Home Affairs: Minister's Budget Speech

Briefing

23 Jun 2009

Minutes

Statement by Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, Minister of Home Affairs, on the occasion of the Debate on Budget 4: Department of Home Affairs
Friday
26 June 2009.

Honourable Speaker
Honourable President Jacob Zuma
Honourable Deputy President Kgalema  Motlanthe
Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Malusi Gigaba
Honourable Members of the National Assembly
Honourable Members of the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen

Fellow South Africans

We would like to acknowledge the presence of:


Chairperson of the Independent Electoral Commission
Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer of the Film and Publications Board
Chairperson of the Refugee Appeals Board
CEO of the Government Printing Works


On this historic day, 26 June 2009, the 54th anniversary of the adoption of the Freedom Charter at the Congress of the People held in Kliptown, I am honored to present this budget speech as Minister of Home Affairs.

Our late President Comrade Oliver Reginald Kaizana Tambo once said, “Using the power you derive from the discovery of the truth about racism in South Africa, you will help us to remake our part of the world into a corner of the globe of which all of humanity can be proud. We have a vision of South Africa in which black and white shall live and work together as equals in conditions of peace and prosperity.”

Heeding the words of this great patriot, I pledge to all South Africans that we will together lets continue to do everything in our power to ensure the realization of the vision projected by the Freedom Charter and that which has found expression in our national constitution.

The Confederations is a tournament of champions- Losing the semi final 1-0 to the best in the world is no mean achievement Bafana Bafana has done South Africa and Africa proud. Halala Bafana Bafana Halala!

Honourable Speaker

Let me thank my predecessor Minister Mapisa-Nqakula for the work she did including requesting governments’ intervention and initiating the turn around strategy. We have to build on those initiatives to accelerate change.

I would also like to use this opportunity to express my gratitude to the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) for the outstanding work done in successfully conducting the recent national elections,
declared free and fair by all the independent observers. Over 3 million new voters were added onto the voters’ roll, exceeding the target the IEC had set itself. Through the “ID Yourself Now campaign” that was rolled out to 2000 schools countrywide during 2008, Home Affairs provided almost 100 000 teenagers with identity documents. Using the recently introduced online fingerprint verification technology, over ten-thousand South African citizens were issued with temporary identity certificates on Election Day enabling them to exercise their democratic right to elect public representatives of their choice.

Home Affairs is a very critical department in the determination of the status of all South African citizens and all those who have temporal or permanent residence and those with student permits. The constitution has entrusted us with the custodianship of the identity of our citizens.

It used to be called in Zulu during the apartheid days Kwandabazabantu and indeed ikwandabazabantu ngoba uma uzalwa, ushada, uphumela ngaphandle kwe South Africa, uma ufuna iID noma usishiya kulom’hlaba uyadingeka uHome Affairs.

When you write matric, register at university, open a bank account, start a business, want a drivers license, you need an ID and that comes from Home Affairs.

We are indeed a department that is needed by every single one of us at every critical moment of our lives.  Therefore this has to be our guiding principle at all times

We have a dual mandate

1st Mandate:

Civic issues

We have to issue birth, marriage and death certificates, Identity documents and passports, citizens and permanent residence certificates. It is not only a matter of issuance but it is as well the safe maintenance and archiving of biometric and demographic records of citizens and persons who have been permitted to reside in South Africa.  The National Population Register and related records of births, marriages and deaths constitute a national resource that is part of our common cultural heritage. It plays a crucial part in defining who we are as a nation and in building a democratic and inclusive society by enabling citizens to exercise their constitutional rights, including their right to vote. 

2nd Mandate:

Regulation of migration

The department is required to regulate migration, in the national interest, and to facilitate the movement of persons across international borders through the country’s 72 Ports of Entry. Managing migration effectively, securely and humanely is of vital national importance. 

Our first priority in this regard is to ensure the integrity of the state while at the same time contributing to the socio-economic and cultural development of society. In a globalised world we cannot grow the economy without securing scarce skills available internationally. To this end, we intend to adopt a deliberate and structured approach and will accordingly be seeking to streamline some of our regulations.

We also have a responsibility to receive those who seek asylum from one form of persecution or another, as defined by international conventions, in particular the 1951 Geneva Convention and the 1969 Organisation of African Union Convention, to which South Africa is a signatory. Six days ago, on 20 June we commemorated World Refugee Day, a day set aside to remind us that we must, on this day and every other day, welcome those who have fled their homes.

We must recognise that they have the ability to contribute to the expansion of our knowledge base and certainly to enrich our cultural diversity. We must also recommit ourselves to the struggle against racism, xenophobia and related intolerances – a recurring theme during current FIFA Confederations Cup.

