MyZA

News, Directory, Events and Other Stuff

You are here: Home / News / Taxpayer Alert: DoH’s HEFTY Litigation Bill

Taxpayer Alert: DoH’s HEFTY Litigation Bill

Dear Editor

The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) has spent a mammoth four hundred and twelve million rand (R412 951 709,88) of taxpayer’s money on litigation in the past 5 years, almost half a billion rand in litigation. The price tag on the Department’s frivolous litigation was revealed in a recent parliamentary question posed to the Minister of Home Affairs by the DA.

The amount spent on litigation ballooned since 2018/19. In the 2018/19 financial year, the litigation cost was around R7 million. In 2023/24 this amount escalated to R117 million, a 1 496% increase. Worryingly, in the latest 2023/24 year, the DHA spent more than double on private law firms instead of using the state attorney.

A leaked memorandum sent by the state attorney to the DHA was scathing of the inundation of lawsuits against the DHA because of its dysfunctional practices. There is also an emergence of a practice within the DHA to defend litigation which has no defence, as opposed to just following the court’s instruction.

This is not the only practice which leads to the wasted expenditure. The Department is notorious for ignoring court orders, as was recently seen in the Lawyers for Human Rights case where the Department failed to introduce the necessary legislation, resulting in further litigation fees to deal with their 5-year delay.

To add insult to injury, DA also exposed that the DHA has lost over 77 years’ worth of working hours due to system downtime and load-shedding from 2019 to date.

Minister Motsoaledi needs to account to the people of South Africa as to how the DHA can justifiably spend almost half a billion on legal fees when they are unable to keep its system up and running. South Africans are required to spend full days in queues stretching around the block while the Department wastes money on litigation. The DA will be submitting this information to the SIU, which is currently investigating the DHA to bolster its investigation into the maladministration within the Department.

Regards

Angel Khanyile MP
DA Shadow Minister of Home Affairs

Category: Tag:

If you feel strongly about this article then feel free to send MyZA a ‘Letter to the Editor’ using the submission form below:

Letter to the Editor

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
If this is in response to an article please include that article title here or as the lead in for the first paragraph of your Letter below.

Separate tags with commas

Localise your letter by naming the city your words are about. Add relevant words describing your subject. Single comma separated words of no more than 5
Your Name(Required)
Your Name will be linked to the website below.
Your personal, business or social media web site
Choose NO to not set up a user account on MyZA. User Accounts will allow you to submit letters under your own Author Name

3 Latest Letters to the Editor:

  • Congratulations to the Lotto Winner

    Dear Editor Dear Editor, I was thrilled to hear about the R8.5 million Lotto win for the community of Gqeberha. Such life-changing news brings hope and excitement to everyone in the area. I congratulate the winner and wish them all the best with their prize. May this bring positive change to their life and the…

  • Opinion on Lotto Winner News

    Dear Editor Congratulations to the lucky winner! This is truly wonderful news for the community. Regards Marina Adams In Response to/From: Congratulations to the Lucky Winner

  • Regarding Lotto Winner Story

    Dear Editor Congratulations to the winner, this is wonderful news for the community. Wishing them the best for the future. Regards Willem Pieterse In Response to/From: Re: R8.5 Million Lotto Winner Claims Prize in Gqeberha

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Chow – to eat / food. Often used when talking about food, this term can be used as a verb, meaning to eat, or when talking about the food itself.Example: “Let’s chow my bru!” / “This chow is spicy!”