Minister Leon Schreiber: Home Affairs Dept Budget Vote 2026/27
BY : CHANON LECODEY MERRICKS ONLINE EDITOR KASiBC_AFRiCA
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Budget Vote Speech delivered by the Minister of Home Affairs on the occasion of the Home Affairs Budget Vote Debate (Vote 5) in the National Assembly
Honourable Speaker, Thoko Didiza
Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, Honourable Njabulo Nzuza
Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs, Honourable Mosa Chabane
Honourable Members of the Portfolio Committee,
Director-General of the Department of Home Affairs, Mr Tommy Makhode CEO of Government Printing Works, Ms Alinah Fosi
Commissioner of the Border Management Authority, Dr Michael Masiapato Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
A little less than two years ago, I introduced the Home Affairs @ home programme to reimagine, rebuild, and reform the Home Affairs ecosystem from top to bottom.
Across the Department of Home Affairs, the Border Management Authority, and Government Printing Works, I committed to the people of South Africa that we would pursue digital transformation to urgently resolve the systemic failures that long dogged this ecosystem.
Crucially, the reform agenda of this administration recognised from day one that the old service delivery model was not only broken, but wholly misguided.
Under the old way of doing things, access to Home Affairs services was premised on forcing 63 million citizens to use just 349 physical locations to obtain critical services.
Form the start, we had the courage to do things differently by recognising that this ecosystem did not only need piecemeal changes.
It required radical reform that would turn the traditional service delivery model on its head.
Instead of forcing every single South African, as well as every legitimate visitor, to go and stand in a queue to access just a handful of physical offices, our vision is to use the power of technology to bring our services closer and closer to the people – until we deliver it right in their own homes.
Home Affairs @ home.
The backbone of this reform journey is defined by three flagship projects.
First, to massively expand inclusion and access to physical documents, such as Smart IDs and Passports, through a ground-breaking new digital partnership model with the banking sector.
Second, to build the world’s most sophisticated digital visa processing system to eliminate fraud and inefficiency through the Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA).
And finally, to build a new Digital Identity system that enables remote verification and introduces digital versions of Home Affairs products that South Africans can securely access through their smartphones.
Just two years later, our vision and courage in embracing wholesale reform is paying off in the biggest way imaginable.
Millions of South Africans are beginning to feel the difference.
Let’s start with our digital partnership to expand access to physical documents.
By digitalising the long-standing partnership between Home Affairs and the banking sector, we have already expanded access to Smart ID replacement services by a staggering 47% just two months after the system went live.
After only eight weeks, a total of 167 bank branches across the length and breadth of South Africa now offer Smart ID replacement services, with more branches going live every week.
Through this new model, the Smart ID application process has been completely digitalised.
Gone are the days of spending a whole day in a queue.
At these 167 bank branches, it now takes as little as five minutes to apply for an ID.
No prior bookings are required. No paperwork is needed.
And there is no official discretion, completely sealing the system off from manipulation and fraud by relying on the power of biometric technology.
It is therefore little wonder that, within just eight weeks, a total of 118 434 Smart ID applications have already been successfully processed through this new system for people who are switching from the Green ID book to the Smart ID, or replacing a lost ID card.
This project holds the key to ensuring that each of the 16 million people who still use the vulnerable Green ID book are able to switch to the more-secure Smart ID.
The Green ID is the most defrauded document on the African continent, and sits at the heart of financial fraud and identity theft in our country.
For the first time, Home Affairs now has a clear roadmap to ensure that every South African is able to switch to a Smart ID, which will enable us to finally end the recognition of the Green ID book as a valid form of identification.
Given the astonishing success of this project, we have raised our ambitions accordingly.
I can announce today that, by the end of 2026, we aim to roll this service out to at least 750 bank branches, extending them into every corner of South Africa.
Over the next few weeks, we will also roll out first time Smart ID and Passport applications through this new system.
And we will introduce doorstep delivery of IDs and Passports for the first time in South African history.
Thanks to our laser focus on digital transformation, South Africans will shortly have the option of having their enabling document securely couriered right to their own doorstep, without the need to travel anywhere just to do a collection.
Home Affairs @ home.
Let us now turn to our second flagship, the ETA.
