Our weekly media briefing session this week will focus on several issues including the Supreme Court of Appeal judgment on the opening of refugee reception Centre in Cape Town; the Public Protector’s findings on allegations of irregular appointment of a service provider to assist the Department of Home Affairs in the relocation of its headquarters from Watloo to Hallmark Building in Pretoria and the call on those affected by duplicate IDs to visit home affairs before the proposed invalidation date of 30 October 2013.
Introduction
As you may very well be aware, both Minister Naledi Pandor and Deputy Minister Fatima Chohan are currently out of the country on official visits where they are leading South African government delegations to New York and Geneva respectively.
Minister Pandor is in New York to attend and represent South Africa at the UN High Level Dialogue on Migration and Development, while Deputy Minister Chohan is leading our delegation to the Annual Executive Committee meeting of the UNHCR.
Home Affairs welcomes the Supreme Court of Appeal judgement on Refugee Reception Centre in Cape Town
We have noted and welcomed the judgment of the Supreme Court of Appeal regarding the decision of the department to cease operation at the Cape Town Refugee Reception Centre during 2012.
The decision of the department to close this Centre was taken after careful consideration of all relevant factors, which included but not limited to a series of court challenges as well as complaints lodged by business communities. The complaints related mostly to nuisance caused by asylum seekers and refugees attending the Centre.
Furthermore, the department, despite best efforts could not secure suitable alternative space to accommodate the Centre around Cape Town.
Following this decision, Scalabrini Centre supported by several others, filed applications at the Western Cape High Court, essentially requesting the court to order the Department to re-open the Refugee Centre and accept application from new asylum seekers. The Western Cape High Court set aside the decision of the department to close the Centre and declared such decision unlawful.
The Court further ordered the Director-General to open a fully-functional Centre to applicants for asylum. Pursuant to the Western Cape High Court judgment, the Department filed an application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Appeal.
The Supreme Court of Appeal, although dismissing the department’s appeal, made a fundamental finding in favour of the Department. The SCA set aside the decision of the Western Cape High Court ordering the Department to open the Centre to new asylum seekers as well as providing regular reports to Scalabrini on the progress made towards opening the Centre. (That is what our appeal was all about).
Of importance to the department is the necessity to speedily implement the court order relating to taking a fresh decision on whether or not to close the Centre. In this regard, the court found that although consultation with the Standing Committee for Refugee affairs (SCRA) was sufficient, the Court, nonetheless, found that consultation with Scalabrini and other relevant NGOs could not be said to be sufficient.
Public Protector dismisses claims of irregularity in the appointment of a service provider for the relocation of Home Affairs Headquarters from Watloo to Hallmark building in Pretoria
The Department of Home Affairs has been cleared by the Public Protector of any irregularity and maladministration in the appointment of a service provider during the relocation of our headquarters from Watloo to Hallmark Buildings in Pretoria.
As part of government policy to locate all government buildings in the city Centre of Pretoria as the administrative capital of the Republic and to boost confidence in the city Centre, the department had decided to move its headquarters operations from Watloo to the Hallmark buildings in Pretoria.
As a result of this decision, and following procurement processes in line with the Public Finance Management Act, a service provider, Courier Freight Services was appointed to effect the move from Watloo to Hallmark buildings. A complaint was subsequently laid with the office of the Public Protector alleging that no proper procurement procedures were followed in the appointment of the service provider.
The Public Protector then requested copies of:
- the advertisement of the tender
- minutes of the bid specification, bid evaluation and bid adjudication committee in respect of the tender
- proposals of all companies that tendered for the service
- the contract entered into between the department and the successful bidder
- the acceptance of the offer by the successful bidder.
- the relevant supply chain management policies of the department that were applied during the procurement process.
After this investigation, the Public Protector made the following findings:
- That the department used a transversal contract arranged by the National Treasury
- Confirmation to this effect was received from the National Treasury
- As a consequence of the above, no irregular appointment by the department was found and that the matter is consequently and hereby closed.
