Ladies and gentlemen of the media, in our weekly briefing today, we will be looking at the various issues including the Department’s support to the COP17 Conference, Minister Dlamini Zuma’s interaction with the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) recruits in Kimberley, the Public Service Innovation Award for 2011 received from the Centre for Public Service Innnovation, the relocation of the Port Elizabeth Refugee Reception Office, the relocation of the Department’s Head Office to the Hallmark Building in the City Centre and the opening of a new office in Msinga, Kwa-Zulu Natal.
Departmental Support to the COP17 Climate Change Conference
The South African government will be hosting COP17 in Durban, Kwa-Zulu Natal from 28 November to 9 December 2011. To this end and with a view to ensuring government hosts a successful conference and that we welcome and expedite the arrival of all Heads of State and Government, COP delegates and other participants to the Conference, the Department of Home Affairs will be implementing an operational plan to this effect from Sunday 20 November 2011.
Working with other role-players within the Justice and Crime Prevention Cluster (JCPS), we have helped to pre-screen 11 814 persons on the United Nations database of accredited persons.
We will also be providing visa exemptions to all accredited United Nations delegates whose entry into South Africa will be facilitated through dedicated counters at the OR Tambo, Cape Town and King Shaka International Airports. To further expedite their arrival into the Republic, details of accredited delegates have been loaded onto the Department’s Advanced Passenger Processing System (APP).
Heads of State who are expected to attend the COP17 will be provided with immigration services at the Waterkloof Airforce Base in Pretoria.
In addition and to increase capacity in Kwa-Zulu Natal to ensure an effective and efficient immigration response, we will also be deploying a total of 54 immigration offices from around the country to King Shaka International Airport and the harbour in Durban.
We will also have an additional 42 South African Police Service (SAPS) members who have been seconded to the department and have undergone training as immigration officers who will be on standby at King Shaka International Airport. We have therefore deployed a total of 96 dedicated immigration officers to Kwa-Zulu Natal for the duration of the Conference.
Our regular staff component will provide immigration services to delegates who will arrive at the OR Tambo and Cape Town International Airports before travelling to Durban for the Conference.
Minister Dlamini Zuma to address SANDF Recruits to the Department of Home Affairs
You will recall that in October this year Minister Dlamini Zuma announced the intention of the Department to re-orientate itself as a security department. In this regard and amongst others, we had introduced for the first time, a South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) recognised training programme. All existing and new officials will have the opportunity to be reskilled and retrained through this qualification.
We also announced a pilot programme through which 350 SANDF officials would be transferred to the Department of Home Affairs. These officers will, upon completion of immigration training be deployed as immigration officers to OR Tambo International Airport while the existing immigration officers will have an opportunity to undergo the SAQA training.
The 350 officers began their training on 17 October 2011 in Kimberley and will conclude their training on 15 December 2011 with an official passing out parade.
Minister Dlamini Zuma who has been receiving regular reports on the training programme, will on Monday 21 November 2011 visit the officers currently being trained with a view to assessing how the programme is proceeding.
The Public Service Innovation Award
We are pleased to announce that that the department was earlier this month conferred with the annual Public Service Innovation Award for 2011 from the Centre for Public Service Innovation (CPSI) under the auspices of the Department of Public Service and Administration for outstanding performance in the delivery of services to citizens.
The department was also rated by the CPSI amongst the Top Ten of the Humanities and Law section of the Magnet Communications Survey 2010/11 in the Employer of Choice category.
The CPSI awards are aimed at promoting and encouraging best practice in public sector innovation and service delivery as well as celebrating the successes of individual public servants, teams and departments in the quest for a more efficient and effective government machinery.
We therefore believe that these Awards attest to the solid framework the Department has been able to implement to ensure that indeed, we are able to deliver quality services to all our people with a view to fulfilling government’s electoral mandate to create better lives for all.
Indeed, these Awards also come amidst the department being awarded its first unqualified audit opinion in 16 years from the Auditor-General.
Relocation of the Port Elizabeth Refugee Reception Office
We also announced earlier this month that, in compliance with a court judgment brought by local businesses in the vicinity of the Port Elizabeth Refugee Reception Office against the department, we would be temporarily suspending operations in the province with regard to the processing of applications from asylum seekers.
In this regard, arrangements have been made for the temporary housing of files of those already granted refugee status in an annex to the local Regional Office. Staff from the Port Elizabeth Refugee Reception Office, who are also being temporarily housed in the annex, are currently finalising the adjudication of existing applications from asylum seekers.
Where applicants are based outside of the Eastern Cape, files may be transferred to alternative centres.
Relocation of the Home Affairs Head Office to the Hallmark Building in the City Centre
We announced earlier this month that in line with government’s commitment to make services accessible to the people, the Department of Home Affairs will be relocating its Head Office operations to the Hallmark Building in the Pretoria City Centre. This also comes within the context of government’s commitment to express confidence in the City Centre while encouraging investment and economic opportunities.
In this regard, the relocation of our operations began this past weekend, Saturday 12 November 2011, with the movement of all IT staff and equipment. We are happy to report that the movement of Branch IT to the Hallmark Building was successful with no reported interruption in services.
