Local Government: Municipal Electoral Bill: voting, Social Development Budget Review & Recommendation Report

Home Affairs

20 October 2010
Chairperson: Mr B Martins (ANC)
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Meeting Summary

The Committee adopted the Local Government: Municipal Electoral Bill with amendments.
 
The Home Affairs Budget Review & Recommendation Report 2010, addressed not only the annual Report but also the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. Recommendations were made by members of the Committee on areas of importance. The Report focused predominantly on areas which had monetary implications for the Department in carrying out its work.

The “Who Am I Online” system would need to be finalised speedily along with the live photo capture for passports initiative. Third party verification was raised in the BRRR and would be taken up with the Department to ensure the system was free of corruption. Online photo verification and fingerprint verification needed to be widely implemented as it would cut down on fraudulent documents and abuse of the identity document issuance system. The Department had not reached its targets for issuing identity documents and passports and was an area of concern that needed to be addressed.

Members sought clarity on the live photo capture initiative. They commented that identity documentation issuance needed to be improved before more advanced identity verification systems could be put in place or initiated. They sought clarity on third party verification for late births registration. They asked whether the IEC, a Chapter 9 institution, could be monitored by the DHA.


Members sought clarity on the linking of IT systems across the DHA. They recommended that the DHA be clearer on the waiting periods for permits and identity documents. The BRRR would be finalised the following week when the Committee had a quorum to formally adopt the report.


Meeting report

Local Government: Municipal Electoral Bill [B27-2010]: voting
Mr Michael Hendrickse, Senior Manager, Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) presented the Committee with the B version of the Bill that incorporated amendments proposed in previous meeting. Mr Tsietsi Sebelemetja, Director: Legal Services, Department of Home Affairs read Clause 6 amending Section 39 of the Local Government: Municipal Electoral Act of 2000 which dealt with the number of party agents permitted at a voting station.

Mr Monwabisi Nguqu, Senior State Law Adviser, Office of the Chief State Law Advisor added that the Office of the Chief State Law Adviser had done the Memorandum Of Objects for the Bill and had added the consequential amendments to the Bill.

The Bill was approved with amendments by the Committee.

Home Affairs
Budget Review and Recommendation Report (BRRR) 2010
Mr Adam Salmon, Committee Researcher, presented key sections of the proposed Budget Review and Recommendation Report (BRRR). Government had in recent times moved from Strategic Goals to more of an outcome based approach with fewer performance indicators and this was highlighted in the BRRR. The Department had been unable to achieve all its Strategic Goals when they had used several performance indicators as a means of measuring performance. This brought into question whether it would be able to achieve its targets with fewer performance indicators which would be the case under an outcome based means of performance assessment.  

The issues to be addressed by the BRRR arose from the Department of Home Affairs’ Annual Report, the United Nations Millennium Development Goals and recommendations made by the Committee. 

Mr Salmon focused on issues in the BRRR which had monetary implications in terms of expenditure both planned and executed:
▪ The “Who Am I Online” system would need to be finalised speedily along with the live capture of photos for passports initiative. Third party verification was raised in the BRRR and would be taken up with the Department to ensure the system was free of corruption.
▪ Online photo and fingerprint verification needed to be widely implemented as it would cut down on fraudulent documents and dishonest people who abused the identity document issuance system. The Department had not reached its targets in terms of issuing identity documents and passports. This needed to be raised in the BRRR as an area of concern that needed to be addressed.
▪ The DHA wanted to widen the thoroughfare at the Beitbridge border and the BRRR highlighted the issue as one of concern.
▪ Mobile DHA units needed to be fully serviced and operational in order to improve service to remote and rural areas.
▪ There needed to be more stringent measures in place for monitoring how department tenders were awarded.  

Discussion
The Chairperson suggested that the Committee bear in mind the money that was allocated to the Department for the next financial year in order to avoid merely commenting on the DHA Annual Report. The BRRR should seek to enquire how the DHA was spending the money allocated to it in the budget to achieve its targets.

Ms M Maunye (ANC) sought clarity on the live photo capture initiative.

Mr Salmon responded citizens no longer submitted photos to the DHA for passport issuance. The live photo capture initiative meant that photos were taken at DHA offices for the passports.  This was an additional security measure which had been undertaken in order to insure that South African passports were increasingly harder to forge.

Mr T Maseremule (ANC) commented that identity documentation issuance needed to be improved before more advanced identity verification systems could be put in place or initiated.

The Chairperson said this issue was pertinent and important but should be dealt with at another time when dealing directly with the DHA.

Ms A Lovemore (DA) sought clarity on third party verification and from where the issue had arisen.

Mr M Mnqasela (DA) explained that third party verification applied where someone’s birth was registered late and a witness was needed to confirm details of that person’s birth and where it took place.

The Chairperson said that the issue had been dealt with by the Committee previously. There was a window of possible corruption in third party verification where people lied about information pertaining to someone’s birth. The issue would need to be better addressed in future.

Mr Salmon responded to Ms Lovemore that the issue of third party verification had arisen from oversight trips which the Committee had undertaken prior to the World Cup.

Ms Maunye asked if the IEC could be monitored by the DHA as it was a Chapter 9 institution.

The Chairperson confirmed that the IEC was a Chapter 9 institution and could therefore not be monitored directly by the DHA. However it would be important going forward to improve interaction with the Commission to gauge its performance without infringing on its status.   

Ms H Makhuba (IFP) sought clarity on the linking of IT systems across the DHA.

Mr Salmon replied that the linKage was part of the “Who Am I Online” initiative and would only be completed when that initiative was launched.

Ms Makhuba suggested that the BRRR should recommend that the DHA ensure that where there was machinery to verify people crossing borders, it should be used and not left dormant.

The Chairperson agreedd and said that that issue should be added near the conclusions section of the BRRR.

Ms Lovemore said the BRRR should recommend that the DHA be clearer on waiting periods for various permits and identity documents as the waiting periods were unclear.

Mr Salmon agreed and mentioned the Refugees Appeals Board which was going to be instituted by the DHA in future. That board would cut down on waiting periods for issuing of permits.

The Chairperson said that the principal point had been made by Ms Lovemore.

Ms Maunye highlighted the need for revenue collection for the Department which needed to be streamlined or improved to make the system better.

The Chairperson said that the Committee should recommend that the revenue collection system should avoid qualified audit reports at all costs.

Ms Lovemore raised the issue of the DHA needing to carry out public relations on the issue of refugees. The information being put out by the DHA on the Zimbabwean refugee dispensation was inadequate and more needed to be done by the DHA to address that issue.

The Chairperson agreed with Ms Lovemore and said that advocacy with relevant NGO institutions needed to be undertaken by the DHA to better inform people about refugees and their issues.

Mr Salmon said that the BRRR would recommend that the issue be addressed better. The Refugees Appeals Board would need to be better capacitated to deal better with problems arising in the area of refugee immigration. 

Ms Maunye said that electronic security systems and mobile units operations needed to be prioritised and proper attention to given to these.

Ms Lovemore raised the issue of the Department needing to be clear and specific about its turnaround times for processing identity document applications. This pertained to the discrepancy in the notices posted on the website versus the actual turnaround time in reality which was longer than what was stated on the Department’s website.

The Chairperson said the issue should be included in the BRRR. 

The BRRR would be finalised the following week when the Committee had a quorum to adopt the report.

The meeting was adjourned.




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