Speech Delivered by Minister Leon Schreiber at the Ministerial Awards

Good morning Programme Director, Ms Mamokubung Moroke
FirstRand Head of Social Investing, Ms Konehali Gugushe
First National Bank Nav Chief Executive Officer, Mr Jacques Celliers
Deloitte Africa Tax & Legal, Managing Director, Itireleng Kubeka
A2A Kopano CEO, Haroon Moosa
Distinguished leaders of our partners
Director-General of Home Affairs
DDGs, senior managers and officials
Our special guests, the Visa Backlog Eradication Team, also known as the Visa Backlog Bomb Squad
Members of the media
Ladies and gentlemen

Good morning to you all,

Thank you for making time to join us today as we celebrate the work of our Backlog Bomb Squad, achieved through collaboration between the Department of Home Affairs and organised business.

Some of you may be wondering why I’m referring to this team as the Bomb Squad. I understand that some colleagues from business started using this moniker a few months ago. But I think it applies to everyone who has worked tirelessly on eradicating the visa and permitting backlog, which started out in April 2024 at over 306 000 unprocessed applications, dating back over a decade in some cases.

The Bomb Squad, of course, is a nod to the Springboks.

During the 2019 Rugby World Cup, coach Rassie Erasmus surprised the sporting world by becoming the first coach to select six forwards on the eight-member replacement bench. This innovative, out-of-the-box approach took the rest of the rugby world by surprise, giving the Springboks the ability to finish matches even more strongly than they had started them.

Isn’t that exactly what our Backlog Bomb Squad has achieved?

By drawing on resources and support from across the public and private sector, we strengthened our team in an innovative new way. Like the Springbok Bomb Squad, we did so to ensure that we end much stronger than we started, by finally getting the backlog project over the try line.

And, in the process, we have demonstrated what we can achieve when we embrace new ways of thinking to achieve a shared goal.

Restoring trust in Home Affairs

I have said from day one that Home Affairs in general – and the backlog project in particular – are more important to South Africa than what may appear at face value.

Before we brought our collective Bomb Squad onto the field, many people had given up on the idea that their applications would ever be processed. This was one of the metaphors used, alongside issues like long queues and system downtime, to justify the idea that Home Affairs was beyond redemption, with some people even renaming it to "Hell Affairs."

It is for precisely this reason that it is so important that we make meaningful and urgent progress at Home Affairs.

The eradication of the visa backlog is also important in and of itself.

• Each application represented an individual waiting for recognition, resolution, or an opportunity to move forward with their lives.
• For too long, these delays became a symbol of inefficiency and lost trust, something we could no longer allow to define our department.
• The backlog has been a handbrake on South Africa’s economic growth, depriving our economy of the investment and skills it needs to grow.

But the benefits of this work go even beyond that.

• It reduces the legal risk to the Department, as every application in the backlog is a potential lawsuit.
• Clearing the backlog has removed hundreds of thousands of potential lawsuits, saving the government millions of rands.

A digital future for Home Affairs

What we celebrate today is not simply the clearing of files; we celebrate the reclaiming of dignity for the people we serve and the beginning of a reformed, more efficient, and secure future for Home Affairs.

That future must be built entirely around digital transformation.

As we conclude our work on the backlog, I want us to collectively lift our eyes to look to the future.

One of the curses of backlogs is that they keep you trapped in the past.

Now, we must:

• Ensure that backlogs do not arise again.
• Fundamentally re-engineer our systems and processes around digital technology.

I invite the partners who have supported us on this journey to stay the course with us.

Key Priorities for 2025

The year 2025 is going to be one of major reform at Home Affairs, and I invite our Bomb Squad and partners to be part of this progress.

• Clearing appeals from the backlog – I want our adjudicators to focus on clearing appeals.
• Making high-quality decisions – Adjudicators must act as risk managers, not gatekeepers.
• Rolling out the Trusted Tour Operator Scheme – This initiative has the potential to supercharge tourism from China and India, creating jobs for South Africans.
• Expanding Home Affairs services in banks – Building on the successful pilot project, we will work to expand services in hundreds, if not thousands, of bank branches.
• Delivering documents to South Africans – Citizens should have the option of secure delivery of their IDs and passports directly to their doorsteps.

All these reforms will contribute towards our five-year vision: Home Affairs @ Home.

Our aim is to get both South Africans and visitors out of long queues by enabling them to access services digitally, from the comfort of their home, a bank branch, or a local library.

A moment of celebration

Today is a day of celebration.

To everyone who worked long hours, at night, over weekends, and on holidays to clear the visa backlog, I say: thank you.

Please give yourselves a round of applause, for your dedication is serving as an inspiration to our country.

To Director-General Tommy Makhode and his officials in Home Affairs: thank you for your diligence and commitment to this project.

To our partners from business: thank you for stepping up in the interests of Team South Africa when your country needed you.

A call to action

Ladies and gentlemen,

Today marks a milestone not only for the Department of Home Affairs but for South Africa as a whole.

• We have restored faith that our country’s best days are still to come.
• We have a clear playbook for achieving our vision for Home Affairs @ Home.
• We have shown that collaboration, innovation, and digital transformation can drive real change.

Let today serve as a reminder that South Africa can become a better place for all its people.

We can solve our problems when we unite and work together as one.

Whether you are from Home Affairs, business, or civil society – we are all South Africans, and we all want a country that works better.

Thank you for your support.

Let us go out and build on this momentum to show our country that South Africa’s best days are still to come.

Thank you.

For media enquiries:
Siya Qoza
Cell: 082 898 1657

Duwayne Esau
Spokesperson for the Minister
Cell: 077 606 9702

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