Department of Home Affairs 2nd Quarter Expenditure Review

Meeting report

Department of Home Affairs 2^nd Quarter Expenditure Review
Mr Mkuseli Apleni, Director General, Department of Home Affairs, presented the 2^nd quarter performance and expenditure review of the Department of Home Affairs (the Department or DHA). He noted that the strategic plan of the DHA took into account the 12 government outcomes, and it had three main outcomes, supported by eleven measurable objectives. The three outcomes were: (a) Secured South African citizenship and identity, (b) ensuring that immigration was managed effectively and securely in the national interest including economic, social and cultural development and (c) having a service that was efficient, accessible and corruption free. He outlined the reporting format, noting that the targets noted were in respect of the 2012/13 financial year, and that where necessary, explanations were included for non-achievement or challenges, with remedial actions also outlined.

Under Outcome One Secured South African citizenship and identity, the DHA targeted a projected increase of 6% for births registered within 30 days of the birth event, against the estimated 1.1 million births per annum. This was achieved as 25,47% of births were registered, which was 0,3% over the planned target. 151 290 births were registered in this period, against a quarterly baseline of 149 540.

The second target was to connect 23 new hospitals/health institutions. This was not met. Only eight health facilities were connected, but this was a conscious decision linked to not moving assets whilst the audit was being done.  Now that the audit had been completed, an additional 16 hospitals had been connected.

DHA was having problems with the Department of Health, as there has been a freeze on movement of assets due to the audit process. In some instances, accommodation for DHA was also withdrawn by health facilities and must be re-negotiated.

There was an annual target of 15 additional stakeholder forums launched and functional, and four provincial forums (see attached presentation). Only two were launched. By mid-year, however, five out of the seven forums were launched. A meeting was held with Sukumu Sakhe leadership in KwaZulu Natal (KZN) to discuss cooperation. The Gauteng Provincial Stakeholder Forum was to be launched during the 4th quarter.

The Late Registration of Birth (LRB) programme saw 99% of LRB applications for the age group 31 and above being finalised within 6 months, meeting the targets. The 2013/14 was the last year in which this was being run.

The CRVS Conference was successfully held at the International Convention Centre, Ethekwini.

DHA projected for 391 104 (32%) first-time IDs were issued to citizens 16 years of age and above. This was only partially achieved, as 266 962 were issued, or 21,84% of the baseline projection. The problems were linked to the strikes, which meant that application forms were not received, and to address this it was recognised that Live Capture Services needed to be rolled out as they were not dependent on the strikes. The DHA and Department of Basic Education (DBE) were working together to ensure that those currently 15 years old would be able to get their ID on turning 16, and to enable credible projections.

The New National Identity System was being designed, which included details of South African citizens and foreign nationals. The target was reached since the agreement was signed at the end of June 2012. DHA would now be hosting Joint Application Development sessions during October and November, with Civics and Immigration Services, to produce the first draft User Requirements Specifications.

In this quarter, 66 offices were supposed to be ready for live capture roll out, and training should had been conducted at these offices. This was partially achieved. The functional specification for the live capture of Passports, First-Issue and Re-Issue of ID Documents had been developed, but the development of systems would happen only after finalizing the contracts with the service providers, which was now being done. The was Team would meet with a team from South African Revenue Services (SARS) to draft a project and resources plan and establish the cost implications of increasing the hours on the project to meet the deadlines or reduce the delays.

The ID Smart Card pilot had been achieved, with the technical specifications being finalised, and 100 pilot Smart Cards had been issued and were being tested. The Smart Card would be fully rolled out by end of 2012.

The annual target was to resuscitate the Electronic Document Management System (EDMS) to enable retrieval of existing EDMS records. By quarter 2, it was intended to have the developed of new scripts to export images, in preparation for phase 3. This was achievement. The current EDMS had been de-commissioned and re-commissioned, and data recovery was in progress. Scripts were developed as expected. This was intended to move away from a paper-based systems. By 1 December there would be only one birth certificate.

The target to have the Business Processes Review, (based on Developed User requirements) completed was been achieved, due to its reliance on the Immigration Regulations, which had not yet been finalised. Once this was in place, people would apply for visas before entering the country.

