Department of Home Affairs on the performances and expenditure for First Quarter 2011

Meeting report

Briefing by the Department of Home Affairs on First Quarter Performance
Mr Mkuseli Apleni, Director-General, Department of Home Affairs (DHA), briefed the Committee on the Department’s first quarter performance based on its objectives and outcomes as set out by the government’s twelve priority outcomes.

The Department’s Strategic Plan was based on 3 Outcomes. Outcome 1 was to secure South African citizenship and identity, Outcome 2 was to manage immigration effectively and securely in the national interest including economic, social and cultural development and Outcome three was to provide a service that was efficient, accessible and corruption free.

In line with Outcome 1, the Department had set a 1^st quarter target of having office space at health facilities across the country. The aim was to have 5 health facilities connected and operational in this period. Thus far the Department had nine connected hospitals of which three were fully operational namely, Letaba Hospital (Limpopo), Pampierstad Community Health Centre (Northern Cape) and Postmasburg (Northern Cape). The Department faced some challenges in achieving its target. This included the delay in the delivery of IT equipment which meant fewer hospitals were fully operational.

The DHA had aimed to have an additional 159 500 projected births registered to achieve 58% of total births over the year for the first quarter. Thus far it had registered a total number of 133 262 births which was 12% of the estimated births of 1.1 million babies. That percentage represented more than the number of births registered within 30 days in the first quarter of 2010/11, but slightly below the number targeted for the first quarter of 2011/12. Amongst some of the challenges facing the Department in the area of registering births was the fact that citizens were not compelled to register births at Health Facilities and DHA outlets. The target was based on an assumption that social behaviour would change in response to campaigns and developments. Cultural and religious beliefs meant that sometimes there were delays in the naming of children making it impossible to register the births at the health facilities within 30 days. The final challenge was the lack of accessibility of communities where home births occurred. To remedy the problem, Department proposed to intensify the outreach campaigns in rural areas and encourage citizens to register births within 30 days. It further proposed the expansion of the Health Facilities footprint as well as capacitating the existing facilities with full staff deployment which had started during the 2011/12 financial year.

The Department aimed to have 93% of late registration of births processed for the age group 31 days and above within 6 months in the first quarter and to have regulations in terms of the Births & Deaths Registration Act amended and approved. As yet the regulations were not yet approved due to a need to ensure proper consultation with relevant stakeholders and the process was now under consideration by top management. The Department had also registered and processed 97% of late registration births within 6 months in the first quarter. Some of the problems the Department faced included citizens not complying with the requirements to register births within 30 days of occurrence and not complying with the legal obligation to register births before 30 days due to accessibility in rural areas and farming communities.

The DHA aimed to intensify outreach campaigns in rural areas and encourage citizens to register births within 30 days to address the challenges. The Department aimed to visit 1 915 out of 5 498 (35%) high schools, in line with its drive to issue identity documents to citizens of 16 years old and older in the first quarter. It had thus far visited 1 667 (30%) high schools during the first quarter with the focus on local government elections playing a role in limiting the number of schools the Department had visited. The Department had aimed to issue IDs to 53% of 16 year olds with a focus on schools where Matriculants did not have IDs in the first quarter. Out of the 31 795 ID applications received, 10 758 IDs were issued to matric learners, accounting for 33.8% of the target. There were also IDs which had been issued as part of the mainstream and dispatched to local offices. Amongst some of the challenges faced by the Department in achieving its first quarter targets, the separation of ID applications from other applications was not done and technical problems related to photo-digitisation resulted in delays in processing IDs.

The Department aimed to implement a live capture functionality for passports rolled out to a further 20 offices in the first quarter as part of its goal to secure processes and systems to combat fraud and corruption. Thus far the Department had put in place a draft business case procurement and rollout had not yet commenced. The Department further aimed to resolve 100% of reported duplicate ID cases in the first quarter. It was still in the process of reviewing its quarterly statistics and would be confirmed by the end of August 2011, thus far 33.5% of cases had been resolved over the quarter. The Department aimed to submit a proposal to Cabinet for approval of ID Smart Card pilot project, specimen ID Cards had been designed during the review period and a proposal had been drafted.

