Corruption remains the biggest problem at the Home Affairs Department, Director General Mavuso Msimang said on Thursday.
”Corruption is a challenge. About 420 officials are on suspension or have been dismissed for performing undesirable activities,” he told reporters at the National Press Club in Pretoria.
A new IT system had been put in place in a bid to stop this. The system was able to identify and trace which officials were issuing documents.
Recently a KwaZulu-Natal man committed suicide when home affairs officials claimed he was a foreigner and tore up his documents.
Msimang said the department was better now than compared with several years ago, when an intervention team was set to turn the department around.
”The department was in total chaos before the intervention,” he said, indicating lack of leadership as the key problem.
The Auditor General recently gave the department a qualified audit. Previously it got a disclaimer. — Sapa