Provincial Departments of Home Affairs 1st quarter 2013/14 performance: Limpopo, Gauteng, Mpumalanga departmental briefings

Home Affairs

25 July 2013
Chairperson: Ms M Maunye (ANC)
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Meeting Summary

Three provincial managers from the Departments of Home Affairs in Limpopo, Gauteng and Mpumalanga, briefed the Committee on the state of their respective provinces, focusing on the progress towards achieving strategic objectives in 2013/2014. Each of those offices dealt, in turn, with statistics for the ports of entry, areas visited, the campaigns conducted, particularly to enhance public awareness and to reduce Late Registrations of Birth, the numbers of births registered within 30 days, and the arrangements where the births took place after hours or over weekends, the arrangements with more hospitals to set up facilities in those areas, and the work done, and turnaround times, in respects of permits, passports and travel documents. The numbers of undocumented foreigners detected and deported were also noted. On the financial side, the payment of invoices and spending against targets in the first quarter was noted. On the human resources side, the appointments, vacancies, problems in vetting and training were also described. Each of the provincial departments noted that accommodation remained a problem, with cumbersome and frustrating processes having to be completed through the Department of Public Works, which was still failing to identify and secure available space.

Limpopo noted its main achievements as increased human resources at ports of entry, the high impact outreach programmes, partnerships with other government departments. It said that its main challenges were in relation to amendment and rectification cases, uncollected IDs, which also produced the potential for corrupt officials to take and sell the ID books, the temporary closure of the Pafuri Border Post, offices  not compliant to physical disability requirements and the fact that the Beitbridge port of entry tents were no longer safe. There was insufficient office space at Giriyondo office and the Elim Office had been closed. Sekhukhuni , Mopani and Vhembe Districts experienced electricity cut offs and copper cable thefts. There were 890 of the approved 1 668 psts filled, and 125 vacant and funded posts. Two officials were in place at the Counter-corruption Unit and ten officials were charged with corruption. It had spent 98% of the budget for the quarter.

Members expressed concern about the number of acting officials, the high proportion of non-functinoing mobile offices and noted that people with multiple IDs would not be willing to hand them in. There were many temporary passports being issued. They asked about the border posts and whether there was not opportunity for illegal entry there. There also questioned how late registrations of birth were assessed for validity, how many non-South African learners were in schools, how the Smart Card roll out training was conducted and by whom, and reasons for dismissal and resignation of staff.

The Gauteng office noted that it had achieved five out of 25 targets for the 1st quarter, and cited as major achievements the high impact outreach, the strategy to reduce late registration of birth; the registration of ID applications on Track and Trace at front offices within one day; issuing of section 22 permits and status determinations within the targeted times, and queue reduction. However, it conceded that areas still needed improvement. Its challenges were listed as inadequate capacity within the inspectorate unit, problems with line-item recordal of budgets, which led to delays when funds were requested, accruals not being paid, the high backlof amendments and rectifications and delays in filling posts when South African Police Service delayed in security clearances. There were 77 vacant funded posts. The province spent 25.66% of the budget in the first quarter. Counter corruption and security services had received 12 cases and held 12 hearings, with six of them being finalised.

Members asked for an explanation of the shifting of funds, and criticised the incorrect capturing of figures. They asked about clearances, expressed concern that some offices had been offline, enquired about the preparations for elections, and asked that the Lenasia office problems be attended to

The Mpumalanga provincial office noted that it had achieved 25 out of its 36 targets. It had improved turn-around time for staff appointments, and had filled 87 posts, and delegated functions. There were currently 39 vacant funded posts. There was also improved turnaround on orders and payments. Its major challenge lay in getting suitable accommodation, particularly in the rural areas. Clients were not cooperating with the late registration of births, and influx of illegal foreigners was a problem. Targets not achieved including queue reductions, cases recorded and investigated. It had not managed to get ID books to all matric-writers. It did have a youth programme of action. The spending in this quarter was at 24.5% of budget.

Members asked for the reasons why foreigners and South Africans were refused permission to leave the country or enter the country, and how the province estimated the number of undocumented persons. Members queried the comment that 40% of this province’s population was “illiterate”, pointed out that most were able to operate cellphones, and urged the Department of Public Works to be more proactive in finding office space.  

Meeting report

Department of Home Affairs Provincial Managers’ briefings on achievement of 2013/14 strategic objectives
Limpopo provincial office

Ms Nthoriseng Motsitsi, Provincial Manager: Limpopo Provincial Department of Home Affairs, briefed the Committee on the state of the province. She gave an overview of the footprint of the Department in the province, listing operational offices, health facilities and mobile offices. There were 16 mobile offices.

Operations
The provincial target for the first quarter was for 15 304 births to be registered within 30 calendar days of the birth. This was achieved, with 19 219 births registered. Waterberg District did not meet its target, but overall the province over-achieved the target of 0-30 day’s birth registration. More should be done to reduce the “31 days to 14 years” late registration of births, as the statistics for the category were almost as high as those in the “0-30 days” category. Aggressive public education campaigns on 0-30 days of birth registration were required, especially in areas where health facilities were connected. It was necessary to keep proper registers of births taking place after-hours and on weekends, and to make follow ups to ensure births were registered within 30 days

There was an annual target for seven additional health institutions with maternity facilities to be operational for online birth registration. For the first quarter, the target was no additional health institutions. However, change forms  had been submitted to replace targeted health facilities due to lack of accommodation and early connection. Duiwelskloof had been replaced with LephalaleMedi Clinic and Leboeng Clinic with Manotoena.

