How Long Does A Background Check Last In South Africa?
Background checks have become more popular in South Africa in recent years, as instances of job application fraud have risen. Background checks are now used by companies doing business in South Africa to reduce liability and protect their brand image and personnel.
What Is The Reason For A Background Check?
Because, South Africa has a high crime rate but a low conviction rate, criminal record checks may not provide a complete picture of an applicant’s background. This means that multiple background check products, such as criminal record searches, employment history verification, educational degree verification, and so on, may be required.
What Does A Background Check Include?
A background check includes verification of the individual’s tertiary and secondary academic qualifications from registered local and international institutions; verification of identity and South African citizenship; fraud history checks through the South African Fraud Prevention Services; and credit history checks through detailed credit reports.
How Are Background Checks Conducted?
These Checks are performed using the AFIS, or Automated Fingerprint Identification Service, a database that is searched during the AFIS criminal check. If the candidate has no criminal record, AFISwitch returns a report that says “no illicit activity identified.” If a match is found with the AFISwitch system, the system sends a “SAPS Verification Requested” report and asks the applicant if they require any additional information.
How Long Does A Background Check Last?
Background checks or employment verification processes are limited to a 7-year period. Current employers will only be contacted with the applicant’s express permission.
What Should You Know Before A Background Check?
- South African labor laws dictate that background checks must be related to the job that an applicant is applying for, so, if a person has a criminal record for driving for under the influence, he or she can be disqualified from driver position, but this conviction would be considered irrelevant if the person was applying for a job as a store clerk.
- In South Africa, Criminal Record Checks are mainly used for employment purposes while the Police Clearance certificate is mainly used to obtain immigration and visa clearance. When collecting information for background screening purposes, it is necessary to get consent from the applicant prior to processing personal information.
- The Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998 (EEA) is another vital piece of legislation that prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, gender, age, disability, and other factors.
What Background Checks Are Conducted In South Africa?
Professional Reference Checks – This search is carried out over the phone (or, in some cases, via e-mail) with
Employers can currently verify the validity of a driver’s license and public driving permit, but this could add to the HR department’s administration requirements.
Civil Records Search – This search is done at the county court level using county court judgments.
Professional License Verification – This search verifies the claimed license of the individual.
Education Degree Verification in South Africa – In South Africa, only the highest degree obtained by a candidate is typically verified.
What Happens When You Are Exposed On A Background Check?
The National Qualifications Framework Amendment Act 12 of 2019 prohibits job applicants from misrepresenting their qualifications on their resumes. SAQA (South African Qualifications Authority) will keep a list of qualifications that have been misrepresented or are fraudulent. Job applicants who lie about their qualifications may face severe consequences.
You may want to inform the job applicant that you would like to check up on their background information as a courtesy. However apart from being courteous to the potential employee, this may prompt them to disclose any previous offenses, saving you the difficulty of sifting through them yourself.And if you don’t hear anything else from them… Maybe it is best to leave the post open for the time being!
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Legal Issues When Conducting South Africa Background Checks
Data Privacy in South Africa
South Africa’s Protection of Personal Information Act (No. 4 of 2013), also known as the POPI Act, is in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa. Companies conducting background checks in South Africa will face extensive penalties for noncompliance with the POPI Act so it is critical that they thoroughly understand the legislation.
The POPI Act defines personal information as race, gender, sex, pregnancy, marital status, address information and medical, financial, criminal, education or employment history. The act governs the rights to privacy by dictating that there is no haphazard or random collection of personal information, there is correct sharing of personal information, there is correct retention or destruction of personal information and it determines the reason for the collection of personal information.
The POPI Act outlines several principles, including Accountability, Processing Limitation, Purpose Specification, Further Processing Limitation, Information Quality, Openness, Security Safeguards and Data Subject Participation.
South Africa’s Criminal Records Checks
Criminal Record Checks in South Africa, which are commonly referred to as Criminal History Searches, AFISwitch criminal record checks or AFIS checks, are the most common background checks conducted in South Africa. These searches, which are performed for permanent, contract or volunteer positions, are used by potential employers to understand a candidate’s employment history and character. Through a 15-year contracts, SAPS has been designated the holder of all criminal data in South Africa and AFISwitch is the sole supplier to provide the information to the public.