DHA had achieved the target to pilot the Trusted Traveller Programme piloted, and the programme had been duly revised and new user requirements drafted. Fingerprinting instead of passport stamping would be used with neighbouring countries, to move border crossing queues much faster.

DHA aimed to have improvements to Enhanced Movement Control System (EMCS) identified to inform further rollout, and this was partially achieved. Equipment had been procured, after a delay, and a project plan developed for the roll-out in the next six months.

The DHA had created a proposal for a Pilot Programme for rollout of biometric technology (fingerprint and facial recognition solutions) at OR Tambo International Airport (ORTIA).

There were still challenges that several people “owned” the same ID number, despite attempts to eliminate this. The target was to resolve 38 000 (100%) of identified cases, and the target for this quarter for resolve 9 500 (25%) of cases. However, only 1 016 cases were resolved. The problem was that DHA was reliant on people coming forward when it advertised, but there was work with other departments to resolve the situation. The DHA knew of 41 500 duplicate IDs and aimed to resolve half, but it had managed to resolve only 5 526. One person would use the different IDs for different purposes. DHA further targeted to resolve newly-reported ID duplications within 12 weeks, and it had managed to finalise 56 of the 372 newly-reported cases in that time. However, he reminded Members that the duplicate IDs were an indicator of fraud, and whilst the innocent party would come forward, the other would not.

Mr Apleni then moved on to describe achievements under Outcome 2: Immigration management. The DHA had managed to draft a paper on immigration policy, which it still needed to have gazetted.

The DHA had managed to achieve the target of having a visa facilitation centre in Angola and it must now do the same for the DRC. This was a pilot, using the same company as it had done in 2010, but not a tender. Only in 2013 would the pilot be converted to a tender.

There had not been achievement of having one Status Determination Committee (SDC), with  sub-committees, established in each of the existing Refugee Reception Offices (RRO) and having a set number of Refugee Status Determination Officers (RSDOs) designated. Mr Apleni said that DHA must fast track adoption of regulations to enable the full implementation of the Refugees Act and its Regulations, which would allow for recruitment of the SDC members, to ensure effective and efficient implementation of the Refugees Amendment Act.

DHA had submitted a proposal for building a refugee reception centre in Lebombo to the  Department of Public Works (DPW) and was waiting for approval.

Mr Apleni reminded the Committee that DHA had been awarded R110 million for improved residential and office infrastructure at six ports of entry (Maseru Bridge, Beit Bridge, Oshoek, Lebombo, Cape Town and Durban harbours). However, he reiterated that the money was not allocated to DHA, but to DPW. DHA had done a needs analysis, but the challenge remained that DHA work, although completed, did not always result in action by the DPW. 

Permitting processes were supposed to be redesigned, based on Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) that were drawn in consultation with foreign offices and Legal Services. However, the Minister had not yet approved the regulations, so that the strategy could not be developed.

A draft Strategy was submitted to Departmental structures for approval, and some meetings had been held, and the consultations would be fast-tracked to provide inputs into immigration policy considerations. Meetings had been held with the Departments of Trade and Industry, Labour, Higher Education and Training, Science and Technology and Economic Development. 

The DHA did not achieve its targets to draw a strategy to reposition DHA as a learning organisation, because the research took longer than expected. This should be completed by the end of the year.

The DHA had an annual target for 100 Managers to be enrolled and trained in outbound management and leadership development programmes. This had been partially achieved, as 22 Senior Managers, 26 Middle Managers, and 38 Junior Managers were trained in Blocks 3, 4 & 5 of the Management Development Training Programmes.

The Department aimed to have its Cadet Programme designed, developed  and approved. A workshop had been conducted for input from stakeholders and a draft concept paper had been developed. It needed to be finalised through intra-departmental consultations.

The target to identify security gaps in the four critical processes of security (at Missions, Ports of Entry, Supply Chain Management and Deportations) was partially achieved. Security evaluations were performed on processes in three Ports of Entries (Durban Harbour, Beit Bridge Border Post and Cape Town International Airport).

DHA, in order to address problems of corruption between departments, had wanted to create a database accessible to two JCPS cluster departments, to strengthen counter corruption within that cluster. The database was still at design stage, and it would go to tender, once confirmed.

