Questions and answers
Question: Minister, could you update us on the special dispensation for the Zimbabwean 90 day visas?
Answer: As you know the Minister made an announcement although there was no plan at the time at which she made the announcement of how it would be implemented so this is what we are working on and we will then take this plan to Cabinet so we can receive the go-ahead to implement it.
It is really meant firstly, to ease the asylum seeking route because it is very clogged, mainly by Zimbabweans and others who are not asylum seekers at all but people who want to access economic opportunities and jobs, perhaps small businesses and such opportunities. We will be taking this to Cabinet soon; from where we will begin implementing it but the visa waiver which is different from the dispensation is being implemented as we speak.
Question: Minister, do you envisage that the United Kingdom will eventually drop their visa requirement for South Africans?
Answer: Well, I don't know but, our priority at this point in time is to fix what we think is wrong and to be honest about it because we think the United Kingdom did what it did because there were problems so it would be pointless to go back to the UK until we have fixed the problems and once we think we have successfully fixed the problems we can go back to the UK and start a dialogue with them. And hopefully they may reverse their decision but for now, our focus is to deal with the problems they had raised.
Question: Minister, what is the department's comment on the ruling that the Nyanga refugee centre has to be moved?
Answer: I am very happy because I actually went there to observe the conditions and before the court even ruled I called a meeting of our officials and I was saying I hope the court does rule that we must close that centre.
I also asked our officials to begin exploring alternate accommodation. If the court had not ruled we would have at least tried to open another office to ease the problems there because the office was just not able to cope.
Of more concern to use were also the reports that we received that the area was difficult for the refugees that they had been assaulted and other such incidents. So, it does sound ironic that I am happy with the court's ruling but the truth of it is that I am because we can now work with the Department of Public Works to get alternate accommodation and hopefully we can try and find accommodation that is a bit more suitable so we can make the situation more workable. This is my view.
Question: Minister, when we last met with the Director-General he said he would expect the Department to receive a clean bill of health from the Auditor-General. How do you feel about this prospect?
Answer: (Director General Mavuso Msimang) I am sorry to have to contradict you a little bit. I did say there are a number of outstanding issues that go back many years, issues that are outside our control. I said we had done quite a bit to clear up the matters as pointed out by the Auditor-General requiring redress. So, my hope now is clearly that we will not get another disclaimer but there are certain outstanding issues that unless resolved through write-offs and so on, will still remain issues. The Auditor-General is currently conducting his audit so it would be premature of me to predict with precision what the outcome will be. However, many issues have been cleared.
Question: Minister, you have promised strong actions against officials who transgress rules. The President mentioned in his budget vote redress for officials who have been found wanting. What does this mean?
Answer: I am not sure; the Minister of Finance might better answer this question because in any case, whatever money comes to Home Affairs goes to the Minister of Finance, not to our own coffers. So, we will have no funds to redress.
However, what we are trying to do is that if it comes to our attention that officials are not doing their work properly then consequences will prevail. We will obviously have to adhere to procedures but there will be consequences. We are not just going to leave them without consequences. That is why it is so important for the public to work with us because we cannot be everywhere but the public must report to us what is happening in their neighbourhoods.
We are going to try and implement the wearing of name tags so that at least the public will know who they should complain about or who they should complement because we would also like to hear from the public if there are officials who are providing a good service so that we can have positive comments and commend those officials so that people know we are not only looking out for those who do not work but also those that do. This is then a responsibility that we all have. From our side, we will have to restructure a bit how these comments are received and processed. This is a suggestion that came from the debate and we will see how we can follow this up.
Question: Minister, you made a number of allusions to the smart card ID and the new passports. Do you have timeframes for the implementation of these?
Answer: (Minister Dlamini Zuma) The new passport is being received by people who have been applying recently. The challenge has been that the new passport requires a certain standard of photos and a certain standard of information. Ideally that machine requires information that is captured live. But, when the machine was launched the processes to allow these systems were not in place and we therefore had to rely on contingencies like enhancing the photos or feeding the information into the machine manually. That is what created the backlog which is what we are still trying to deal with.
We now have two offices in Pretoria which are piloting the live capturing of information and when you apply for a passport at these offices you will get a real idea of how the system is supposed to work. Your information will be captured live as will your photo. Maybe you should visit these centres and you can tell me how the system works.
But, over and above this, once we have completed this pilot in the next few weeks we are going to install the same equipment in 13 of our busiest offices so that people have their information captured live. There may be slight inconveniences in that we may ask people to go these specific offices to apply for their passports and you will not need to bring us photos in little envelopes because this machine does not like this. Initially it would just put a whole into these pictures; this is why we have to look at enhancing these pictures. These machines will be available from end of August. Then the machine will be working properly.
