NPA needs to act swiftly against alleged visa-sellers

As if proceedings at the Madlanga commission and parliament’s ad hoc committee were not enough, this week we had more revelations that explain why our country is overwhelmed by criminal activity. If the evidence emerging at the commission and the ad hoc committee, both set up following damning allegations made by KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi against senior cops and politicians, exposes the extent of the rot in the SAPS, revelations by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) investigation into home affairs suggests that we are in far bigger trouble. According to the SIU investigation, the country’s immigration system has “been turned into a market place where permits and visas were sold to the highest bidder”.

“Officials entrusted with safeguarding the integrity of the department of home affairs instead turned their positions into profit-making schemes, while external actors, including Prophet Shepherd Bushiri, Mr Kudakwashe Mpofu, and Nigerian rapper Prince Daniel Obioma (also known as 3GAR), exploited influence, fabricated documentation and manipulated systemic weaknesses to secure fraudulent residence permits,” the SIU said in a statement. What this exposes is the level of corruption in one of the departments that are key to the country’s general security and stability. If officials at home affairs can sell visas and permits to the highest bidders at such scale, it means dangerous criminals and other individuals and organisations with ill intentions can enter and settle in SA without being detected — hence making the country vulnerable.

While we welcome the fact that the investigation has uncovered all this criminal activity, the SIU’s efforts would come to nil unless those involved are charged and prosecuted. Immigration has become a highly contentious issue in SA, as is in many other industrialised countries battling with high numbers of economic refugees. The country stands no chance of handling the issue in a balanced manner — one that ensures that SA remains welcoming to legal immigrants while rooting out those who broke our laws — if the very officials supposed to protect the system are engaged in corruption. We hope that the National Prosecutions Authority acts swiftly against those exposed by the SIU.