On the disciplinary side, the DHA aimed to have all new misconduct cases finalised within 60 days. However, the current system of appeals and delaying tactics had not allowed for this. 41 of the 65 cases were finalised within 60 days, but 24 were carried over to the next quarter.

DHA had a target to develop accounting policies governing the trading account, as well as normal policies and procedures, including consultation with relevant stakeholders. The draft for compiling quarterly financial statements on the Trading Account had been completed and was awaiting approval from National Treasury.

DHA aimed to pay all valid invoices, within 30 days of receipt and approval. It managed to pay 54% of valid invoices submitted within 30 days, which was an improvement, but the delays for the rest were due to lack of response from some suppliers in confirming banking details, delays from business units, delays in budget being made available, and delays in submission of the invoices from the business units.

DHA wanted to have the access strategy developed and approved, to bring DHA services closer to the people, and in this quarter it aimed to conduct research benchmarking. This was not achieved. It was dependent on the availability of the team from Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA). Consultations did, however, take place as planned and some reports were obtained, although the research was not completed. There was ongoing consultation with CSIR and DPSA, and consideration of the DPSA final report recommendations. This final report would be made available during November 2012. The preliminary study raised questions as to whether there should be more focus on mobile units in rural areas, as people were actually moving away from these areas.

On the personnel side, DHA aimed to have vacant funded posts filled within 3 months This was not been achieved (see attached presentation for figures). Only 11.27% of vacant funded posts (inclusive of natural attrition) were filled within the 3 months time.

The target to have 95% of First Issue IDs issued within 54 days was partially achieved with 89.5% of IDs being issued in this time. The quarter one and two figures were summarised. The Skynet strike action had posed major challenges.

The DHA was also concerned at the number of applications for ID Re-issues, despite imposing a tariff for these in the last year. The Re-Issues of IDs were supposed to be done within 47 days, and 98.3% of re-issues were done in that time frame. The target to have 95% of machine readable passports issued within 24 days was achieved. The target of having 97% of applications for machine readable passports to be issued within 13 days by the live capture process was also met at 97.49% compliance. (Full figures and comparisons were given in the attached presentation).

The DHA experienced problems with Permanent Residence permits, and had been taken to court on this point.  60% of Permanent Residence permits were issued within eight months, and the DHA had now quantified the backlog at 11 000, and had deployed extra capacity to clear the Temporary Residence applications backlog, and to do overtime to eliminate the Permanent Residence backlog. This should be completely cleared by the end of the financial year. It had eradicated more than 46 000 of the backlog of Temporary Residence permits in July 2012, and most Temporary Residence permits were issued in eight weeks. A daily adjudication strategy was implemented. For the future, capacity was increased and new employees were appointed from 01 October 2012.

The Department had embarked on correcting ambiguities in the 2012-1013 Annual Performance Plan, to ensure that they meet the SMART principles set by the Auditor-General (AG).  The strategic intent and the scope of targets would not change. The amendments, after approval by the Minister, would be brought to the Committee.

Mr Apleni then gave examples of work in progress on refining targets (see attached presentation)

Mr Apleni then outlined some of the key priorities for the future. The announcement that the DHA must play a leading role in establishing and managing the Border Management Agency would enable the DHA and its partners to ensure a secure and efficient flow of people and goods through ports of entry and establish risk-based systems.

He reiterated that a number of target must be improved, without changing their strategic intent.

DHA also had to address its continued dependence on the Department of Public Works that was blocking progress of key initiatives, such as improving poor infrastructure at ports of entry.

The management of asylum seekers and refugees, and the modernisation of DHA systems, and immigration in general, were critical areas.

The hosting by South Africa of the 2013 AFCON Cup would had budgetary implications.

Other matters were the provision of bandwidth by the State Information Technology Agency (SITA) and the continuation of transformation efforts by the DHA overall.

Ms Rudzani Rasikhinya, Chief Financial Officer, DHA, tabled the second quarter spending, indicating the financial performance, giving an update on the audit process, the Trading Account and the revenue collection.

