Transcript copy: Speaking notes for Home Affairs Director General Mkuseli Apleni following briefing to the media




Arcadia House, 909 Arcadia Street, Pretoria

Introductory remarks by Director-General Mkuseli Apleni

Ladies and gentlemen of the media, thank you for once again taking the time to join us for our weekly media briefing.

Today, we would like to brief you on the department's operational arrangements for the Easter vacation, the outbreak of a fire at our Umgeni Road office in KwaZulu-Natal earlier in this week, support at the country’s centenary celebrations in Mpumalanga at the weekend and our support to the matric class of 2012.

Operational arrangements for the Easter period

Members of the media will be aware of an annual increase in traveller volumes through our ports of entry during the Easter period as South Africans and foreign nationals alike travel to be with friends and family during these holidays as well as to celebrate Easter.

In anticipation of higher traveller volumes, Home Affairs Minister Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma has, in line with Section 7(1) (d) of the Immigration Act, 2002 and following consultation with all stakeholders at ports of entry and countries sharing borders with South Africa mandated the extension of operational hours in Mpumalanga, Limpopo, Free State and Eastern Cape.

According, we are pleased to announce that the Lebombo, Oshoek, Mananga, Mahamba and Jeppes Reef ports of entry in Mpumalanga will operate on extended hours.  The Groblersbrug port of entry will operate for 24 hours from 5-8 April 2012, Van Rooyenshek in the Free State will operate for 24 hours on 5 April 2012; and Qashasneck in the Eastern Cape will operate from 06h00-22h00 on 4 April and for 24 hours on 5 April 2012.

 Details are also included hereunder:

Mpumalanga

Limpopo

Free State Province

Eastern Cape

The Durban Harbour in KwaZulu-Natal as well as the Fickburg and Maseru Bridge Ports of Entry in the Free State currently operate on a 24 hour basis and will continue to do so during the Easter period. The department is still finalising the deployment of additional staff to the ports of entry that will operate on extended hours and this will be communicated in due course.

Fire at the Umgeni Road Office in KwaZulu-Natal

The department earlier in the week announced it was investigating the outbreak of a fire at our offices in Umgeni Road, KwaZulu-Natal.However, due to the speedy response of the security officials on duty, the sprinkler systems and the local fire department, the fire was extinguished without much damage to the premises, equipment or files.

There is however an on-going investigation by the police to ascertain the cause of the fire.  At this stage we are awaiting forensic feedback from the police based on their investigation at the site. We reiterate that this has not resulted in a disruption of services and clients are assured of our full commitment both to their safety and towards ensuring effective and professional service delivery.

Support at the centenary commemorative events

As a caring department committed to rendering quality and professional services, we have deployed two of our mobile offices to Daggakraal in Mpumalanga at which centenary celebrations will be held at the weekend. We therefore invite all citizens who may require services to make use of this opportunity to visit our mobile offices at the centenary celebrations in Daggakraal.

Support to matriculants

At the end of the first term of the 2012 school year, we would like to take this opportunity to wish all learners a safe Easter holiday. However, to those in the matric class of 2012, we would like to remind you to take this opportunity to visit your nearest Home Affairs office during your vacation to apply for your identity documents (IDs). This will stand you in good stead and you continue your preparations for your final examinations towards the end of the year.

To all those who are 16 years old and above without IDs we would also like to encourage you to apply for your IDs during the school vacation. This will assist you as you not only progress to Grade 12 during which your ID will be required for examination purposes but also as you may wish to take advantage of opportunities available to you including, amongst others, opening a bank account so you can begin saving money or applying for bursaries and further education opportunities that you will require at the end of your matric year.

We reiterate our unwavering commitment to ensuring that all those who are 16 years and above are issued with IDs even before they enter grade 12. Of course, this is one of the priority areas of the National Population Registration Campaign. To this end, we have been actively engaging with schools and learners throughout the country through, amongst others, high level visits including most recently the Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Fatima Chohan to schools in the Roodepoort area earlier this week.  

Our mobile offices are also regularly deployed to schools in various provinces to assist learners apply for IDs. This has been enabled by a Memorandum of Understanding between the Department of Education and ourselves. The effectiveness of this partnership is evidenced by the almost 600 000 applications the department has received from learners 16 years and above in this financial year.

Questions and answers

Question: Director-General, can you please provide an update on the Zimbabwe Dispensation Project (ZDP) as well as the duplicates issue?

Answer (Director-General Mkuseli Apleni): Thank you for the question.  On the ZDP, we are preparing our final report and it should be ready during the month of May.  We are very close to closing that project.  We will brief you closer to the month of May as we finalise the report and once we have presented it to the minister.

On the issue of duplicates we are preparing to publish a list of names in newspapers.  We hope to finalise this matter after the Easter holiday and we will brief you further.  But we have already received quotes from newspaper houses regarding the costs for publication.  We will then be able to publish names so we can finalise these issues.

Question: Director-General, regarding the operation of border posts during the Easter period – has the Department of Home Affairs discussed this matter with the Police so that there can also be increased police visibility during this time?

Answer (Director-General Mkuseli Apleni): As you know, the Department of Home Affairs is a member of the Justice and Crime Prevention Cluster (JCPS) which also consists of Justice and Constitutional Development, Police, Defence, South AFrican Revenue Service (SARS), State Security and Correctional Services. So the plans we will be operationalising are indeed joint cluster plans but it is the line function responsibility of the Department of Home Affairs to ensure the smooth operation of ports of entry.  It is therefore within the mandate of the Minister of Home Affairs to approve the extension of operating hours at ports of entry.  However, all partner departments will be allocating resources that are commensurate with these plans to ensure they can be operationalised efficiently to deal with the increased volumes we are anticipating.

Question: Director-General, can you kindly advice further on the Centenary Celebrations?

Answer (Director-General Mkuseli Apleni): Well, the Department of Home Affairs is only about people.  Wherever there is an opportunity for us to service citizens, we are there to bring them services to ensure our people can receive enabling documents.  As you know, IDs are essential for you to access other services in the country.  Therefore if people are gathered at a particular place, we are keen to deploy our mobile offices to that people are able to get their documents and attend the event they are going to attend while only paying one transportation cost.

Question: Director-General, you have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Department of Education – do you have an idea of how many learners are in the Matric Class of 2012?

Answer (Director-General Mkuseli Apleni): What we do with that Memorandum of Understanding students have already begun the process of registering to write matric exams. The Department of Education is in the process of finalising this list it is usually concluded in May. Once they have concluded this process, they make information available to us so we can see how many learners have provisionally registered without IDs.

You will recall that we have in the past established a call centre for matriculants.  Once we receive the information from the Department of Education we will be able to finalise this process.  Because we do not want learners to be worrying about IDs closer to the time of their exams.  This should already have been finalised.