Our weekly media briefing this week will focus on a number of issues affecting the department including the launch of the Home Affairs-SABRIC online fingerprint verification system, the closure of our refugee reception centre in Port Elizabeth; facilitation of movement of ZCC members into Zimbabwe and the scheduled relocation of our Headquarters from Waltloo to Hallmark in the city centre.
The launch of the Home Affairs/SABRIC Online Fingerprint Verification System
The recent cabinet meeting held in Pretoria on 26 October approved and supported the planned launch of the online fingerprint verification system. The system is a joint project of the Department of Home Affairs in conjunction with the South African Banking Risk Centre- a coordinating body of the banking sector in the country.
The objective of the project is to protect the identity of South African citizens while creating a platform in which both the Home Affairs Department and the banks can jointly help in the national effort of pushing back the frontiers of fraud and corruption.
In this regard, Minister of Home Affairs, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma and the Chairperson of SABRIC Cas Coovadia will on Tuesday, 8 November 2011 at 11h00 at the Sheraton Hotel in Pretoria, launch this joint operation. We accordingly do not wish to pre-empt the planned launch on Tuesday, 8 November and will leave more details for the day of the launch by the Minister and the Chairperson of SABRIC, save to say that we are indeed looking forward to your participation at the launch.
Closure of the Port Elizabeth Refugee Reception Centre
Following a court order in the Eastern Cape recently, the Department of Home Affairs has decided to close down its refugee reception centre located in Port Elizabeth. The court order arose from a court challenge by local business which viewed the existence of the refugee reception centre “as a nuisance factor” and applied for an order for the closure of the reception centre. The court upheld the application of the local business in this regard.
The Department, as an arm of government, held the view that we should respect and abide by the court decision in this regard and accordingly has made plans for the relocation of the refugee reception centre to an area still to be identified.
In identifying such a new location for the refugee reception centre, the Department has to consider a number of factors that will make it easy for refugees to access our services. This includes among others taking into account the current legislation that directs that refugees must report to a refugee reception centre within five days of arrival in the country. Secondly, the department is also in a process of finalising policy regarding the need to locate refugee reception centres along border areas.
We will in due course, once plans having been finalised, make a public announcement regarding the new location of the refugee reception centre.
Facilitation of movement of ZCC members en route to Zimbabwe for the ZCC Convention Prayer Session
Today, Friday, 4 November, Home Affairs Immigration officers facilitated the smooth movement of ZCC Bishop Barnabas Lekganyane, through the Beit Bridge border into Zimbabwe ahead of the scheduled ZCC Prayer Convention scheduled for Sunday, 6 November in Bulawayo.
Bishop Lekganyane is leading a delegation of about 70 000 ZCC members travelling in approximately 510 buses who will be crossing into Zimbabwe over the weekend for their scheduled annual Convention Prayer Sermon.
In consultation with the Home Affairs Department, the South African Police Service (SAPS), South African National Defence Force (SANDF), Customs, and the South African Revenue Service (SARS), the government agreed to assist in the facilitation of the smooth movement of these ZCC members through Beit Bridge to travel to Zimbabwe.
The Department of Home Affairs has accordingly deployed 98 additional immigration and civic officers to assist the current contingent of immigration officers stationed at Beit Bridge to assist with the operation. They will be joined by members of the other law enforcement agencies such as SAPS and SANDF including SARS and Customs.
To ensure easy immigration process to facilitate this movement, the Department of Home Affairs has in consultation with SARS, Customs, SAPS and the SANDF opened a temporary transit facility at Musina, equipped with 40 work stations linked to the Home Affairs Movement Control System (MCS) for this purposes.The Limpopo government emergency medical services are deployed on site whilst the SANDF has supplied an electrical generator.In addition to the 510 buses expected to travel, 50 mini buses have been issued with permits by the Cross Border Roads and Transport Agency.
Our plan is to ensure there is no blockage caused at the border gate due to this large movement of persons in and out of the country. Once these ZCC members have been processed at Musina, they will then be escorted by the SAPS and SANDF to Beit Bridge for crossing into Zimbabwe.
We are satisfied that every resource has been put at the disposal of Bishop Lekganyane and members of the ZCC to ensure a smooth, effective and efficient movement into Zimbabwe. On behalf of Minister Dlamini Zuma, the department of Home Affairs and indeed on my own behalf we express our best wishes to these members of the ZCC during their annual convention in Bulawayo.
The relocation of Home Affairs headquarters to Hallmark in the city centre
In line with government’s view that government offices should be located within the city centre as part of efforts of building confidence in the city centre while encouraging economic investment into the city, the Department of Home Affairs Headquarters will soon be relocated from Waltloo to Hallmark in the city centre.