South Africa’s National Credit Act
The individual credit report provides a summary of an individual’s credit history. Other information provided in the report will include information on the individual’s bad debt and collections, trade account information, bankruptcies and court liens or judgments. The South African National Credit Act dictates that Consumer Credit Records, commonly known as credit checks, can only conducted on people applying for positions that require honesty because they handle cash or manage finances. It also requires that consent is obtained from the candidate prior to the conducting a credit check.
It is also important to note that in August 2019, a new Credit Amendment Bill was signed that allowed 9.5 million South Africans to have their debt written off, meaning that historical information on credit reports in South Africa may be limited.
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It is important to note that the preceding is offered as general educational information and is not intended to constitute legal advice. Given the intricacies of the pertinent laws and regulations, consultation with qualified legal counsel is recommended.
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Criminal Info
Background Check for Employment in South Africa
Get a background check for employment in South Africa before you offer someone a job. Because it’s good to find out someone’s history prior to accepting them for a new position in your business.
Background check for employment
Trusting your employees is so important. So performing background record checks prior to employing people can give you the peace of mind that your business is in good and trustworthy hands.
Fortunately, there are ways of conducting free background checks on individuals that you intend to hire.
How can I do a background check for employment?
There are a few different ways to do a background check on someone before employment in South Africa.
One of the easiest ways to find out about the history of a potential employee is to ask them to present a valid Police clearance certificate. Usually not older than 6 months.
You can get this document from the police station and it will prove that the potential employee doesn’t have a criminal record.
However the downside of this is that a Police Clearance Certificate usually takes about 4 months to arrive after application. So if a potential employee doesn’t already have one they will be left out of the loop.
Another DIY option is to conduct a Google search using the person’s name (and possibly identification number) to see if any dodgy dealings arise.
Although this may be construed as slightly stalkerish, check out their Facebook profile to see if the really are the person they pretended to be in the interview.
You can also make use of an employee’s reference list or contact their previous employer to find out about their personal background and work-related attitude.
Unfortunately, there are not many background check services found for free online anymore. Because the police usually keep this kind of information on their own private administration systems.
Online background checks for employment
However, there are online services you can pay for that will allow you to do a background record check for employment.
These services have access to various databases that may turn up information about a potential payroller.
A computer program allows you run the potential employee’s identification number through a number of criminal databases. And you will have to pay a fee for each search.
In South Africa trained professionals will conduct criminal record checks that involve a thorough scan of any instances of crime.
The police, private investigators and lawyers may have access to databases. Where you can look out for misdemeanors such as theft, lawsuits, bankruptcies and other background record scars.
This may also interest you: How to Report Illegal Immigrants in South Africa
Use RefCheck to help with a background check for employment
A professional company that conducts background checks on potential employees is RefCheck.
Which offers an online verification process to ensure that the job applicant meets your company’s employment standards.
RefCheck was established in 2000, and has been giving employers peace of mind for over a decade.
The company harnesses the best technologies and systems and uses expert staff to provide comprehensive background checking solutions.
RefCheck can verify details about a person’s background including:
Credit Bureau Reports (Experian and TransUnion)
ID Verification
Criminal Illicit Activity (AFI Switch)
ID Verification
Tertiary Academic Qualifications (Local and Global)
ID Verification with Fraud Listing
Matric & Secondary School
Drivers Licence
Employment History (Local and Global)
Permanent Residency
Professional Association Memberships (Local and Global)
Bank Verification
Fit & Proper Screening
RefCheck also offers personality questionnaires, as well as background searches on specific businesses.
To contact the Support department, call 021 555 9700 or email refcheck@lnrm.co.za . The Sales department can be reached at 011 245 6602 or contact@lnrm.co.za.
Your local Police department can help
You can also approach your local police office. To find out if the job candidate has engaged in any previous criminal activities as the station should have database of offenders in the area.
To make this process smoother you may need the identification number of the potential employee.
Depending on your reasons for needing this information, the police may or may not help you out.
If they do agree to help you, they can run the person’s identification number through their systems to check for any corresponding crimes.
Criminal Info
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CSI Africa provides a straightforward and speedy background screening service that complements informed decision-making. Just submit your request along with written consent from the individual to be screened. The results of most checks are available immediately, with just a few taking up to 48 hours.
