The Portfolio Committee on Transport and the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs have, in a joint meeting, expressed shock that the Traffic Register Numbers (TRN) which allows foreign nationals to drive in South Africa had been opened to abuse and infiltration by syndicates.
The TRN is a document issued to permit foreign national drivers to access the country. The Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Transport, Mr Donald Selamolela, noted the President's address where he said the Department of Transport will soon be working on regulations to align policy and legislation.
Mr Selamolela said: "The abuse of the TRN by foreign nationals, a system that is meant to benefit them is shocking and disappointing. We call on government and the concerned entities to work with speed and identify all TRNs that had been fraudulently obtained and mischievously used for things that they were never meant for."
The committees heard that about a million applications of the TRNs was done with fraudulent documents, and that the non-expiring TRNs are then used as substitute for visa.
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The committees expressed dismay and said the TRNs should be modified, and linked with systems at the Department of Home Affairs. "This speaks to the challenge of silo mentality across government departments, and we need to resolve that, and get to the bottom of our challenges. Illegal immigration is hampering our country and pitying poor people against poor people," said Mr Selamolela.
The committees were alerted that foreign nationals used the TRNs documents to open bank accounts, buy expensive cars, and in some instances wrongly used it to justify their stay in the country. The committees noted that the investigation around TRNs mostly focussed on operations at the Barkly West offices.
The committees heard that within 20 minutes of being issued at Barkly West office, the TRNs were duplicated in Cape Town using one phone number to register numerous other TRNs.
The nationalities who abused the TRN system mostly were Nigerians, Zimbabweans, Somalians and Ethiopians. Mr Selamolela called for regional cooperation in line with assurances from the President and said they would appreciate if a follow up meeting is soon scheduled.
The committees will among others call for more funding of the Border Management Authority which informed the joint meeting that it operates at 25% capacity. The committees also impressed on the Department of Home Affairs to report at the next joint meeting about regional cooperation, as well as the strategy on regional testing of vehicles.
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The committees will contemplate undertaking a joint oversight to the Beitbridge Border Post which seems to be the most porous with the intention to understand further the work of government around illegal immigration. The committees called on the departments of transport and home affairs to identify legislative gaps that make their work impossible.
