Honourable Chairperson
Honourable Minister Aaron Motsoaledi
Deputy Minister Malusi Gigaba
Chairperson of the Select Committee of Social Services
Honourable members of the NCOP
Director-General and senior management of the department
Distinguished guests
May I take this opportunity to thank the chairperson of the Select Committee, Honourable R N Rasmeni and Honourable members of this Committee, for providing the Department with valuable oversight and support.
I would also like to extend my appreciation for the dedication and commitment of Honourable Deputy Minister Malusi Gigaba, the Director-General and his team of hard-working senior officials who enable the Department to deliver on its constitutional mandate.
Honourable chairperson,
Once more we also add our heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of our late Deputy Minister of Health Dr Molefi Paul Sefularo following his tragic death during the Easter Weekend. May the knowledge that the entire nation shares in their grief console them. He has joined the rest of our heroes and heroeins the forebearers of our liberation struggle like Cde Chris Hani, O R Tambo, Solomon Mahlangu and many others who liberated us from the oppression that started in April 1652 and ended in April 1994.
Honourable chairperson,
In the State of the Nation address President Jacob Zuma declared 2010 as the Year of Action, which means we have to intensify our efforts to deliver quality services to our people. In this regard, last year we announced the birth registration and ID campaign.
I am happy to report that led by none other than our President Jacob Zuma, we indeed initiated the National Population Registration Campaign in Libode, OR. Tambo District Municipality, Eastern Cape, on the 23 March 2010. The launch of this massive national campaign was preceded by two pilot projects in the Sisonke District Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal and OR Tambo District Municipality in the Eastern Cape.
Critical to note and as part of the building blocks for this campaign, we have started launching a number of Stakeholder Forums at local level in all Provinces. To date we have established 10 District Municipality Stakeholder Forums and 67 Local Municipality Stakeholder Forums. Our objective is to involve the people in all Provinces in direct processes of service delivery in a manner that will empower them to monitor performance, combat corruption and provide support that ensures our department can deliver on its constitutional mandate.
The campaign’s key objective is to secure and protect the National Population Register (NPR) and that the only entry point to the NPR will be at birth, hence in this regard, we commit to the following:
- The registration of every child birth within 30 days of delivery
- The issuing of identity documents to every South African 16 years and above
- The eradication of the late registration of births (LRB) by December 2010
- To clear the late registration backlog, 176 screening committees have been established nationally. The Committees are supported by senior community members and they have processed 354 840
- The trends show that KZN, EC and Mpumalanga constitute more than 50% of LRB’s, most applicants are between the ages of 15 and 30 years of which the majority are women. This will enable their children to access social grants since unregistered mothers cannot register their children on the NPR
- As we are aware, identity documents restore the dignity of citizens and guarantees their constitutional rights, while enabling them to access critical social services. In pursuit of this objective we are happy to report that the Department has registered 1,147 000 children
- Since its launch, another critical gain was the issuing of 834 453 IDs to first time applicants, and reflects a gain of an additional 200 000 from the previous year
- The department is also implementing an urgent review of legislation impacting on the registration of births and deaths, marriages and citizenship
- Regarding elections in general and next year’s local government elections in particular, our objective is to ensure that the birth registration and ID Campaign will replace the current practice of implementing special ID campaigns when we approach such elections. As a consequence, we call on political parties to join and support us currently in this campaign, rather than wait for the commencement of the electoral process.
Honourable members,
As we are aware, the country is on the verge of hosting the biggest global sporting event - the 2010 World Cup.
We are ready as a government and people to host, on behalf of our country and the continent of Africa, a successful 2010 FIFA World Cup in this land of Shaka, Moshoeshoe, Sekhukhune, Hintsa and Makhado. As Home Affairs we stand ready to welcome to our shores, the world, with open arms. Let the African, Asian, European, American, Middle Eastern, Latin American, Australian come an experience our warmth, Ubuntu and Love.
We are proud to report that as a country we have made history by introducing the first ever Event Visa to facilitate the movement of spectators and visitors from around the world. All spectators in possession of a FIFA match ticket are eligible to apply for the event visa, free of charge, following the observance of normal procedures at South African diplomatic missions abroad.
The introduction of the Advanced Passenger Processing system for airlines flying into South Africa will enable the screening of passengers before they leave their point of departure. Airline Liaison Officers will be deployed from the beginning of May to assist airlines to verify travel documents and personal particulars presented by travellers in the country of departure.
Dedicated Express Lanes have been established at selected international airports. A number of land border posts have been co-located in collaboration with neighbouring countries to speed up the flow of travellers. These border posts are at Lebombo, Ficksburg and Maseru Bridge, Oshoek, Beit Bridge and Kopfontein.
We have established in Gauteng a 24 hour operational centre to provide statistical information for operational planning and incident reporting whilst working with other law enforcement agencies.
We are piloting, in partnership with SARS and other relevant departments, an enhanced Movement Control System at OR Tambo International Airport. This system will enable us to monitor movement of visitors in and out of the country in preparation for 2010 FIFA World Cup.
Honourable members,
The challenge of corruption continues to have a serious impact on the progress we make as a country. As a department, like all other sectors of society, we are not immune from this scourge. A collective national effort is required to rid this cancer from our society.
