On Saturday, 24 December 2011, Home Affairs Minister, Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, extended her best wishes to all Home Affairs officials in general and the 350 former South African National Defence Force (SANDF) trained in immigration ahead of the Christmas and New Year festivities.
The 350 former SANDF officers trained by Cuban instructors in immigration took up their posts at the OR Tambo International Airport on Wednesday, 21 December 2011, and have already made a contribution in the Department’s facilitation of the smooth movement of over 2 million travellers in and out of the country in the period leading to the Christmas period.
In this regard, Minister Dlamini Zuma applauded the Home Affairs officials for the hard work during the year 2011, which resulted in major strides being made in the improvement of the efficiency and effectiveness of the Department’s service delivery levels to the people.
Minister Dlamini Zuma noted that as a consequence of these service delivery levels, the Department had among others:
- Achieved an unqualified audit opinion in 16 years since the advent of democracy
- Working together with the South African Banking Risk Centre introduced the online fingerprint verification system in a number of banks across the country to protect the identity of South Africans while pushing back the frontiers of fraud and corruption
- Been awarded the Public Service Innovation Award for 2011 by the Department of Public Service and Administration
- And being voted among the employers of choice
Accordingly, Minister Dlamini Zuma expressed the conviction that the department will continue to build upon and consolidate the gains made in 2011 while charting new ways that will contribute to the improvement of the lives of all our people.