The department welcomes this decision of the Public Protector and reiterates its commitment to ensure continuity in its full compliance with provisions of the Public Finance Management Act in all procurement processes.
A call to those affected by duplicate IDs to come forward
You will recall that Minister Pandor had recently reiterated her commitment to ending the practice of duplicate IDs which continue to wreak havoc in the lives of those affected South Africans. This has the negative effect of denying those affected their right to engage in educational, business, banking including the right to access basic government services.
We have previously engaged in a campaign in the form of print media advertisements to draw the attention of those affected that the department stands ready to assist them in dealing with this problem. The advertisements were placed in all national and regional print media in the form of supplements. Furthermore we engaged the services of Trans-Union to acquire their personal details and the writing of personalized letters and sms to those affected.
Despite these efforts few of those affected responded positively to the call for assistance. Nonetheless, the department did everything in its power to reach out to those affected utilising information at its disposal acquired from the National Population Register to reach out to those affected. Consequently the number of those affected was gradually reduced from about 400 000 to 46 000.
This we do with no malicious intent but an administrative act to ensure full compliance with provisions of the law that requires that the department issues one ID per person. It is therefore illegal for a person to share an ID with another or have multiple IDs.
There are two types of duplicates identified by the department, i. e. one person with multiple identity numbers and multiple persons sharing one identity number. For one person with multiple identity numbers the department took a decision to invalidate by end of October 2013. The outstanding figure for this category is 28 548. For one person sharing an ID number with other persons, the balance is 18 641.
Preparations are underway to gazette the details of those affected. The Department is calling upon all clients affected to visit their nearest DHA office / contact centre, as well as calling the numbers provided for assistance.
Contact details:
Identity numbers can be verified by sending SMS to 32551, with the identity number
Visit the department website on www.dha.gov.za and follow the link “Duplicate”
Call Centre number 0800 6011 90
E-mail: duplicates.queries@dha.gov.za.
Alternative contact numbers: 012 406 7006, 012 300 8723, 072 634 0614, 072 634 0408, 012 300 8727, 012 300 8703, 072 634 0683, 0829028965, 012 300 8706, 073 567 4131, 074 906 3304, 072 634 0589 and 073 567 4516.
Multiple people sharing: 012 406 7002, 012 300 8782, 012 406 7003, 012 300 8781. We will also soon republish the names of those affected in the print media as part of our national offensive to rid the country of the scourge of duplicate IDs.
Preparations for launch of Smart ID cards
Minister Pandor will soon conduct a briefing with the media regarding the status of the roll-out of the Smart ID card which was officially launched on 18 July 2013 to coincide with national and international celebrations of Nelson Mandela Day.
The department is currently re-configuring the infrastructure in a number of our offices across the country and soon as these have been completed, Minister Pandor will announce the roll-out plans. However, we wish to reiterate that:
1. Applications will be in accordance with dates of births
2. The smart ID card will be issued free of charge to youths reaching the age of 16 years
3. All other applicants will be expected to pay R140-00 (one hundred and forty rand only)
4. The issuance of the smart ID card to millions of South Africans will indeed take a few years, estimated to be between 6-7 years
5. Accordingly, we call on the public to exercise patience as the government rolls out the smart ID card.
Cleaning of NPR
The department has embarked on a process to clean the NPR. Amongst others is the modernisation of DHA, which include the issuance of Smartcard to those that are 16 years and above.
When applying for the Smartcard, applicants will be required to provide:
- Proof of address indicating where the applicant resides
- First time applicants should be accompanied by the parent/legal guardian
- A copy of the birth certificate
Delinking of application for amendment/rectification from ID applications
The process includes decommissioning the issuing of ID document to the clients by means of delinking applications for Amendment/Rectification from that of an Identity document.
This includes applying for changes first, i.e. surname, date of birth etc. The applicant will be informed of the outcome afterwards. Once approved, the applicant/client is required to apply for the identity document.
On that note we stand ready to field your questions.
I thank you!