For our part we have strengthened our counter-corruption strategy, elevated the unit responsible for counter corruption to a fully fledged branch headed by a DDG and appointed counter corruption specialists to increase capacity of the branch.
We are happy to report that the security of our systems has now being enhanced. Furthermore, as part of our efforts to prevent illegal access to the department’s systems, we have upgraded and extended the use of biometric access control, ensuring an audit trail and accountability. A critical counter corruption measure is the enhancement of the security features of the birth certificate and the inclusion of the details of the mother on this essential document.
We are happy to report that the measures we have implemented to combat corruption on birth certificates already begun to bear fruit. Recently 2 women and a nurse were arrested in the Mthatha District for colluding in fraud to register births. Allegedly these fraudulent clinic cards were bought for R150,00.
Honourable members
In the department’s drive to improve and enhance operational efficiencies, we have made major strides in the following areas:
- The passport backlog, which was causing serious problems for citizens, has been eliminated. In the 40 offices where the live-capture of biometrics is available, the turnaround time is 14 to 30 days.
- The track and trace system was extended to cover the registration of births, and late registration, marriages, deaths, passports and some immigration permits. This has speeded up processes, enhanced security and enabled citizens to be contacted via SMS.
- We have improved access to Home Affairs services by establishing 21 new facilities (1 in Gauteng, 1 in Northern Cape, 3 in Western Cape, 3 in KZN, 11 in Mpumalanga, 2 Eastern Cape), while upgrading a number of offices. A new Refugee Reception Centre was opened in Musina, Limpopo. There has been an aggressive campaign using mobile units to access rural areas and schools. We have signed a MOU with Department of Basic Education which will facilitate our partnership.
- The department has now relocated its Nyanga Refugee Reception Centre to Maitland successfully.
- In our mission to become a Department of Excellence, we are piloting an electronic queue management system that will significantly reduce congestion in our offices through the provision of ticketing numbers that will direct client to the relevant counter for service, while advising them of the expected waiting period. So far we have reduced the approximate waiting time from 45 minutes to between 25 and 30 minutes in the Khayelitsha Regional office where we are presently piloting the system.
- Measures were taken to relieve congestion and improve security at key ports of entry. Management and operational systems were improved and an additional 145 immigration officials were deployed to provinces to strengthen border posts and the Inspectorate.
Honourable members,
Whilst we are proud of these achievements, it is clear that more needs to be done in the fundamental transformation of the department. In this regard, our primary focus during this financial year will include the following:
- Ensure an accurate, credible and secure NPR, with birth being the single point of entry. This will also make it easy to acquire subsequent documents especially the ID, and to access services. In this regard we are happy to report that 142 hospitals have now been connected to Home Affairs systems and we intend connecting 120 more this year. The system enables mother to register their babies before leaving hospitals after delivery.
- We are at an advanced stage to sign the MOU with Department of Health and we thank them for having facilitated availability of office space and connectivity to the hospitals.
- The breakdown per province is currently as follows:
Number of hospitals per province
Eastern Cape: 24
Free State: 17
Gauteng: 20
KwaZulu-Natal: 29
Limpopo: 19
Mpumalanga: 12
Northern Cape: 5
North West: 8
Western Cape: 8
Total: 142
- A major risk impacting on the NPR’s security is the number of duplicate identities which also is the cause of frustration and grief for our people. We have reduced the backlog from 29 000 to about 6 000. Measures will be implemented to eliminate the remaining backlog and prevention of the creation of future duplicate identity numbers.
- We have agreed with Dr Meshack Radebe MEC for Social Development in KZN, to expand home affairs services to One-Stop Development Centres in the province beginning with Mhlabuyalingana, Msinga and Nkandla. This expansion of services will also be extended to other parts of the province.
- We have begun the process of the review of immigration policy with a successful workshop held with COSATU. We intend consulting widely before preparing legislation for the consideration of Parliament.
- We are committed to achieving an unqualified audit within one year and a clean audit within two years, having addressed negative findings in the previous audit. The internal audit and risk management functions have been strengthened and controls are being implemented. Such controls include a new revenue receipting system which has been installed in 100 high volume offices.
- As part of preparation for the introduction of the Smartcard in the next financial year, we are putting infrastructure in place in all our front offices.
- A critical priority is to take measures to ensure that our frontline staff is imbued with such values as caring, pride as well as service excellence. Our objective is to ensure a self motivated, ethical, competent and accountable staff. In this regard, we are in a process of establishing a learning centre whose core function will be to promote the afore-mentioned values, while developing skills and knowledge.
- We have filled all senior positions at Deputy Directors General (DDG) levels have been filled, safe for posts of Chief Information Officer and the newly created post of DDG for Counter Corruption and Security.
Similarly, we have filled a number of vacant Chief Director and Director posts.
Honourable members,
Today we are elated to introduce to you officially. Mr Mkhuseli Apleni, the new Home Affairs Director-General whom we appointed earlier this month.
Equally we take this opportunity to thank Mavuso Msimang for the invaluable service rendered during his tenure as Director-General of our department. We extend our best wishes to him for the future.
Honourable chairperson and members, we express the hope that this budget will indeed receive your support.
Thank you!
Issued by: Department of Home Affairs
15 April 2010
Source: Department of Home Affairs (http://www.home-affairs.gov.za/)