She noted that although the DHA should had spent 50% by end September 2012, it had achieved 45%.The Administration programme’s spending was 36%, mainly due to non-spending of funds allocated for the DHA modernisation. DHA had decided to release R100 million as a saving to National Treasury, during the adjustment budget process, as it was currently unable to spend this, and the amount could be re-allocated when it was ready to do so. The Citizen Affairs programme was on track and Immigration Services was spending higher than projects, because of the higher-than-anticipated costs of the Advanced Passenger Processing (APP) system. DHA was engaging with the service provider to see how the costs could be reduced.

The spending by economic classification was outlined. Under spending was largely due to non-filling of many vacancies; only 11% of the vacancies were filled by end-September, but this had since then improved. Goods and services had under-spent due, and misspending had occurred on Software and Intangible assets, which had spent 111.8% of the budget. This would be rectified. Transfers and Subsidies had under-spent as the purchase of vehicles did not take place. The Household Expenditure was over-spending, at 191.5%. She explained that this was intended to cater for the payouts for those leaving DHA. The budget was not large enough to cover all the payments.

In 2005/6 the DHA had had unauthorised expenditure, as the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) had refused to authorize the spending. The DHA had then set aside a reserve, so that money could be taken from the baseline once the relevant legislation was passed. There was still work needed to pass the Finance Bill in this year.

The next two slides showed how each of the units within the programme were doing. She only spoke about those with irregular spending. The audit services had under-spent as it was out on tender at present. The learning academy had over spent as it was currently giving training to new employees at OR Tambo but this would and will be reduced when the trainees were employed.

Ms Rasikhinya explained that following the last engagement with the Portfolio Committee, a debriefing session was held with the Auditor-General and Senior managers within the Department. The action plan was developed, would be presented to the DHA Management Committee on 15 November 2012, for input and final approval by the Department’s EXCO. National Treasury had approved the Trading Account for the DHA, and she indicated which revenue would be taken through that (see attached presentation). Finally, she noted that the revenue collected was R274 426 731, of which R84 160 655 was spent, leaving a surplus of R190 266 076. The Department was currently discussing how that money could be spent; mostly likely it would be spent on the Smart Card.

Discussion
The Chairperson noted that no timeframes had been given for the targets. This must be done in future presentations. She was concerned that the Immigration regulations had not been finalized, which meant that no implementation could happen and she asked that this be fast-tracked. She asked what “declared savings” represented, and why these were being saved, not spent as indicated in the budget.

Mr A Gaum (ANC) had hoped that by now the Permanent Residence permits would had been resolved. He asked why there was still a problem in that area and how the Department planned to address it. He also noted that the timeframe initially indicated for solving the problem was not met. He also noted that the Department had said it was waiting for enactment of legislation to allow it to move forward, but asked when this would happen.

Mr G McIntosh (COPE) was encouraged by the DHA efforts. He was relieved that the new Minister had great experience and an effective team, and believed the Department would move ahead quickly now.

Mr McIntosh had a problem with the target to have all people registered at birth, pointing out that there were problems and loopholes in this area. He asked if the Department was doing a SWOT analysis, and how it did the biometric data gathering.

Mr McIntosh asked how often the stakeholder forums met, and if people were paid subsistence and travelling allowances for their attendance. He thought people were doing a public service and should not be paid to attend the forum. He congratulated the DHA on doing a good job and compared it to Congo Brazaville, which he had recently experienced on a trip.

Mr McIntosh asked why the EDMS was allowed to degrade so much that it needed resuscitating. He drew the Department’s attention to the problem of farmers refusing to hire the Basutu in the farms around Lesotho, on the basis that they were illegal immigrants. He sympathised with problems of multiple IDs.

Mr McIntosh said that the economy would not grow without private investment. Government did not grow the economy, and South Africa needed to have about 50 000 skilled workers brought into the country. He encouraged the Department to speed up the application time for skilled workers, and for Permanent Residence. Eight months was far too long for issuing of permits, and DHA must look to new methods they could implement to assist this. He asked if more white people could be hired within the Department, and suggested campaigns, if necessary, because these people may not feel welcome.

The Chairperson agreed that the issue of duplicate IDs was of serious impact, on both the DHA and the people, for those lacking IDs could not transact business. The unit dealing with this needed to be better capacitated.