We have to ensure that asylum seekers are assisted and their status is determined timeously. We are reviewing the structure, size and functions of the Refugee Appeals Board. The current status constitutes a significant bottleneck in the asylum seeker processing chain. The Deputy Minister will expand on this in his speech to the house.

As a country, government and parliament we have to develop policy that will differentiate economic migrants from asylum seekers, this will allow us to discharge our obligations towards both the asylum seekers and economic migrants properly.

Honourable Speaker

Announcing the appointment of Cabinet, His Excellency,  President Jacob Zuma emphasised the commitment of government to “an efficient, caring and effective administration, which will be accessible and responsive to the needs of the people”.  This statement speaks directly to the services delivered by the Department of Home Affairs, which touches on the lives of all citizens.

The inhumane conditions existing at the Refugee Centres and some Home Affairs Offices must change and the processes should be streamlined. Working together with the Department of Public Works we should do more to improve the infrastructure of Home Affairs, while increasing the number and improve the look and feel of our offices.

I am pleased to announce the establishment of 13 additional Home Affairs service points and the improvement of the effectiveness of the 117 computerised mobile units that are used to service remote areas.


Let me remind  Honourable Members as well the public that there is a call centre and the number is 0800 601 190. It provides information and  assists in tracking and tracing ID and passport applications

From now henceforth, all Home Affairs officials will wear visible name badges as the President said so that the clients can identify the person who renders services for compliments or complaints.

Acknowledging that many children in this country are not registered we shall be undertaking a huge campaign to the end of 2011 to register all children under 16 years so that we delink the ID application from the application for late registration of birth. After 2011 all children should be registered before their first birthday. This will eventually do away with the late registration of birth. This will be the first step towards securing our identity because the birth certificate is the basic document that allows us access to the ID, passport etc. The abridged birth certificate will be improved to include some security features,  the name and ID of the mother.

This campaign is crucial because it is very clear to us that late registration of birth is the entry point for those who want to acquire South African documents fraudulently.

Honourable Members will be delighted to know that the  ID campaign will run concurrently with the registration of birth. Every youth from 16 years of age and above will be proactively issued with an ID. This will again go a long way in securing our documents and our population register. After that campaign in 2011,  we shall then issue IDs mainly to  those who turn 16 years of age. This will mean the vast majority of South Africans will be properly captured in our population register. Space will then be created to properly scrutinize those who try to get IDs when they are not South Africans. This will contribute towards a more secure South African Identity and a more accurate and credible population register. It will also remove the pressure of issuing new ID applications during elections.

Once our population register is credible, accurate and comprehensive we can be sure that the passports we issue are indeed issued to South Africans.

Research is being undertaken to determine whether we can delink the taking of fingerprints from the ID application. If we can take the fingerprints before the age of 16 it means that at the point of application of the ID we can already verify that the person is in our population register and therefore can be given a temporary ID on the same day as we already do today for those who have lost their IDs. This will also ensure that IDs are issued to legitimate South Africans.

In improving the security of birth, marriage and death certificates we shall;

Introduce new security features in identity documents including digitalized photographs;
Expand online fingerprint verification to;
23 additional offices,
all mobile units,
O.R. Tambo International Airport (to screen South African citizens at international arrivals and departures),
Roll out live-capture stations to the department’s 13 busiest offices. Live capture of an applicant’s biometric features makes the data tamper-proof, preventing fraudulent changes after the capturing process.

As the custodian of the identity of South Africans, the department will develop its capacity to securely store and retrieve information on citizens and other persons permitted to live in South Africa. To achieve this, a phased upgrade of our Electronic Document Management System will be embarked upon.

It is also essential that we introduce the often-postponed ID smart card for the convenience of citizens and for improved document security. Delays in the administration of the tender
by the State Information Technology Agency (SITA) derailed the plan. We are looking at the most effective way of getting the process back on track, whilst using the intervening period to continue the clean-up of the Home Affairs National Information Systems (HANIS) database and complete the conversion and transfer of all citizen records into the system.

Honourable Speaker

During the 2008/09 financial year the department undertook to implement a new passport system to replace the outdated one whose antiquated printing system had become dysfunctional. The new passport printing machine which was commissioned on 8 April 2009 issues passports with high security features with a distinct SA look and feel. Unfortunately, official tardiness in putting in place an effective personal information processing system that matches the high security requirements of the passport resulted in the creation of a backlog in the issuance of passports to citizens. The Department undertakes that there will be no backlog by end of July 2009, we will be back to our normal flow.

We have also implemented special procedures through the Client Contact Centre to allow for the fast- tracking of passports for citizens that must travel urgently. We apologise to the nation for this and would like to give the assurance that we are already in the process of overcoming these challenges.    

