a major blow in favour of the rule of law.

Our new Electronic Travel Authorisation also went live in October last year for tourists from China, India, Indonesia and Mexico.

For the first time ever, this system will enable us to record biometrics for every foreigner entering our country.

The ETA uses advanced machine learning technology to verify the authenticity of a passport and other documentation, and uses facial recognition to confirm that the person who arrives in our country is the holder of a valid passport.

Over the coming weeks, we will be scaling up the ETA to cover tourists from many more countries.

This will be followed by the continuous addition of more visa categories to the ETA, turning it into the single, digitalised and biometrically-secured entry point for all visa applications to South Africa.

Even at the current stage, where it is limited to just four countries, the ETA has already denied visas to over 4 500 applicants through document verification and facial recognition.

Once it is scaled up for all travellers into South Africa, it will revolutionise national security by making it impossible for anyone to gain a visa if their documents and facial biometrics are not verified.

This security work is being complemented through the single biggestinvestment that has ever been made into our country's border infrastructure,

The BMA recently announced the selected bidders for a R12.5 billion public-private partnership that will demolish and rebuild our six busiest land ports of entry.

These six ports account for 80% of all traffic through our border posts.

Through this project, dilapidated infrastructure will be replaced with modern new facilities that are designed around the ETA and other digital systems.

These new border posts will also implement the One-Stop Border Post concept that was recently passed through this House as a Bill.

I extend my appreciation to every member of the NCOP who supported that important bill's passage.

As these six major border posts are rebuilt, you will be able to see the fruits of that bill become a reality as we secure border processing through modern infrastructure.

Finally, we continue to reposition the Home Affairs ecosystem as a critical economic enabler.

At the same time that it enhances national security, the ETA is also laying the foundation for a tourism boom in South Africa.

As we have demonstrated during this initial phase, the ETA enables qualifying tourists to consistently obtain visas within just 24 hours in digital format.

They then store the ETA in the wallet on their smartphone and undergo facial recognition verification by the BMA when they arrive at the port of entry.

I can also announce that we recently deployed an extension module into live production, which now enables legitimate tourists with an ETA to seamlessly apply for a visa extension.

Our tourism sector previously lost billions due to inefficient visa processes that forced prospective travellers to stand in long queues and complete paper-based applications that took weeks to process.

Through the convenience and efficiency introduced by the scale-up of the ETA, we are going to unlock entire new growth markets to create thousands of new jobs in South Africa's tourism industry.

Again, there are no queues or paperwork. This is Home Affairs @ home in action.

One of the clearest signs that we are becoming an economic enabler is the growing demand from global industries to partner with South Africa through our visa facilitation schemes.

Through the Screen Talent and Global Entertainment Scheme, known as STAGES , and the Meetings, Events, Exhibitions and Tourism Scheme, known as MEETS, we are building a modern immigration system that supports investment, tourism, film production, and international events and job creation, while maintaining the integrity and security of our immigration system.

I am pleased to announce today that the Department has concluded the first round of assessments for participation in these new schemes.

Under STAGES, the successful participants are the Commercial Producers Association of South Africa, Film Industry Visa Assistance, known as FIVA, and Film Afrika.

These partnerships will help position South Africa as a premier destination for international film and television production, supporting local jobs, skills development and economic activity across multiple provinces.

Through MEETS, we are similarly creating a more efficient system to facilitate major conferences, exhibitions, tourism and international business events.

This is Home Affairs playing our part as a department that does not stand in the way of economic growth, but actively enables it.

Honourable Chairperson,

Our reforms in these three key domains are supported by a relentless drive to restore the rule of law.

Since the start of this administration, the Department of Home Affairs has secured 10 criminal convictions, 14 arrests and 65 dismissals linked to corruption and misconduct.

The BMA has secured a further 26 arrests and 34 dismissals.

Crooked officials know that it is no longer a question of "if" they will be caught, dismissed, and prosecuted.

It is now only a matter of "when."

With dismissals, arrests and prosecutions now being secured on a near-weekly basis, the days of impunity are at an end.

Equally, we are restoring the rule of law through our law enforcement operations.

Since July 2024, Home Affairs has already carried out more than 109 000 lawful deportations - an increase of 46% - while the BMA has prevented more than 945 000 individuals from entering South Africa illegally or without proper documentation since its establishment.

Enforcement will be dramatically enhanced by the technological power of the ETA.

And through two critical policy and legal breakthroughs we recently achieved.

Earlier this year, Cabinet approved the Revised White Paper on Citizenship, Immigration and Refugee Protection, which will now be converted into a draft bill designed to transform the very foundation of the South African state.

By implementing the Revised White Paper, we will introduce the first-safe-country-principle to end the practice of asylum seekers "picking and choosing" South Africa as their only destination in the region.

While upholding our fundamental constitutional commitments and the rights of legitimate refugees, this legal reform will empower us to reject asylum seekers who deliberately travel through other safe countries with the sole aim of coming to South Africa.

This reform was further bolstered last week, when Home Affairs won a landmark case in the Constitutional Court.

The Court confirmed our position that asylum seekers must not be allowed to submit endless repeat applications while remaining in the country indefinitely once their original application has been rejected.

We will use this judgement from the highest court in the land, in combination with the legislative changes flowing from the Revised White Paper, to ensure that we ramp up lawful deportations and restore the rule of law even more effectively than we have already done.

Honourable Chairperson,

Home Affairs @ home is built around a coherent and ambitious set of reforms that are simultaneously revolutionising service delivery, national security, and the harnessing of economic opportunities.

It is supported by our unrelenting commitment to restoring the rule of law.

The fruits of our reform programme are increasingly visible across this ecosystem.

I am therefore honoured to present budget vote 5 to this House.

I extend my sincere appreciation to Deputy Minister Nzuza for his continued leadership and commitment to delivering for our country.

I also extend my gratitude to DG Makhode, Commissioner Masiapato, CEO Fosi and their respective teams for their continued hard work to deliver this agenda, and to the IEC under Chairperson Mosotho Moepya for their ongoing preparations for the upcoming elections.

Honourable Members,

This is the budget vote that will capacitate the Independent Electoral Commission to deliver a successful local government election.

This is the budget vote that will enable us to bring digitalised Home Affairs services to hundreds more locations across the length and breadth of South Africa, and deliver services right on your smartphone through Digital ID.

This is the budget vote that will secure entry into our country through the power of the ETA.