We will continue the relocation according to our movement plan, in terms of which, we will in the coming week be moving the Counter-Corruption and Immigration Services Branches of the department. This will be followed by the Internal Audit, Communications, Human Resources, Learning Academy and Finance Branches as well as the Office of the Director-General respectively. In terms of our plan, it is envisaged that the movement to Hallmark Building will be concluded on the 19 December 2011.
We reiterate that we do not envisage any interruption of services during our relocation because local offices will continue to operate as normal.
Opening of new office in Msinga, Kwa-Zulu Natal
With a view to giving further expression to ensuring services are accessible to all citizens and in line with our commitment to increasing our rural footprint, Minister of Home Affairs Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma will together with other provincial roleplayers, on 1 December 2011 open an office in Msinga, Northern Kwa-Zulu Natal.
With the opening of the Msinga office we will have a total of 293 offices in rural areas with 114 offices in urban areas.
Thank you.
Questions and Answers
Question: Director-General, could you please clarify the SAQA training – what does it entail and once you have qualified, what will you be qualified to do?
Answer: (Director-General) You will remember that government instituted the SAQA approved standards in terms of the SETAs and their respective fields. We participated in our SETA in this regard. As Home Affairs, we must look at on the job training coupled with theory.
We are responsible for providing services around immigration, civic services and support services. This course is aimed at equipping our officials to understand the issues around civic and immigration services as well as the issues of security. We must ensure we support the security of our products and services.
What will happen after this course, is that officials will have the opportunities for upward mobility.
But what is most important is for officials to render services efficiently and from a customer service perspective.
Question: Director-General, will the 96 officials be deployed to KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) or are they already there?
Answer: (Director-General) We will be beginning the deployment of additional resources by 20 November. You must remember however, we do have regular capacity at these ports of entry. The additional resources will be mainly to provide additional capacity.
Question: Director-General, in terms of the work being done by the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security (JCPS) cluster - can you ensure the safety of delegates to the Conference? Has anyone been denied access to come into the country?
Answer: (Director-General) We are working with the cluster – as you can see we are even deploying together with the SAPS, as part of the collaboration we have built within the cluster. Within this cluster we have SAPS, Defence, State Security, Justice – we must make sure everything is properly co-ordinated. Our role as Home Affairs is within the Ports of Entry but we also required the support of SAPS which has now been provided by them.
We have accredited mostly the people from the United Nations (UN) family and they are screened by the UN. You will remember that during the 2010 Soccer World Cup we implemented the Advance Passenger Processing System (APP). This is where we may see the issue of denials in that if anyone registers on our V-list, they will not be allowed entry into South Africa.
This will refer to hooligans, etc. This is also where we will be working together as a cluster because we will have the list and bring it to SAPS and they will take the issue forward.
Question: Director-General, will all the Heads of State be arriving at the Waterkloof Airforce Base and then transported to Durban? Do we know how they will be transported?
Answer: (Director-General) You will know that the Department of International Relations and Co-operation is responsible for the issue of Heads of State visiting South Africa. Our role as a department is to clear them with their crew. The main base will be Waterkloof but we will provide this service to them wherever they land in the country.
We play a major role in the JCPS because the security of Heads of State is taken care of by SAPS and Defence as well. We as the department will be part of that plan in terms of ensuring they are cleared quickly and efficiently through the Ports of Entry.
Question: Director-General, can you kindly indicate the financial implications of moving to the city centre?
Answer: (Director-General) The entire department is moving from Watloo so none will remain in Watloo. However, the Civic Services Branch will be moving to our BVR which is located on the corner of Bosman and Jacob Mare Streets. So, Civic Services which was split will now be in one building, BVR. But the other branches, immigration, finance, communication, counter-corruption, legal services, Director-General’s office, etc. will be moving to the City Centre to the Hallmark Building. The ministry remains in the building where we are now.
In terms of the costs, we were renting at Watloo. It was not our own building. So we have managed to negotiate the same rent from the new landlords. The move will therefore not be costing us anything in addition to what we are currently paying as rent.
Question: Director-General, could you kindly clarify re: the Port Elizabeth (PE) Refugee Reception Centre – what does this mean for asylum seekers in Port Elizabeth?
Answer: (Director-General) In terms of our Act, an asylum seeker was required to present themselves at a refugee reception centre within 14 days. But we have now amended the Act and this has been reduced to five days. It means that when you cross the border into South Africa, you have five days to present yourself to a refugee reception centre. This must be done immediately.
What was the problem with PE – PE is inside the country – it probably only shares the border with Lesotho but we know that Lesotho is not generating refugees. The people going to Port Elizabeth to claim asylum are travelling from Beit Bridge, OR Tambo International and other such destinations. They are therefore in our country for many days before presenting themselves at a refugee reception office. Why is this?
We are saying those who have applied will have their applications processed in Port Elizabeth in the temporary accommodation. Any new asylum seeker will not be processed in Port Elizabeth because we will have to ask ourselves where they are coming from? They must be served in the provinces where they enter the country.
We are also on record as saying it is our intention as the department to move all these Refugee Reception Centres to the borders. This is our ultimate intention.
Question: Director-General, is Port Elizabeth the only coastal city that this will affect? Are they any other cities with the same challenges?
Answer: (Director-General) Western Cape is another example where business people have described our office as creating a nuisance factor. We therefore have to review all our refugee reception centres. If we go to the borders then we will be able to alleviate this since there will be no nuisance factor because we will not be in the cities.
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