Mr.  Speaker and  Honourable Members

The second mandate concerns the management of migration. Whilst our mandate emphasizes regulation and control of the movement of persons at each of the 72 designated Ports of Entry, technological advances and chances brought about by globalization make it possible for the department to carry out its immigration functions beyond our national borders.

In strengthening the regulations and control of the movement of persons at our designated areas of entry we are moving towards the provision of an integrated basket of services. These include the Advanced Passenger Processing (APP), biometric verification and a seamless integrated movement control system. As part of the services on offer for the Confederations Cup we have just successfully piloted in Cairo, Egypt the concept of an Event Visa, which was issued to Egyptians who could show proof that they were travelling to South Africa to attend the soccer spectacle. Such a visa, which has no precedence in the world, will also be utilized for 2010 FIFA World Cup. To contribute to the smooth but secure flow of tens of thousands of international visitors expected to attend the 2010 FIFA World Cup tournament, our Immigration Services Branch is focusing on doing the following:

Facilitation
Our operations in respect of the Large Account Unit, which was set up to assist companies with large requirements of scarce skills, will include FIFA and related organisations.
We will introduce new and faster ways of processing travellers.
Safety and Security
We will improve traveller screening and use mechanisms that will prevent the entry of undesirable elements. Part of the arsenal for realising this will be Travel Document Readers, APPS, Airline Liaison Officers, the Event Visa, etc.
Gathering of intelligence through closer cooperation with other law enforcement agencies, both foreign and domestic.

We have prioritised the issuance of quota work permits to foreigners who fall within specific occupational classes or specific professional categories. In this context, details of specific occupational classes and specific professional categories and the applicable quotas are published annually in the Government Gazette after consultation with other stakeholder departments.

I would like to explore the possibility of locating the  adjudication process for students, scarce skills and some business permits in our diplomatic missions abroad in the country of origin of the applicant. I believe that this will improve turnaround times.

Mr. Speaker


The other area of emphasis is going to be the financial management. We shall work towards a much improved audit report. We have to tackle the revenue management and all the areas of concern indicated by the Auditor General.

The transformation of the department will not happen overnight. It started a couple of years ago it will take several more years to complete.

This has to encompass people, processes, policy, technology and legislation if need be. Focusing on one area without others will be futile.

All these good intentions will remain hollow unless there is a hard working, dedicated, honest, patriotic team which will implement them. As a Minister I will be as successful as the quality of the team. Motho ke motho ka batho!

Honourable Speaker

We shall endeavor to build a department that is characterized by such values as;

People centeredness and care
Patriotic and anti-corruption
Professionalism with integrity
Accountability and transparency
Efficiency and innovation

There are many vacancies which need to be filled. Given the budget constraints we are unable to fill all of them. In the next few months we shall concentrate on the recruitment of Deputy Directors General so as to ensure that the department has competent leadership. In turn they have to ensure that they bring competent, professional officials with high level of integrity.

We also have to address the lack of skills and poor management through proper training. Again this will receive further attention from the Deputy Minister.

Although there are thousands of hard working honest civil servants at Home Affairs unfortunately there are lots of corrupt officials who work with syndicates, corrupt members of the public and sometimes corrupt private security members and some business.

We are going to strengthen the anti-corruption unit (integrity unit). More effective and efficient measures need to be employed if we are to make a difference. For us to succeed it will have to be a national effort. Security companies, members of business, members of parliament and more importantly the public has to assist both in alerting us to the culprits and also resisting the temptation. We are of course grateful to some of the members of the public who have begun to assist in this regard. On our part we are determined to root out all the corrupt officials wherever they are.

The other area we are going to need the help of Honourable members and the public at large in the effort to reduce the number of repeat IDs we produce every year. Every year more than a million IDs produced are repeats. With the present global economic situation we cannot afford to keep reissuing ID’s we have to look after our ID’s as if our lives depends on them. We have to save the scarce resources. This certainly cannot continue.

The effort of transformation cannot succeed without a strategic relationship between us and our key stakeholders. Accordingly, we shall endeavour to have a good and dynamic working relationship with all our key stakeholders including the media.

May I express my gratitude to the Deputy Minister, Honourable Malusi Gigaba and the Director General, Mr. Mavuso Msimang, the Management team and all those hard working honest officials for the work they have done thus far and the Turn around Team led by Fever tree.

In conclusion, allow me Honourable Members, to draw inspiration from the wise words of the founding father of our democracy, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela when he said:  “ I have walked that long road to freedom. I have tried not to falter; I have made missteps along the way. But I have discovered the secret after climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are more hills to climb. I have taken a moment here to rest, to steal a view of the glorious vista that surrounds me, to look back on the distance I have come. But I can rest only for a moment for with freedom come responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my walk is not yet ended”. (Long Walk to Freedom)

I hope the Honourable Members will support our budget.

I thank you













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