Ahead of the G20 leaders’ summit, we rolled out the ETA for tourists from China,
India, Mexico and Indonesia.
This new system uses biometric and machine learning technology to enable prospective travellers to apply for a tourist visa on their laptop or smartphone, and receive their visa within just 24 hours.
The ETA transforms national security, by checking 40 different parameters to verify the authenticity of a passport and by using liveness detection to verify a selfie of the applicant against their passport photo.
The BMA then uses facial recognition technology once the traveller arrives at the border post, to verify their identity and visa.
Once again, this is all done without any scope for discretion or manipulation.
Even with the rollout initially limited to just four countries, I can report today that the ETA has already processed over 75 000 applications, resulting in more than 71 000 approvals and nearly 4 500 rejections.
Think about that for a moment.
That’s almost 4 500 people who were prevented by the ETA from obtaining a visa, who may otherwise have entered our country illegitimately under the old manual and paper-based system.
With final technical work currently underway, we will shortly expand the ETA to tourists from many more countries.
This will unlock entire new growth markets for our tourism sector in ways that were unimaginable under the previous manual and paper-based system.
Over the remainder of this administration, we will roll out the ETA to cover all visa categories, in order to entirely eliminate the space for inefficiency, fraud and corruption.
Once our rollout of the ETA is complete, it will go down in history as the single most powerful reform ever implemented to secure our immigration system, while enabling legitimate travellers to conveniently obtain visas through their smart device.
Home Affairs @ home.
For our third flagship reform, Digital ID, we have recently published draft regulations in terms of the Identification Act.
I invite all stakeholders to comment on these draft regulations before the closing date of 6 June, so that we can implement an appropriate and fit-for-purpose regulatory framework for this new system that will enable South Africans to securely access Home Affairs services in the palm of their own hand.
Home Affairs @ home. Madam Speaker,
These three flagship reforms are supported by a comprehensive culture change process.
This includes a digital training component that is equipping thousands of our officials for the future world of work.
At the same time, our crackdown on corruption is gathering pace at an unprecedented rate.
Since the start of this administration, the Department of Home Affairs has secured 10 criminal convictions, 14 arrests, and 65 dismissals.
The BMA has secured an additional 26 arrests and 34 dismissals.
We are now carrying out dismissals, arrests and convictions on a near-weekly basis.
Crooked officials are no longer asking whether they will be caught.
They are spending all their time wondering when it will be their turn. My answer to them is simple: sooner than you think.
We will not rest until every single corrupt official is swept away by the tide accountability that is washing over Home Affairs.
Our reform drive is also supported by a series of legal and policy breakthroughs.
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.
Let me make it clear today that South Africa is not the only safe country in our region, and through the implementation of this new policy, we will no longer tolerate the abuse of our country’s migration system.
This reform was further bolstered just this past week, when we 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 even more effectively than we have already done.
Over the past two financial years, Home Affairs has carried out nearly 110 000 deportations – an increase of 46% compared to previous years.
This is in addition to the over 945 000 people that the BMA has prevented from entering into South Africa, either illegally or because they did not have the required documentation, since its establishment.
In fact, under Operation New Broom that I launched last year, Home Affairs conducted an incredible 10 700 enforcement inspections across the country during the past financial year – overperforming our annual target of 4 000 by more than double.
In the last year alone, Home Affairs has done more immigration enforcement operations than during the entire five-year term of the previous administration.
Through our unwavering commitment to upholding South Africa’s Constitution and our immigration laws, we are rapidly restoring the rule of law in a domain where it was eroded over decades.
Finally, our reform programme is supported by the single biggest investment ever in border infrastructure.
Last month, the BMA announced the bidders that have been selected for a R12.5 billion public-private partnership to demolish and rebuild our country’s six busiest land ports of entry.
Taken together, our reform agenda is directly enhancing national security, improving the efficiency of service delivery, and repositioning Home Affairs as a powerful economic enabler.
Through this agenda, we are reforming what was once the most maligned department in all of government, into a world-leader in modern governance.
If ever there was an agenda that called on all of us to put our country over politics, it is this one.
We are laying a modern and future-fit new foundation for the South African state that will stand our country in good stead for decades to
Home Affairs @ home.
