The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) on Tuesday praised the launch of the Border Management and Immigration Anti-Corruption Forum (BMIACF), emphasising the need to involve all stakeholders as envisaged in the National Anti-Corruption Strategy.

On Monday the SIU hosted the inaugural meeting of the BMIACF in Pretoria.

The forum is said to be the fourth anti-corruption forum following the establishment of the health, local government and infrastructure built anti-corruption forums.

The SIU said that the launch was a testament to South Africa’s commitment to fighting corruption and protecting its sovereignty.

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

He said the South African government prioritised 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 multidisciplinary collaboration of various stakeholders in preventing and combating corruption,” said the SIU.

Mothibi noted that there had been reports of how the sector was infiltrated by syndicates that influenced the issuing of permits and visas and influenced the officials to engage in unlawful activities.

To deal with corruption in the border management and immigration sector, President Cyril 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.

Home Affairs director-general Tommy Makhode 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 BMIACF is modelled after the Health Sector Anti-Corruption Forum, which was launched in 2019, and it is focused on immigration and border management, which is vulnerable to corruption.

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

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