The Home Affairs Department Headquarters was originally located at Civitas in the city centre until 2004. This was occasioned by alleged structural problems with the building which necessitated the need to find a temporary location for the Home Affairs Headquarters. This was found in Waltloo, East of Pretoria. We have so far negotiated a new lease for a new Headquarters at Hallmark in Pretoria.
The relocation of the Headquarters to Hallmark will indeed help bring the Home Affairs Headquarters services more nearer to the people, particularly those who reside in and including those who work in the city centre.
Plans for the movement from Waltloo to Hallmark have been finalised and will take place in phases to accommodate the various branches of the Department. In this regard, the relocation will begin in earnest from 17 November 2011 and we hope to conclude the process by 22 December 2011.
Status on the Zimbabwean Documentation Project
With regard to the process of the issuance of permits to the Zimbabweans living in South Africa the following statistics pertain:
- Total number of applications received as at 31 December 2010: 275 762
- Approved and issued with permits: 158 497
- Pending: 117 265
- Pre-adjudicated with outstanding documents required: 116 960
- Sms sent applicants to bring outstanding documents: 114 596
- Responses received from SMS: 113 629
- Responses pending: 967
- Amnesty applications: 6243
Questions and answers
Question: Director-General, regarding the numbers on the Zimbabwean project – have any applicants been refused because it seems like everyone has been accepted?
Answer (Director-General): Our process was that we will deal with the rejection issue up to the level of an appeal. We have not yet categorized any as being rejected. We also want the Minister to take the final decision on this issue.
Question: Director-General, can you please give us more information on the fingerprint verification project?
Answer (Director-General): We do not want to pre-empt the official launch on Tuesday next week. On the issue of identity documents (IDs) – you will know there is a date of issue but not a date of expiration.We also know that people engage in identity fraud and theft and we want to eliminate this by enabling the banks to access our database.
Question: Director-General, regarding the move to the Hallmark Building – will this building be leased? Was the Watloo premises leased and how much will the relocation cost?
Answer (Director-General): The Hallmark building, as the Watloo premises, are indeed leased. However, we will not be paying any more than we have been paying to lease the Watloo premises.There are no additional costs.The lease period is about seven to eight years but the ultimate intention is to find a home for Home Affairs.
Question: Director-General, to follow up on the lease issue – can we have more details on who the building will be leased from?
Answer (Minister Dlamini Zuma): We do not lease premised directly because the Department of Public Works is responsible for procuring premises for government offices.
Question: Director-General, will the relocation of the Department to town affect service delivery?
Answer (Director-General): You will remember that the Watloo premises host the headquarters of the Department. It is our other offices that normally render services to the public. However, by moving the offices to town, we will be ensuring that public’s access to the management of the Department is enabled and facilitated. No services will therefore be affected and this will ensure we improve our services.
Question: Director-General, is there a cost implication for your assistance to the ZCC facilitation process?
Answer (Director-General): Since it is permanent officials that will be dealing with this process, there will be no further cost implications, other than the costs for transportation to Beit Bridge and accommodation. These costs will not be significant. It should be less than R100 000.
Question: Director-General, on the Port Elizabeth Refugee Reception Centre – do these challenges pertain to other refugee centres? What makes Port Elizabeth so unique – there are no borders or indeed, much movement through the ports?
Answer (Director-General): In the first instance, why do we have a refugee reception centre in Port Elizabeth. After all Eastern Cape only shares a border with Lesotho. When you check if Lesotho is generating refugees, the register shows those applying for asylum in Port Elizabeth are Chinese, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Ethiopians. They are not arriving from the Port Elizabeth airport – they are arriving in Johannesburg and travelling through our country to Port Elizabeth. And if these people report to the centres, how many more are not reporting to the centres?
This is why we have to look at our law and the how we implement this – if the law says refugees must report to a centre within five days of arriving in the country, we must ask how we can support this. Our old legislation said refugees could report to a centre in 14 days and we believe this could encourage people to enter our country and get lost without documents.
Question: Director-General, regarding the Port Elizabeth Refugee Reception Centre – when will the Department announce the replacement centre? In the meantime, where should refugees go to apply for documents?
Answer (Director-General): Government operates on an medium term expenditure framework (MTEF) process and in Port Elizabeth, we were paying rent, we had staff – this money will assist us to look for an alternate space because the money has already been budgeted. Of course, we did not know we would have to deal with this court order.
We hope we will be able to finalize this matter within a reasonable amount of time.
Question: Director-General, how may staff members are affected by the relocation? Will the ZCC members be returning to South Africa after the service and will the same assistance be offered?
Answer (Director-General): Yes, they will be returning to South Africa between Sunday and Monday, especially regarding the volumes.
We have about 1 500-2 000 staff members at head office and these officials will be affected by the move.