The DHA aimed to equip two Port of Entry's with Enhanced Movement Control Systems in the first quarter as part of its goal to integrate key systems and upgrade IT infrastructure for improved security and data integrity. Thus far the Department had not achieved the target as it was dependent on the rationalisation of the ports of entry as well as the further enhancement of the Movement Control System. The rationalisation of the ports was serving before the Inter-Agency Clearing Forum (IACF) and would be finalised in the second quarter. The Department aimed to integrate the National Immigration Information System (NIIS) and the Home Affairs National Identification System (HANIS) in the 2011/12 fiscal year. Integration had been achieved but NIIS needed to be enhanced so that it could deliver performance statistics in the required format and new processes emanating from the amended Refugee Act of 2010. The Department aimed to develop a document to be utilised as basis to engage on a bilateral level with three identified SADC countries to create a regional approach to immigration in the first quarter. Thus far the DHA had held bilateral and multilateral discussions with identified and developed SADC countries. There was an aim to have 3000 scarce skills permits issued as part of the DHAs goals and thus far the Department had issued 479 Exceptional Skills Work Permits, and 755 Quota Work Permits with a total of 1 234 scarce skills permits issued making up 41% of the Department’s target being achieved.

In order to improve leadership capacity and capability towards enhancing service delivery, the Department had aimed to implement coaching clinics for a portion of its senior staff. Thus far tender specifications for a coaching clinic had been revised and advertised on 3 June 2011 with a closing date of 1 July 2011, a briefing session had been held on 9 June 2011. The Department had found it difficult to find a quality service provider on the issue and had thus restarted the process with a specific outline. The Department had also developed and a recruitment plan which had been approved to address the 1076 vacancies it had. The DHA had developed a study in consultation with the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security (JCPS) cluster with a view to addressing corruption in the Department.

The Department aimed to consult key stakeholders on proposed costing methodology to address service delivery standards for improving operational efficiency. The Civic Services division of the Department had reviewed costing of Temporary Identity Certificates (TIC) and consultations with National Treasury had been undertaken. The goal intended to lower the price of TICs as the price was currently the same as ID re-issues. During the review period, the TIC was also delinked from the ID issuance process. The Department also aimed to have 95% of IDs (first issues) issued within 54 days in the first quarter and had thus far succeeded to issue 63% of IDs within 54 days; out of 343 432 ID applications received during quarter one, 316 450 were issued.

Amongst its significant achievements in the first quarter, the Department stated that efforts made to improve the permitting system were yielding results. Security had been greatly enhanced by centralising adjudication; backlogs had been cleared; and turnaround times improved. A new information system employing track-and–trace had enabled better management control and better service to clients. Continued progress was being made in cleaning up and securing the National Population Register through a greater percentage of newly-born children registered within 30 days; and the number of duplicate cases reduced. The Department had been strengthened organizationally by the ongoing rollout of the new operating model.  The appointment of 3 new Provincial Managers and Directors for finance in every province was already having a positive impact on service delivery and financial management. Third-party verification was working well, with the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA), the High Court and other institutions benefiting by being able to verify identity online. A total of 9 frontline offices were refurbished; providing a far better service delivery experience for the public and a better working environment for staff.

Amongst some of the remaining challenges faced by the Department there remained the challenge to establish and maintain consistent standards for security and service delivery. There was a need to implement an operating model, with managers capacitated to take charge and achieve and maintain standards in every office and at every level. There was a need to get closer to communities and involve them in service delivery, and security. The Department had to strengthen and work with Stakeholder Forums: local, metro and provincial and seek to improve Asylum-seeker and refugee management. The DHA had to contribute to the combating of human smuggling, trafficking and other forms of illegal migration and work closely with the security cluster and strengthen policies, legislation and systems while combating corruption. There had to be better use of management information for reporting and decision-making. There had to be a roll out of an online reporting tool and a database of performance statistics and enhance information systems where necessary.

