Home Affairs Mkuseli Apleni today Tuesday, 12 October 2010 briefed the Home Affairs Parliamentary Committee on the department’s 2009/10 annual report. Amongst others, the Director-General reflected on the priorities, achievements and challenges still facing the department.
Director-General Apleni said, “The department in the past year focused on three priorities: to ensure the integrity and security of the National Population Register (NPR), that it fulfils its guarantees for the 2010 Soccer World Cup and to build on the achievements of the turnaround regarding the transformation of service delivery. We have delivered on each of these priorities.”
“The turnaround programme launched in June 2007 resulted in a number of gains that have been consolidated during 2010. These include the extension of the Track and Trace and SMS system to the registration of births, marriages, deaths, improved security features on key documents, such as birth certificates, ongoing improvements in the processing of asylum seekers and refugees, the launch of a “back to basics” project to strengthen financial and related management, controls and systems and a strengthened organisational design.”
“Other key achievements of the Department including the successful launch of the National Population Register (NPR) campaign in March 2010 by the President and Minister in Libode, Eastern Cape.In order to ensure the integrity and security of the NPR we have now implemented a biometric access control system that will ensure the users of the NPR can be traced.”
“A new passport production system was implemented at the Government Printing Works (GPW) High Security Printing Facility in Tshwane. In addition, a new South African passport was also introduced with unique South African quality features and improved security features. Live capture technology, which reduces the exchange of biometric images and the turnaround time to issue passports, has been implemented at the 40 highest volume offices.”
“Of significance is the pilot project to assess the feasibility of introducing online fingerprint verification in banks. Seven banks participated in the pilot following the Agreement of Intent signed between the South African Banking Risk Information Centre (SABRIC) and the department on 16 March 2010. The Agreement provides SABRIC with the opportunity to verify bank clients against personal information held by the department.
“However, despite significant improvements, the uneven quality of front office service delivery and staff attitudes remains a serious challenge. In addition, unequal access to services, especially in rural areas, out-dated IT infrastructure and systems, including the lack of a functioning document management system and an old National Population Register system, impacts negatively on operational efficiency and security.
The department has launched an onslaught against corruption and fraud. “The frontiers of fraud and corruption have however not receded entirely. The numbers and quality of staff need to be addressed, while current policy, legislation and regulations require amendments to respond to current challenges, such as the need to separate economic migrants from asylum seekers. The department is also faced with a legacy of contractual issues and litigation.”
In his concluding remarks, the Director-General reminded the Committee that “in her maiden budget vote address Minister of Home Affairs, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma committed to achieving an unqualified audit within two years. The department is now closer to achieving this goal and delivering on this commitment.”
Continuing the Director-General explained that in this financial year, “the department received one qualification related to capital asset management. This is a significant improvement compared to the four qualifications received in 2008/09 financial year. In addition, in recent years, the department has obtained two disclaimers from the Auditor-General which is the most adverse finding any department can achieve with regard to its annual performance.We are confident that we will surely achieve our goal towards an unqualified audit within two years,” concluded the Director-General.
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