Ms P Peterson-Maduna (ANC) asked how long the programme on facial recognition at O.R. Tambo would take. She raised the issue of the disabled being hired within the Department and felt that the DHA was not taking it seriously.

Mr S Mnqasela (DA) asked what the meeting with Sukuma Sakhe was about and what was discussed. He asked about the budget for each province and how it was allocated. He was also concerned about the poor staffing and the high vacancy rates, and the impact that would had on South Africa’s economy. He asked how much the STCs and the appointment of the STOs would cost. He asked when the public was likely to get Smart Cards, which had been under discussion for quite a while.

Mr M de Freitas (DA) suggested that the Department must create a spreadsheet showing timeframes. so that the Committee would be able to assess progress and meeting of objectives. He was concerned that many processes were cumbersome, and that, at the current rates, many targets would never be met. Many skilled workers found it very difficult to enter the country. He said that the Department should create a new system which eased their path.

Mr de Freitas agreed that there were clashes in the Western Cape between Zimbabwean and Lesotho workers, and agreed that farmers were reluctant to hire those from Lesotho, as this carried other implications. He wondered if DHA was aware of the situation.

Mr de Freitas asked what DHA would do for those who genuinely could not afford to pay for an ID. He suggested that there should be a dispensation for people in informal settlements.

Mr de Freitas noted that the DHA’s relationship with the DPW seemed to be a problem still. He asked if there had been any progress in this regard.

Mr de Freitas finally asked for clarity in regards to the APPs and how the budget works for that.

Ms G Bothman (ANC) said that there should not be confusion between skills and investment. Skilled people in South Africa need jobs from investors, and it should not be assumed that the skills should be brought in with the foreign investors. The DHA must do a skills audit in South Africa and see what skills were already here.

Ms Bothman noted the comment on mobile services in the rural areas, and suggested that, in order to stem the flow of people to the cities, conditions and a conducive environment – such as services being offered – should be offered to incentivize people to stay in those areas, not flood into cities.

Ms Bothman wanted more detail on the unauthorised expenditure for the Software and Intangible Assets.  She was concerned about the reasons that posts were not being filled and why there were so many vacancies, especially given that by every year end, money was consistently being re-allocated away from this budget item.

Ms Bothman asked why no reports were given for North West, Eastern Cape, Gauteng and Free State.

The Chairperson noted that there could not be stability in the Department when there were so many vacant posts unfilled. She called for a more detailed response.

Mr Apleni explained that each target was broken down into each quarter and there were specific targets which must be completed by the end of each quarter, and this could be provided to the Committee.

He noted that the former Minister of the DHA had gone through the amendments to the Regulations, but had not approved them before taking up her new post. This issue was being fast tracked and should be approved by December.

To answer questions on the Permanent Residence Permits, he noted that in July the backlog of Temporary Permits was cleared. Once that had been cleared, the Department could now start on the Permanent Residence Permit backlog.

The DHA had  met with the Minister on the new legislation, but was still discussing exactly what was needed and whether each of the challenges required legislation. The DHA wanted a framework which showed the various directions available.

The DHA had indeed conduced a SWOT analysis of the programme to register all children within 30 days of birth, and was concerned that if this period was extended, there could be challenges if the parents passed away, as there were many children who reached the age of 16 without ever having been documented at all. It was important to get these numbers and statistics in order for DHA to understand how to work in each province and where the key needs were.

Mr Apleni assured Members that the government was aware of the issue of illegal immigrants. The Department of Defence has been sent back to the borderlines to guard the ports of entry. That was why biometrics must be taken at the Port of Entry. Employers were becoming more aware that they could not simply hire someone who was illegally in South Africa. Now that the Zimbabwean dispensation has been dealt with, they DHA had to decide where next to assess.

Mr Apleni said, in relation to scarce and foreign skills, that he wondered if companies could not be asked to do due diligence to a certain standard and submit the results to DHA. He too was concerned that scarce skills were being brought from abroad. The Department had a responsibility to recruit for critical skills and not just “skills”.  Internally, he agreed that it was important for DHA to recruit people of all races and it must be balanced. He explained that the Department wanted to get lists for the disabled so it could shortlist for posts to give tangible results. The issue of the spreadsheet would be developed and submitted to the Committee. The Department was looking into the benefits that could be offered to a person with a critical skill to entice him/her to South Africa. 

