Can you blame any of the European countries for clamping down on South African passports? Spain recently announced that they are allowing six African states visa-free access, but South Africa is not one of them. Why?
We used to enjoy visa-free 90 days travel in many EU states, but no more. The reason is simple: our home affairs department is a den of corruption. Organised syndicates selling fraudulent documentation abound.
We forget that the reason we lost our preferential status in the UK and elsewhere is because EU authorities found a garage full of South African passports in a Middle Eastern country. Our passports and IDs simply cannot be trusted any longer, even after we supposedly updated the security and biometric digital strips on the passports.
All employees of home affairs should be subjected to a lie detector test to establish who the culprits are.
Our useless intelligence services must also step up. After all, this is about our international standing.
Our sovereignty is being constantly abused and none of our law enforcement agencies are getting a handle on this phenomenon.
We saw and experienced the embarrassment of the Nigerian family that used false South African documents to enter the Republic of Ireland, and once there, sought asylum as Nigerians. Now, we will forever be viewed with suspicion wherever we travel.
I use to proudly declare to port authorities, “send me back to my country if you have a problem with me”, but I can no longer stand on that moral high horse when terrorists, criminals and other scammers are all using my country’s official documentation to facilitate their wrong deeds in those countries.
I know this has long been a challenge, but you Mr Leon Schreiber, are the new Minister of Home Affairs. Get your department on the right track fast. Restore our pride and integrity and make the rest of the world believe in our documents. Get those lie detectors in and root out the corrupt ones. Institute lifestyle audits on the top brass and move your way down incrementally.
A few years ago a friend of mine, Barry Gilder, was the DG of this department and he brought this phenomenon to our attention, and yet we see its ugly head rearing again. Anneli Botha in 2011 also wrote about this when she asked the question, “why do Al-Qaeda operatives prefer SA passports?”
Yes, literally terrorists can easily get their hands on our birth certificates, IDs and passports. She at the time reminded us of a few instances, most notable included:
“Ihsan Garnaoui, a Tunisian al-Qaeda suspect told German investigators that he had a number of South African passports. He was accused of planning bombings on American and Jewish targets to coincide with the start of the US-led war in Iraq.
Ibrahim Tantoush, a wanted Libyan national, used a false South African passport while en route from Malaysia to Australia. After being arrested in Indonesia, Tantoush was deported to South Africa in November 2003.
Haroon Rashid Aswat, a UK citizen, was arrested in Zambia on July 20, 2005. Prior to his arrest he had lived in Johannesburg for five months.
What raised concern was that the four suicide bombers responsible for the 7/7 bombings in London called Aswat 20 times on his South African cell phone.
Rashid Rauf, the mastermind of the transatlantic plot was arrested with a forged South African passport in Pakistan in August 2006. Rauf was reportedly killed by a US drone attack in Pakistan in November 2008, but his family have denied his death and some sources believe he remains at large.
•Dr Van Heerden is a senior research fellow at the Centre for African Diplomacy and Leadership at UJ
- Many European countries, including Spain, have restricted visa-free access for South African passport holders due to widespread corruption in South Africa's Home Affairs Department.
- Fraudulent South African documentation is frequently sold by organized syndicates, undermining international trust in the country's passports and IDs.
- Incidents involving terrorists and criminals obtaining South African passports have contributed to a loss of credibility, impacting visa privileges and international reputation.
- The article calls for stricter internal controls, including lie detector tests and lifestyle audits for Home Affairs employees, to root out corruption and restore integrity.
- Historical cases connect terrorists to the use of South African passports, highlighting a longstanding security issue that demands urgent attention from new minister Leon Schreiber.
Can you blame any of the European countries for clamping down on
We used to enjoy visa-free 90 days travel in many EU states, but no more.
We forget that the reason we lost our preferential status in the UK and elsewhere is because EU authorities found a garage full of
All employees of home affairs should be subjected to a lie detector test to establish who the culprits are.
Our useless intelligence services must also step up. After all, this is about our international standing.
Our sovereignty is being constantly abused and none of our law enforcement agencies are getting a handle on this phenomenon.
We saw and experienced the embarrassment of the Nigerian family that used false
I use to proudly declare to port authorities, “send me back to my country if you have a problem with me”, but I can no longer stand on that moral high horse when terrorists, criminals and other scammers are all using my country’s official documentation to facilitate their wrong deeds in those countries.
I know this has long been a challenge, but you Mr Leon Schreiber, are the new Minister of Home Affairs. Get your department on the right track fast. Restore our pride and integrity and make the rest of the world believe in our documents. Get those lie detectors in and root out the corrupt ones. Institute lifestyle audits on the top brass and move your way down incrementally.
A few years ago a friend of mine, Barry Gilder, was the DG of this department and he brought this phenomenon to our attention, and yet we see its ugly head rearing again. Anneli
Yes, literally terrorists can easily get their hands on our birth certificates, IDs and passports.
“Ihsan Garnaoui, a Tunisian al-Qaeda suspect told German investigators that he had a number of
Ibrahim
Haroon
What raised concern was that the four suicide bombers responsible for the 7/7 bombings in
•Dr Van Heerden is a senior research fellow at the Centre for African Diplomacy and
