Work visas high on new home affairs minister’s agenda

One of the focus areas of newly appointed minister of home affairs Leon Schreiber is to improve the processes for work visas, which he says are critical for economic growth.

Business has repeatedly complained about the long delays companies experience in obtaining work visas for senior personnel. This it says acts as a constraint on economic growth.

Schreiber said on Monday that addressing the visa backlog would be high on his agenda.

“We absolutely have to look at visa processes. We have to take the visa issue very seriously as this is an economic catalyst for SA. We need to have a process whereby people who want to contribute skills or capital to SA are actually able to do that,” he said.

The inability of skilled people to get visas was a huge loss to the country, he said. He expressed excitement about the recent move towards a remote working visa, which would make a huge difference when implemented. “That is the first opportunity to signal to the world that SA is actually serious about attracting what we need for our economy.”

The interface with the department of international relations & co-operation would have to be examined because embassies were involved in getting visa applications processed.

The energetic 35-year-old Schreiber will bring fresh ideas to addressing the mountain of challenges faced by the department that includes frequent system downtime causing long queues at home affairs offices.

“The first big thing is to focus on getting the basics right. Where the major frustration of most South Africans sits is with the basic processes at the department. That includes the problem of systems being offline. 

“There are some interventions on basic IT processes that we need to focus on. Related to that is business process reform, which is everything from queue management to appointment management and the way in which things flow in offices. We will have to take a close look at how we reform those processes to make them more efficient,” he said.

“The combination of technology reforms and business process reform will be key elements of how we reduce the queues and make it a more dignified experience to visit home affairs.

“This is the department that is central to everyone’s lives and we need to make those reforms to enhance the dignity and efficiency of services. This department is fundamentally about human dignity, which has been infringed upon by the failures we have seen.” 

Insights

Schreiber, who has a PhD in political science, will bring to bear the insights gained while working for five years as a senior research fellow at Princeton University, US, looking at how developing countries in Africa and Asia could reform dysfunctional institutions.

He also wants to ensure that there is a better working environment for staff, many of whom he believes want to deliver quality services.

On battling corruption in the department, Schreiber said a long, sustained process would be required to deal with it. “We are going to have absolutely zero tolerance for corruption in all its forms.” But he said clamping down on corruption had to go with rewarding excellence, as not all officials could be tarred with the same brush.

He cautioned against overly high expectations about progress in the department. “It will be a long slog to get home affairs to where we want it to be. But with energy and thinking in terms of business processes, reforms and modernisation, we can make an impact.”

Schreiber’s political career began in 2019 when he qualified as a candidate for the DA and became its parliamentary spokesperson on public service & administration for five years.

He said that being in opposition gave him and other newly appointed ministers from the DA a good vantage point of the problems of government.

Schreiber became a household name through his legal challenge to the ANC’s cadre deployment policy, winning a Constitutional Court judgment that required the ANC to hand over the minutes of its cadre deployment committee.

ensorl@businesslive.co.za