ActionSA wants a comprehensive citizenship audit in South Africa following the Department of Home Affairs’ (DHA’s) announcement that it has established prima facie evidence of fraud committed by Miss South Africa contestant Chidimma Adetshina’s mother.

On Wednesday the Department of Home Affairs said it has uncovered that Adetshina’s mother might have committed identity theft, as it delved into the Miss South Africa contestant’s citizenship status following public outcry.

Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber pointed out that a South African had her identity stolen as part of the alleged fraud committed by Adetshina’s mother.

“Yet again, in a tale all too familiar to South Africans, this incident is but one more in a long list of abuses, corruption and criminal circumvention of our immigration laws stretching over decades, which we believe has not only shattered the integrity of our immigration system but also dangerously compromised South Africa’s national security,” said ActionSA Parliamentary chief whip Lerato Ngobeni.

She said ActionSA would actively monitor the progress of the investigation, urging the DHA to demonstrate its intolerance of corruption, fraud and violations of the country’s immigration laws.

ActionSA noted that a 2022 review conducted by the Ministerial Committee on the Issuance of Permits and Visas revealed that 36 647 fraudulent permit and visa applications were detected, 12 177 of which were from Nigerian nationals alone.

“Widespread corruption, DHA’s structural deficiencies, lax controls, porous borders, and ultimately failing law enforcement have left South Africa’s immigration system vulnerable to an onslaught of abuses,” Ngobeni said.

She stated that ActionSA believed this crisis demanded a thorough audit of all issuances of South African residency and citizenship “to put an end once and for all to the rot that has compromised the country’s immigration regime”.