Expanding further on the skills issue, Mr Apleni explained that to assist the necessary skills in South Africa, the Department of Economic Development (DED) must create a list of the skills necessary for the country, and the Department of Higher Education must ask why they were not already in the country, and the Department of Labour must create a quota of skills needed. Department of Trade and Industry (dti) must say that foreign investment was important but it must benefit South Africans, and not just have people coming in from the outside to work.

He explained the O.R. Tambo project would be implemented by 2013/14. The clashes with farm workers were being dealt with by police, as no South Africans should be fighting with anyone.

Mr Apleni explained that the first ID was free of charge. If there was a disaster such as a fire or floods, the Minister could waive the fees for replacement documents.

In regard to the relationship between DHA and DPW he said that there were meetings between the two, and processes were agreed upon, but the implementation remained the problem. There were ongoing attempts to arrange a meeting with the two Ministers. The major problem remained the fact that DHA still had to work through DPW to have any leases agreed.

Mr Apleni reiterated that the unauthorised expenditure occurred in 2005/6, when the Department exceeded its budget. It had now had to come off the baseline amount in this year.

Ms Rasikhinya explained the savings. During the budgeting process, National Treasury approached all the departments, and asked them to reconsider if there were any amounts that, although budgeted, would not be able to be spent in this financial year. If this money was returned to National Treasury and declared as a saving, it could be reallocated in future years. If it was given back without being declared as a saving, or it was allocated for something else, then it would not be given to the Department again in the future. When creating the budget for the provinces, certain criteria were used, including the population in the province, history of spending in previous financial years and DHA would ask for a zero based budget, which was the cost for each office to operate. Each office should have a photocopier, printer, stationery and so on, budgeted first, with other budgets for “luxuries” which would include outreach programmes and campaigns, which must be sought additionally to the basic budget.

She explained that in the latest budget request, DHA had made a request for R280 million for filling the vacant posts, but nothing was allocated. The Department must reprioritise positions as no budget was given for the filling of these vacant posts. The capacity within HR was not sufficient for the filling of positions. Some of the unfilled positions were from the 2012/11 financial period and the filling of posts must be balanced and spread over the MTF period.

She explained that the Advanced Passenger Processing system (APP) was a contract for seven years, with the service provider. The system gave advance warning of passengers as they were boarding the planes. The issue was that the Department wanted the airlines to fund the system, but National Treasury felt that DHA should implement the system. The Department was looking at how it could do this.

Ms Avril Williamson, Deputy Director General: Human Resources, DHA, explained that the Department was taking the vacancy rate seriously. The Department was improving in how it was attracting all genders and races. It had ring fenced 105 positions across levels and branches in the Department for affirmative action. The DHA was also developing a portal that would request the CVs of disabled people to be submitted and line management was engaged on this issue. All staff had been asked to disclose their disabilities. The percentage of disabled employees had increased from 0.5% shown here.

Ms Williamson explained that 40% of the current promotions were happening within the Department, so that whenever people moved up internally, the gaps were being created below. DHA had brought in over 57 people from the Department of Defence (DOD) for response handling at the Ports of Entry. 96 posts would be filled at the seaports in Cape Town and Durban and a decision had been made on the kind of people required for the ports of entry. DHA did take recruitment seriously and the filling of vacancies was linked to the reprioritization.

The Chairperson said that the Committee supported the internal recruitment, as there was a lot of experience among the staff. The concern was that there were still vacancies in key positions. She told of her visit to the Soweto office, where she was pleased to see young people in place, but DHA must ensure that quality was retained by filling the posts with appropriate people.

Mr Apleni said that he would bring a list of the vacant positions and advise the Committee what the DHA was doing to fill them.

Mr Vusi Mkhize, Deputy Director General: Civic Services, DHA, then explained that analysis was being done on the types of stipends which should be received by stakeholders, and said that most were attending meetings at their own costs. He explained the purpose of the Sukumu Sakhe meetings. When the departments initiated the stakeholder forums, provinces had more and more of their own coordinated activities run through the different departments involving youth ambassadors. Sometimes this led to clashes or duplications. There had to be a decision whether to maintain the stakeholder forums or to merge with the Sukumu Sakhe programme, and it was decided to merge the two as they did similar work.