Discussion
Mr M Mnqasela (DA) welcomed the Department’s emphasis on the professionalisation of its staff in the presentation. He asked how the Department would assess the effectiveness of the coaching clinics it had proposed and whether the coaching would enhance staff performance and how much it would cost. He asked what the Department’s definitive recruitment plan was to address the vacancies in its ranks. He commented that there should be a clear programme to educate people on IDs so as to emphasise the importance of an individual looking after their ID. He welcomed the Department’s actions in separating temporary IDs from permanent IDs and the separation of application costs; that would alleviate some of the problems around the ID issue.

Mr Apleni replied that the professionalisation of DHA staff was something the Department was seriously working on. The Department wanted to employ people with diplomas and degrees to assist in alleviating unemployment amongst graduates. The Department’s coaching drive would be based on a mentoring basis with senior management members taking younger inexperienced staff under their wings. The company that was awarded the tender to provide the coaching would determine who in the Department needed coaching. The Department had budgeted R5 million to be expended over a period of 3 years for the programme. Each DHA provincial branch had a different approach to solving the vacancy problems at their offices and they would brief the Committee when summoned to do so individually. An outreach education programme on IDs was needed and would be implemented, emphasis needed to be placed on the fact that IDs were not transferable.

Mr Vusi Mkhize, Chief Director for Civic Services: Department of Home Affairs, replied that the Department was looking into filling level 5 and 6 positions within its ranks. The Department had filled 628 positions thus far in all provinces.

Ms A Lovemore (DA) commented that it would have been optimal to have a full day to interact with the Department on the briefing. She commented that the first quarter target on the connection of health facilities was not linked to the baseline target. Late birth registration was a serious problem; she asked what was causing the problems around registration. The issue of duplicate IDs was a constantly worrying one. The Department must have a way of assessing which IDs had been duplicated- 45 000 cases was too big a number of duplicate cases to have, the issue had to be addressed as a matter of urgency. She asked who headed up the IACF and which Departments and stakeholders were included in it. She reminded the Department of its commitment to bring the regulations on the Refugee Amendment Act to the Committee prior to them being enacted. She commented that the Department would have to brief the Committee on the closure of the Crown Mines Refugee Centre as the Committee needed information on that issue. She asked how involved the Committee would be in the process of interacting with the relevant SADC nations on a regional approach to immigration. She asked which other Departments the DHA was working with in attempting to attract 50 000 people to fill the country’s scarce skills permit target. She asked why the Department had only targeted to investigate half of its corruption cases in the first quarter. Why was the Department involved in developing a cybercrime policy? She asked who the key stakeholders consulted on the issue of temporary IDs were. She commented that the phones at the Port Elizabeth DHA branch were not working and 23% of DHA branch offices had a similar problem, it was an unacceptable situation and needed to be addressed immediately. The collection of IDs was important and should be emphasised. The renewal of temporary IDs when they expired whilst a person was awaiting a permanent ID needed to be charged to the Department. The target for the issuance of permanent residence permits in the baseline needed to be nearer 70%. She raised the issue of 850 South African National Defence Force (SANDF) personnel being reassigned to the DHA to assist with the Zimbabwean dispensation permitting and the permitting of other foreign nationals, she sought clarity on why that was being done.

The Chairperson advised Members to ask questions which were solely pertinent to the presentation.

Mr Mkhize responded that the Department was looking to be active in 126 hospitals across the country but that in some cases there was no readymade space for the Department to take up. Where there was such space and the DHA was capacitated, it had taken up that space.