For our third flagship reform, Digital ID, we have recently published draft regulations in terms of the Identification Act.
I invite all stakeholders to comment on these draft regulations before the closing date of 6 June, so that we can implement an appropriate and fit-for-purpose regulatory framework for this new system that will enable South Africans to securely access Home Affairs services in the palm of their own hand.
Home Affairs @ home. Madam Speaker,
These three flagship reforms are supported by a comprehensive culture change process.
This includes a digital training component that is equipping thousands of our officials for the future world of work.
At the same time, our crackdown on corruption is gathering pace at an unprecedented rate.
Since the start of this administration, the Department of Home Affairs has secured 10 criminal convictions, 14 arrests, and 65 dismissals.
The BMA has secured an additional 26 arrests and 34 dismissals.
We are now carrying out dismissals, arrests and convictions on a near-weekly basis.
Crooked officials are no longer asking whether they will be caught.
They are spending all their time wondering when it will be their turn. My answer to them is simple: sooner than you think.
We will not rest until every single corrupt official is swept away by the tide accountability that is washing over Home Affairs.
Our reform drive is also supported by a series of legal and policy breakthroughs.
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.
Let me make it clear today that South Africa is not the only safe country in our region, and through the implementation of this new policy, we will no longer tolerate the abuse of our country’s migration system.
This reform was further bolstered just this past week, when we 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 even more effectively than we have already done.
Over the past two financial years, Home Affairs has carried out nearly 110 000 deportations – an increase of 46% compared to previous years.
This is in addition to the over 945 000 people that the BMA has prevented from entering into South Africa, either illegally or because they did not have the required documentation, since its establishment.
In fact, under Operation New Broom that I launched last year, Home Affairs conducted an incredible 10 700 enforcement inspections across the country during the past financial year – overperforming our annual target of 4 000 by more than double.
In the last year alone, Home Affairs has done more immigration enforcement operations than during the entire five-year term of the previous administration.
Through our unwavering commitment to upholding South Africa’s Constitution and our immigration laws, we are rapidly restoring the rule of law in a domain where it was eroded over decades.
Finally, our reform programme is supported by the single biggest investment ever in border infrastructure.
Last month, the BMA announced the bidders that have been selected for a R12.5 billion public-private partnership to demolish and rebuild our country’s six busiest land ports of entry.
Taken together, our reform agenda is directly enhancing national security, improving the efficiency of service delivery, and repositioning Home Affairs as a powerful economic enabler.
Through this agenda, we are reforming what was once the most maligned department in all of government, into a world-leader in modern governance.
If ever there was an agenda that called on all of us to put our country over politics, it is this one.
We are laying a modern and future-fit new foundation for the South African state that will stand our country in good stead for decades to come.
I therefore proudly table budget Vote 5 for Home Affairs before this House.
The budget totals R13.8 billion for the 2026/27 financial year, R12.8 billion for the next year, and R13.3 billion for 2028/29.
It includes funding not only for our reform programme across the entire ecosystem, but it is also this budget vote that will enable the Independent Electoral Commission to deliver the upcoming local government elections through an additional allocation of R1.1 billion.
The national voter registration campaign will officially launch on 27 May 2026 under the message: “Get Up, Show Up, Vote.”
This is preceded by a targeted voter communication and registration campaign that is currently being rolled-out across 212 municipalities until the end of this month.
These are municipalities that have been impacted by ward delimitation and voting district changes.
To enhance operational readiness, more than 6 100 field workers have been deployed across the five affected provinces to support registration activities and community engagement.
We urge all the affected communities to be on the lookout for these field workers and to ensure that their registration is correctly captured.
Madam Speaker,
My sincere appreciation goes to Deputy Minister Nzuza, DG Makhode, Commissioner Masiapato, and CEO Fosi, as well as their respective teams, for
their continued dedication to delivering concrete reforms that make South Africa a better country for all its people.
I call on every Honourable Member who wants to see a successful local election, who wants to eradicate corruption and abuse, who wants to position this ecosystem as an economic enabler to create jobs, and who wants Home Affairs to complete our digital revolution to deliver dignity for all, to support this budget vote.
Thank you.
Minister Leon Schreiber
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