Mr Mkhize also addressed the multiple ID problem. He said that this was only isolated when fingerprinting was done. Initially, 600 000 duplicates had been identified, but the DHA had managed to eliminate them, and currently there were 83 000 that remained a problem. 250 000 of those “sharing” the same ID number were identified, and 65 000 were able to be found. 29 000 had been dealt with. He noted that it was very difficult to resolve this problem. The Department was trying to visit these people, but often the addresses were incorrect, and now DHA was approaching cellphone companies in an attempt to get an updated address and contact details. The DHA could inform people that their ID documents would be marked as “no longer functional” until they came forward to sort out the problem. A team was working full time on this project.

Mr Mkhize said the DHA was embarking on training on the Citizenship Act, which could not be implemented until the training had been completed, and would not be implemented from 1 January.

Mr Mkhize stressed that all provinces were covered. For instance, when a target was set, all provinces would get their quarterly target. Not every province was, however, reflected in the current report.

Mr Sello Mmakau, Deputy Director General: Information Services, DHA, explained that it was mandated to use SITA for technology. SITA was providing technology for the mobile offices, and some were still awaiting connectivity. Originally, DHA had worked with Sentech. It had taken almost a year for SITA to find a service provider to do upgrades and maintenance. The Director General had met with the Directors General for Department of Public Service and Administration, and the Chief Executive Officer of SITA but to date this had not improved. This was problematic for the whole of the government IT systems and was causing particular problems for mobile units.

He noted that the EDMS had collapsed when DHA went out on tender in 2004/5 for upgrading. The tender was controlled by SITA, and was not dealt with properly (being done over the internet), and there were legal issues which took a while to resolve. Only now could the EDMS be resuscitated.

He explained that there had been progress with the pilot programme for fingerprints and facial recognition. The Department was trying to add more security to the current Movement Control System. There were skills in the Department for fingerprint biometrics, and the facial recognition system was something it was now adding. The fingerprint biometric system would be rolled out in this week, at the airport. There would not be any problems getting the Smart Cards to Members.

The Chairperson asked for clarity as to whether an internal auditor or an external service, such as KPMG would be hired to complete the audit services.

Ms P Mathebe (ANC) was concerned that at the CRVS conference, issues such as national identity were raised by other countries, and asked what the Department was going to do in regards to the National Population Register.

Ms Bothman was concerned that at the current level, births could not be registered, yet the DHA was trying to fast-track applications of foreigners. Surely the emphasis should be on its own citizens first. She suggested that the savings in the budget should be used for the filling of vacant posts. She was concerned that there was not enough being done to increase the capacity of the HR unit, therefore posts would not be filled.

The Chairperson said that allowing late registration of birth had been a loophole in the system, and it should now be closed. Children without parents must be assisted. There were, however, many children on farms who were not registered, and did not have IDs on reaching 16 years old, and the DHA must address that.

Mr Apleni explained that, for 2013/14 plan, a strategy would be produced to deal with the problem of late registration of birth, rather than allowing this to continue. He suggested that there be a penalty for not registering a child within 30 days. He agreed that DHA had been told of examples of people working on a farm for 40 years who were not allowed to leave the farm to register their child. He agreed with the need to ensure that DHA could access people living in remote areas and on farms.

The Department was looking into the resolution of the Citizen Registration and Voter System as there was a problem with people trying to move around Africa, who were stateless. One benefit would be to enable people to cross borders more easily. Lesotho had just started its preparation of a national population register. The Smart Card must be explained properly to the public. He explained that the Smart Card would clean up the National Population Register and would avoid fraudulent traveling, as at airports, Smart Cards could be checked as the systems were connected.

One of the proposals regarding Permanent Residence was to make it a long term option rather than transferring it into citizenship, as other countries did.

Mr Apleni confirmed that the compensation figures would be presented more clearly in the third quarter, as it was budgeted for nine months.

Ms Rasikhinya explained that the Audit Services was for the internal audit function. There were areas where the internal auditors did not have all necessary skills - such as the IT areas and these areas needed to be audited as well. This was why an external service provider was brought in.

The meeting was adjourned.