Mr Apleni replied that the DHAs provincial branches would continue to look into the issue of space at hospitals and continue to work towards increasing the Department’s capacity at hospitals. There was a problem with electronic document information and its availability leading to delays with the unabridged birth certificates and their registration. Duplicate IDs were a serious problem and though the Department could establish cases where there were duplicate IDs, it could not by law delete an ID. The DHA therefore had to contact people to verify whether there were duplicate IDs in that person’s name, people had to come forward to the Department and report cases where that was the case. The unification of HANIS and NIIS would play a role in addressing the duplicate ID issue. There was fraud linked to the issue of rectification of the registration of birth which added further complications to the issue. The Department had thus instituted the 30 day late registration provision and triplicate forms for when a birth was registered to combat that fraud. The Inter-Agency Clearing Forum was formed in 2010 for the World Cup and was made up of the DHA, South African Revenue Service (SARS), the Department of Defence, the South African Police Service and the Department of Agriculture. The JCPS cluster had ruled that the IACF remain in place. The DHA could not work in isolation from other Departments and agencies and that was why the IACF was useful as it promoted coordination. The Department would bring the regulations on the Refugees Amendment Act to the Committee as promised. The DHA was in the process of reassessing the location of refugee centres in an attempt to move them closer to border posts and would report to the Committee on that process once it was complete. A regional approach to immigration was necessary and the Committee would be involved as the process moved forward with respect to multilateral discussions with SADC partners. Ms Fatima Chohan, Deputy Minister: Department of Home Affairs, had raised the issue of a regional approach at a recent SADC meeting held in Angola. Investigating corruption cases was in the interests of everyone but there were challenges with respect to capacity limitations in the Department. There was a need to coordinate with other Departments and provincial branches to tackle the issue. The cybercrime policy was developed by the Department of Communications but impacted on DHA as it pertained to the protection of valuable information stored digitally. The Department had consulted the National Treasury and the public at large in addressing the issue of the temporary IDs. In an attempt to give provincial branch offices a measure of autonomy, the DHA had given over the duties of managing the phones and other things to those offices. It was the responsibility of a provincial office to report to the DHA if it was having problems with its phones. The collection of IDs could only be done by the person whose ID it was and through the power of attorney right. Where the production of a permanent ID took longer than stated, the Department offered to pay for the renewal of a temporary ID. The permanent residence target of 40% for the first quarter was incremental and would move towards 70% as the financial year progressed. The DHA had integrated SANDF personnel because it was important to promote coordination in government and if the skills needed to do the job could be procured within the government then they would be. The Department was attempting to save money and to prevent backlogs by working with the SANDF.

Dr John Carneson, Chief Director for Strategic and Executive Support Service: DHA responded that the DHAs role in attracting scarce skills to the country was that of facilitation. The attraction of scarce skills could be done through consulates and foreign offices marketing the country. The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) was taking the lead in setting a strategy on attracting scarce skills. Some scarce skills were in high demand across the globe and there was serious competition to attract them which South Africa was not doing well in. Coordinating with key Departments and the transformation of permitting and security regulations would assist in facilitating the attraction of scarce skills. The attraction of scarce skills was still a work in progress which would improve with time. 

Ms S Rwexana (COPE) commented that the Committee’s recent oversight visit to the North West province had been an eye-opening experience. She sought clarity on whether the DHA had a possible plan to mark the Smart Cards of those who had voted when an election took place. She asked whether the Department had a policy to address young people who did not have IDs in high school and whether the DHA was working with the Department of Basic Education to remedy the problem. She suggested that legislation be developed to make it mandatory for a child to be named upon birth so as to avoid the issue of missing the late birth registration period. Lastly, she concluded that the Department had to play more of an active role in the registering of children at birth and the issuance of IDs to 16 year olds.

Mr Apleni replied that the DHA would coordinate with the Department of Basic Education on IDs and birth certificates. The Department was still in the process of working out the specifications for the Smart Card but would take Ms Rwexana’s comments on board. The Department would take direction from the Committee on possible legislation on the naming of children at birth but it would also look into the matter itself.

The Chairperson sought further clarity on the IACF and the makeup of it. She asked why the lamination plastic on IDs was easily removable.

Mr Apleni responded that the Inter-Agency Clearing Forum was formed in 2010 for the World Cup and was made up of the DHA, South African Revenue Service (SARS), the Department of Defence, the South African Police Service and the Department of Agriculture. The JCPS cluster had ruled that the IACF remain in place. The DHA could not work in isolation from other Departments and agencies and that was why the IACF was useful as it promoted coordination. The weakness of the lamination plastic on IDs was one of the reasons for the proposed move towards the Smart Card.

