Director-General Mkuseli Apleni on Home Affairs plans for festive period

Statement by Home Affairs Director-General Mkuseli Apleni on plans for the festive period, including extension of office hours, Home Affairs Ministry, Hatfield

Esteemed Members of the Media,
Once more welcome. And thank you for honouring this invitation.

Extension of office hours at ports of entry

The annual festive period which is an occasion of significance for many people in our country and elsewhere is around the corner, promising as always, a surge in traveller numbers.

Its impact therefore necessitates that all government departments prepare and implement operational and contingency plans to ensure smooth facilitation of travellers and goods by deploying additional personnel and resources and promoting joint execution of tasks.

Accordingly, selected ports of entry will between 10 December 2015 and 14 January 2016 operate on extended hours, with additional staff and extra resources. This will cater for the pre-festive season movement, the post-festive season period and the re-opening of schools in the New Year. Affected are those ports where an increase in traveller movement is expected.

As government departments operating in the ports of entry (Health, Agriculture, Police, Home Affairs and SARS), through the Inter-Agency Clearing Forum, we will be deploying additional staff to the selected ports of entry. This is to boast service delivery. Indeed we are grateful to all officials for their dedication in this regard.

To further improve service at the ports, we are inviting Senior Managers to volunteer for deployment, as part of their coalface service delivery; this will ensure effective implementation of operational plans and quick response to challenges as and when they arise. To ensure that deployed officials are fully utilised and that the ports are not affected by the increase in traveller volumes, we will increase over this period the number of additional workstations. We have also made provision for technicians to be deployed fulltime at all affected ports, to ensure that the systems fully support our operations out there.

South Africa has done this with resounding success over the years, with good results for travellers. The past festive season was one of the most successful periods as there were very few incidents reported. Comparative statistics provided by the Border Control Operational Co-ordinating Committee (BCOCC) highlighted an increase of movement of travellers on arrival at Maseru Bridge, Ficksburg, Oshoek and Kopfontein, while Beitbridge and Lebombo figures showed a decrease in comparison to the previous season.

The two major land ports of entry, Beitbridge and Lebombo, continue to receive the majority of travellers during the festive period. How we provide this service goes a long way in profiling our country to visitors and investors. It is good for strengthening relations in the SADC region and in presenting SA as a tourist destination of choice.

Some of the specific roles and responsibilities to be discharged in conjunction with relevant government departments will be to,

• Facilitate legitimate movement of persons, motorised or non-motorised vehicles, goods and trade (cargo)
• Ensure the security of persons, property, assets, systems and resources
• Prevent, detect, deter and control cross-border communicable diseases, illegitimate movements, activities, trade and transactions; and
• Support ports operations.

Ports of entry already operating 24 hours, like Beitbridge and Maseru Bridge, are included in these special arrangements for the festive period.

Importantly, we encourage people to travel gradually over the entire period rather than on a single day, so that we can all be and feel safe.

Issuing of unabridged birth certificates

We wish to remind all citizens ahead of the festive season that the regulations specific to travelling with children have not changed.

This is to protect children, ensuring we know who is taking them out of the country, lawfully, and with permission.

Accordingly, for all children under the age of 18 years, including unaccompanied minors, an Unabridged Birth Certificate is still required.

This is in addition to the requirement for valid passports, and visas where applicable, as well as affidavits confirming parental consent to such travel in the event that one parent is not travelling.

In the case of unaccompanied minors, in addition to a valid passport and visa where applicable, affidavits confirming that parents have granted permission for such travel is required, as well as the details of the person who will be receiving the minor(s), including full names, physical address, ID/passport numbers and the undertaking that he or she will be receiving the child.

Specifically for the festive season, our Civic Services Branch has put in place plans to assist those who will be travelling with children, including for unaccompanied minors, especially around the issuance of Unabridged Birth Certificates or letters in lieu of such. Already there is a team in place assigned rapidly to respond to issues regarding this essential document, and, importantly, to see to it that the certificate is issued within the specified period.

You would know that all things being equal it takes 8 weeks to apply for and be issued with an Unabridged Birth Certificate. Necessarily, those who had applied would require this certificate for each travelling child. Those whose applications had exceeded 8 weeks, and had not received the certificates, are advised to visit their Home Affairs office where they will be given a letter to use in the place of the Unabridged Birth Certificate, this is, in the event that they need to travel.

This letter, in lieu of the Unabridged Birth Certificate, can only be issued to those people who had been waiting for the certificates for a period exceeding 8 weeks.

Where there are problems with the application, sms messages will be sent to the applicants concerned encouraging them immediately to go to the office where they had applied, to receive assistance, so that officials may issue the certificates timeously.

For children, under 18, who have passports, we have done a pre-modification in terms of which our offices are able to issue them with Unabridged Birth Certificates on the spot.

We will avail dedicated numbers for people to call for assistance regarding the birth certificates–072 634 0614 / 072 634 0589 / 073 567 6208 / 073 567 5968.

Once again, I encourage our people when applying for child passports to also apply for birth certificates. Going-forward, details of parents will be printed in the passports, so that parents whose particulars are printed would therefore not be required to carry birth certificates when travelling with their children.

After April 2016, for purposes of clarity, and largely because the distinction would have served the intended purpose, the term “Unabridged Birth Certificate” will be changed to “Birth Certificate,” of course containing parental details.

Successful live capture system upgrade

The changes we are making will be strengthened by the ongoing modernisation programme. As you will recall, last week we announced that Home Affairs will be embarking on the Live Capture System upgrade. We have successfully carried out the upgrades, and are ready to provide full services from tomorrow, with enhanced capacity.

In sum, enhancing operations at ports of entry in this period will promote efficient and effective processing of travellers. We wish you, and all citizens and clients, a joyful end-of-year, and a Happy New Year. Safety comes first, especially on the road. I thank you!

Table 1: Extended hours at ports of entry for festive period

Media enquiries:
Thabo Mokgola
Cell: on 060 962 4982

Mayihlome Tshwete
Cell: 072 869 2477