The smart cards as was said, the smart card tender was given to SITA and SITA was supposed to do all the processes and make recommendations. There was some administrative bungling which has delayed the process. We have therefore not received anything from SITA yet. On Tuesday next week I will be meeting with some of the people to assess the situation. If it is clear that SITA is not able to provide this service then we will have to consider alternates to issuing the tender. We were hoping that a pilot could be in place by the end of this year but unfortunately our hands are tied because we are bound by SITA. If SITA cannot continue then we will have to look at alternate tender methods. The delay is not on our side. Treasury has even provided the funds for the pilot but we cannot pilot anything. This is part of the challenges with Home Affairs we are dependent on other service providers.
(DG Msimang) On the issue of the passports, as the Minister has explained the challenges, we have issued a directive to all offices advising of the size and quality of photograph that is required for timeous processing of passport applications because inferior quality photographs are rejected by the machine and this contributes to the backlog. But, we have also, indicated we would prefer colour photographs because the machine manages this much better. So, we will be communicating increasingly to the public on this matter.
Question: Minister, you have mentioned 13 new centres that will be set up throughout the country. There is also mention of challenges of staff shortages. How will this be addressed?
Answer: We said we will not be able to fill all the vacancies. If you look at the new structure of the Department of Home Affairs, it is expected to grow from approximately 7 000 to approximately 14 000 over the next five years meaning the staff complement is expected to double. This will be difficult to achieve in this current economic climate.
However, this does not mean there will be no money for vacancies that exist now and a few additional ones. We are saying; we will not be able to keep up with the growth as envisaged with the departments of Public Administration and Treasury, before this economic crisis. We will be able to staff the offices that we have projected. How quickly we can open new offices also depends on the Department of Public Works, the Department of Home Affairs has budgeted for these new offices but it is the Department of Public Works that must assist us to open them. This is another dependency we have. Once the offices are open, we will be able to staff them.
Question: Minister, regarding the de-linking your finger prints and the application for an ID, do you have a timeframe for the research you are planning?
Answer: I was hoping that that research would be completed by the end of this year. Once we have completed the research we can factor this into our campaigns. At the moment, if you are on our population register and you have applied for an ID, there are offices where you can verify your finger print and you can receive your ID on that day.
We would ideally like to do this with new applicants your finger print is verified by the population register and then we accept their application and perhaps a temporary ID can even be issued immediately because we are sure of their nationality.
These are measures to try and tighten the system so that when we go back to those we have to negotiate with we can confirm it is that much more difficult to get onto the South African population register if you are a foreigner and this links with the registration of the births of all children between 0 and 15 because we are trying to de-link the registration for an ID and the birth certificate because at the moment we have a real weak link when someone applies for an ID at the age of 29 or 30 although he has never been registered and does not have a birth certificate. How do you confirm if he is a South African at this stage? You may then issue an ID to a non South African.
This is where the weak link is because we rely on someone to confirm they know the applicant. We know that people can be paid to confirm this. But an official from Home Affairs has no way of knowing that this may be a lie and that you have been bribed. We want to close this gap by ensuring that kids are registered at birth and we take their fingerprints just before they turn 16 and when they turn 16 they can come collect their IDs.
Therefore, when someone comes at the age of 24 looking for an ID with no birth certificate, we can say ok, you have waited this long so please wait a little longer while we verify your nationality. This is part of efforts to close the gap because closing the gap between corruption and fraud has to be multi-pronged. It has to be a process in itself. It relies on honest people. But if the processes are not streamlined, it becomes easier to manipulate weak links.
Question: Minister, could you please elaborate on the idea behind appointing more DDGs, is capacity not required at a lower level?
Answer: If you listened to the debate today, you would have heard two parliamentarians saying Home Affairs should perhaps have been divided because it is too big a department. It is not divided but it is important that you have people who pay attention to specific areas at a leadership level. If I tell you who those DDGs are, then you will have to tell me which one I should not appoint because you will realise all are exceptional.
One of them deals with all civic issues birth certificates, death certificates, IDs, etc. I do not think that that function should be led by someone at a lower level. The other DDG deals with all issues of immigration – permits, ports of entry, visas, etc.
Another deals with finances we have had disclaimers; we are just talking of whether the department is going to receive a clean bill of health. You cannot say this should be led by an official of a lower rank – this is a huge department call centres, offices at which monies are received, so it does require attention from a senior person.
The other DDG will deal with IT issues we are an IT dependent organisation and we will require a senior person to manage these requirements. The other one who has not really begun doing her work but I hope we will begin seeking progress in a few months is the head of the learning centre because we have recognised that the skills base is very low in Home Affairs. The management capacity is very low. So, therefore we require training both at a low level, but also middle managers require training.
The other DDG will be looking after our anti-corruption and legal issues.
Now, can you suggest who I should drop?
Enquiries:
Ronnie Mamoepa
Cell: 082 990 4853
Issued by: Department of Home Affairs
26 June 2009
