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The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) hosted the inaugural meeting of the Border Management and Immigration Anti-Corruption Forum (BMIACF) in Pretoria on Monday. This is the fourth Anti-corruption forum following the establishment of the Health, Local Government and Infrastructure Built Anti-Corruption Forums.

The South African Government prioritises preventing and combatting corruption through the vulnerable sector approach. This priority is clearly articulated in the National Development Plan (NDP) Vision 2030, which states that the fight against corruption should be a collaborative effort and should involve the whole of society. Fighting corruption is the mandate of the National Priority Crime Operational Committee (NPCOC). The NPCOC has identified various sectors that are vulnerable to corruption and thus advocates for a multi-disciplinary collaboration of various stakeholders in preventing and combating corruption.

This inaugural meeting was attended by various government departments, civil society, professional organisations, and non-governmental entities that advocate preventing and combatting corruption in society and the border management space.

The meeting was chaired by the SIU, which is mandated to lead the work on protecting sectors vulnerable to corruption. The head of the SIU, Adv Andy Mothibi, emphasised the need to involve all stakeholders as envisaged in the National Anti-Corruption Strategy.

“We need to harness the capabilities of all stakeholders to ensure that we prevent corruption before it occurs,” said Adv Mothibi.

The BMIACF is modelled after the Health Sector Anti-Corruption Forum, which was launched in 2019. It is focused on immigration and border management, which is vulnerable to corruption.

There have been reports of how the sector is infiltrated by syndicates that influence the issuing of permits and visas and influence the officials to engage in unlawful activities. To deal with corruption in the border management and immigration sector, President Ramaphosa signed Proclamation 154 in February to empower the SIU to investigate any irregular, unlawful, or improper conduct by officials or employees of Home Affairs or any other person or entity about the allegations of corruption.

The Director-General of the Department of Home Affairs, Mr Tommy Makhode, applauded the SIU for hosting this inaugural meeting and reiterated the Department’s commitment to fighting corruption in immigration and within border management.

“The work we are doing through the Counter Corruption Branch in the Department has made us gravitate towards working with the SIU and other stakeholders to root out corruption. We can only succeed if we collaborate with like-minded organisations,” he said.

The Commissioner of the Border Management Authority, Dr Mike Masiapato, took the meeting through the border environment and highlighted the key risk areas in immigration control and the cross-border movement of goods and animals.

This forum has a steering committee coordinating all the work and managing stakeholders' progress. It is supported by subcommittees that focus on specialist areas such as prevention, detection, investigation, and implementation of consequence management.

It will meet quarterly to review and assess the progress made in combatting corruption. It will also discuss ongoing investigations of corruption and the challenges encountered in finalising these cases.

The launch of this anti-corruption forum is a testament to this country’s commitment to fighting corruption and protecting the sovereignty of the country.

Members of the public wishing to report suspected fraud and corruption are invited to do so on the following platforms:

Issued by Special Investigating Unit