Mr G McIntosh (COPE) asked whether foreign national children born in the country were registered on the National Population Registry (NPR).

Mr Mkhize responded that foreign national children born in the country were registered on a separate database and given a designation depending on the circumstances of their birth and the status of their parents.

Briefing by the Department of Home Affairs on First Quarter Expenditure
Ms Rudzani Rasikhinya, Chief Financial Officer: DHA, briefed the Committee on the Departments 1^st quarter expenditure.

The Department had been allocated a baseline allocation of R5.4 billion for the 2011/12 fiscal year. It had allocated R3.9 billion to its operational costs. The DHA had allocated R2.2 billion to the compensation of its employees and R1.7 billion on goods and services.
The Department had been allocated R1.8 billion for Administration and had spent R680 million at the end of the first quarter, representing 35.9% expenditure. The DHA had allocated R2.9 billion for citizen affairs and had spent R797 million (26.7%) in the first quarter, R1.9 billion had been allocated to civic services with R380 million (19.9%) spent in the first quarter. The Department had allocated R576 million to immigration services and had spent R89 million (15.5%) in the first quarter. The Department’s overall expenditure from the baseline allocation was R1.5 billion which represented 28.7% expenditure.

Under the Department’s entities, the Film and Publications Board had been allocated R65 million and had spent R16 million (25.1%) in the first quarter. The Government Printing Works had been allocated R129 million and had spent all of its allocation in the first quarter. The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) had been allocated R799 million and had spent R271 million (34%) in the first quarter.

The Department had branches across all provinces and they had been given individual budget allocations for the 2011/12 fiscal year. The Eastern Cape had been allocated R203 million and had thus far spent R39 million (19.2%) in the first quarter. The Free State had been allocated R119 million and had thus far spent R23 million (19.2%). Gauteng had been allocated R337 million and had thus far spent R77 million (22.8%). KwaZulu Natal had been allocated R175 million and had spent R37 million (21.2%) in the first quarter. Limpopo had been allocated R193 million and had spent R36 million (18.8%) in its first quarter. Mpumalanga had been allocated R146 million R29 million (20%), North West had been allocated R135 million and had spent R27 million (20.7%). The Northern Cape had been allocated R75 million and had spent R14 million (19.2%). The Western Cape had been allocated R141 million and had spent R31 million (22.6%).

Amongst some of the Department’s challenges were delays in filling critical posts, incomplete suppliers’ details to comply with prescript relating to payment within 30 days, and late submission of invoices for payment. The Department endeavoured to review its recruitment plan and decentralize certain procurement and payment functions and capacitate the entity maintenance unit for capturing on BAS and Safety Web.

Discussion
Adv A Gaum (ANC) asked whether the R529 million paid to Gijima/AST was part of the “Who Am I Online” (WAIO) settlement. In addition, he asked whether the payment was for services rendered or for non-performance.

Ms Rasikhinya responded that the R529 million was the last payment made to Gijima/AST as part of the WAIO settlement which had had to be paid by 31 March 2011. Gijima/AST still provided software and hardware to the Department.

Ms Lovemore asked why the DHA had not spent anything close to the 25% it had to in the first quarter.

Ms Rasikhinya responded that the DHA had not spent 25% in the first quarter due to senior management positions in the DHA not being filled which mandated spending in key parts of the Department. There had been contract management lapses which also accounted for the under-spending but monitoring tools were being put in place to monitor monthly expenditure in the Department. The Department also had to implement cost saving measures to avoid excessive expenditure.

Mr McIntosh asked why the Government Printing Works (GPW) received 100% of its budget in the first quarter.

Ms Rasikhinya responded that the GPWs budget went through the DHA but it was a government component and could therefore receive its entire budget if it requested it in the first quarter which it had.

The meeting was adjourned.