Two former Home Affairs officials have been arrested for fraudulently issuing South African passports to foreign nationals for up to R100 000 each.

In a statement issued on Monday, the department said the syndicate exploited weaknesses in the manual passport process for “photo swapping”.

“The arrests follow a joint investigation by the Department's own Counter Corruption Unit and the Hawks into a syndicate uncovered in 2022, which exploited a loophole known as "photo swapping", where the identity details of legitimate South African citizens were used to obtain passports bearing the photographs of foreign nationals,” the department said, using the case as a reason to digitally transform Home Affairs.

As part of Home Affairs reforms, biometric verification is used to link people to their applications, including when photographs are taken.

Home Affairs said the digital takeover at the department will reduce human intervention and in turn remove opportunities for corruption.

"This case is a powerful example of why we are fundamentally reforming Home Affairs. For years, outdated manual processes created loopholes that criminal syndicates could exploit to fraudulently obtain South African passports. Through our digital transformation, we are closing these loopholes by introducing secure biometric verification and automated systems that remove opportunities for human manipulation,” said Home Affairs Minister Dr Leon Schreiber.

He commended the Department’s Counter Corruption Unit and the Hawks for tackling corruption and noted that since the start of the seventh administration, 98 Home Affairs officials have been dismissed and 42 arrested as part of the programme to root out corruption.