Home affairs, Sars ink digital pact

The department of home affairs, the Border Management Authority (BMA) and the Government Printing Works have inked a “digital transformation” pact with the South African Revenue Service to improve government services.

The agreement reflects a “whole-of-government” approach aimed at breaking down silos and putting the “needs of the people first”, home affairs said last week.

“It is difficult to overstate the significance of what we have jointly achieved with today’s adoption of this historic agreement. Sars is a world-class institution that must never be taken for granted, and I want to thank the commissioner (Edward Kieswetter) and his team for their visionary commitment to breaking down silos in the interests of South Africa,” home affairs minister Leon Schreiber said in a statement.

New services

The minister said the services ecosystem – made up of the three entities party to the agreement with the tax agency – “will leverage the world-class technology capacity within Sars to revolutionise all civic and immigration services”. The services citizens can expect to be rolled out include:

• The launch of an electronic travel authorisation system to digitalise and automate immigration procedures to eliminate inefficiency and fraud;
• The integration of home affairs services with banking platforms to expand access to smart ID and passport services to “hundreds of bank branches” as well as to banking apps;
• The creation of an option to select secure courier delivery of documents that eliminates the requirement to collect documents at home affairs’ offices;
• The upgrading of the movement control system at all ports of entry; and
• The introduction of smart IDs for naturalised citizens and permanent residents.

Home affairs said the roll-out of these services is its main priority for the next 12 months. Following that, more digital services will be introduced.

Read: Sars gets R3-billion for digital upgrades

However, these developments come amid a heated battle between government of national unity (GNU) partners the ANC and the Democratic Alliance over a 0.5 percentage point VAT hike in the proposed national budget. With the matter now possibly headed to court, the future of the coalition is now on shaky ground. The impasse raises questions about the future role of DA ministers like Schreiber in the cabinet.

Speaking in a recent radio interview on 702, Sars commissioner Kieswetter said the organisation’s digital capabilities have been key to improved revenue collection by Sars.

He said administrative efficiency has resulted from its use of data science, artificial intelligence and “the hard work of our people deploying their technical skill”. He added that the organisation has room to improve and that modernising Sars, to make it more efficent and effective, will ultimately “secure the fiscal integrity of our country”, he said.

“Sars is an inspiration for the future we want at home affairs. Now we are not only in a position to follow the same digital transformation path they have already taken, but to witness Sars and the home affairs ecosystem work together to redefine and revolutionise the quality of government services…,” said Schreiber in the statement.  – © 2025 NewsCentral Media

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