The target for the quarter was for 31 stakeholder forums  to be maintained and functional, including those to be revived. No stakeholder forums  were to be launched in the province. This was partially achieved, 25 stakeholder forums  were maintained and functional. The main challenge was the unavailability of members due to competing priorities. An induction workshop for chairpersons was to be conducted in August 2013 to remedy this.

The quarterly target for late registration of birth (LRB) applications was for all applications received for those of 15 years or older to be pre-processed at front offices in the province. This was achieved; all LRB applications were preprocessed within 70 working days.

100% of South African learners aged 16 years and above were issued with identification documents (IDs). The installation of new satellite dishes impacted on school visitations as mobile offices were booked for prolonged periods for maintenance, installations and testing. To achieve more, the Department of Basic Education (DBE) was to send an advance list of matriculants, which would contain South African and foreign learners.  A better working relationship between DBE and DHA was required to avoid conflicting programmes.

The province had a target of 33 426 ID applications collected and processed in front offices, but only 13 945 were processed, so that this target was not achieved. It was hindered by the mobile offices being booked for satellite dish installations, repairs and maintenance. Mobile offices had since been made fully functional and itineraries were in place. Collection of applications was on the rise.

It was targeted that 9 500 (25%) of ID duplicate cases (multiple persons sharing one ID number) would be resolved in the 1st quarter. This was not achieved, only 3% of cases were resolved. This was because clients were not available at their residences.

The 1st quarter target for ID duplicate cases (one person with multiple ID numbers) was for 50% of ID duplicate cases to be resolved. This was not achieved, only 119 applications were received and 7 finalised. This was also because clients were not available at their residences.

Four offices had been identified for refurbishment for the year. Although only the Vuwani office was identified as a 1st quarter target, the ball had been set rolling for a number of offices. The Mankweng office refurbishment was finalised and the office was occupied on 11 June 2013; refurbishment was in process at the Sekhukhuni, Waterberg, and Modjadjiskloof offices; and the Vuwani refurbishment was completed but not handed over. Focus was on the 27 offices that would roll out the Smartcard. There were delays in finalising offices for refurbishment. Equal attention and focus should be given to offices identified for refurbishment after the Smartcard launch. Jane Furse, Polokwane and Tzaneen offices were identified for the first stage of Smartcard roll out project.

No new offices had been opened in the province, although Aganang office had been in the DHA footprint for more than two years and Head Office had approved the opening of new offices at Sekhukhuni District (Ephraim Mogale Municipality- Marble Hall). There were many challenges and tedious processes to get new offices. In future, DHA was urging the Department of Public Works (DPW) to procure accommodation, especially in areas where there were long distances to be travelled to reach the nearest DHA office.

The province achieved the target for first issue ID applications to be registered on Track and Trace at front offices within three days, or one day for offices with Track and Trace. Passport applications were also captured within the targeted period of two working days, for both the manual process and the live capture process.

The province partially achieved the objective to collect, quality assure and refer permanent residence permit applications to Head Office within two days. To improve on monitoring of performance the inspectorate and Head Office were to provide monthly Track and Trace reports per office for comparison with permanent residence application registers.

All temporary residence permits (all categories) were registered on Track and Trace at front offices in the province within two working days.

The province successfully charged nine employers on disciplinary action in respect of illegal work. Although the target was achieved, the process was found to be too long and in need of streamlining.
2 612 transgressors of departmental legislation were deported, superceding the quarterly target of 738 transgressors. 100% of detected undocumented foreigners were deported within 30 calendar days.

The province did not achieve its target of completing 80% of cases referred to the inspectorate within 28 working days. Only 22% were completed. Updating on the case management system was not done efficiently. There was also a shortage of Inspectorate staff in the province.

100% of section 22 permits were issued within one day and 75% of first instance determination was finalised within six months, as required by targets.

The province partially achieved the target of establishing a project on fraudulent marriages. Eight marriages were investigated, out of the ten that were targeted. This was due to a lack of communication between the various units in offices in reporting fraudulent marriages.

The province partially achieved its targets regarding average time customers spent in queues (see attached presentation for details on the types of queues and offices).

The baseline for the previous financial year (FY) was 36 minutes (manual), the average for the province was 37 minutes. Offices therefore needed to improve on their turn-around time. Electronic queue management systems  were rolled out in only two offices in Limpopo, and manual systems  were undependable.

The province conducted an outreach programme in Waterberg District from 3 to 12 June 2013.

Human Resources
Mr  Thithelimbilu Matshaya, Director: Finance and Support, Limpopo Provincial Department, said that there was a total of 1 668 approved posts in the establishment, of which 890 were filled. There were 125 vacant funded posts. 36 vacant funded posts had been filled within six months, just falling short of the target of 38 posts. One of the challenges experienced was delays in obtaining security and reference checks. The staff turnover rate was 3%. There were 125 posts to be filled in 2013. 60% of the interviews had been finalised and submissions were in process. Delays were caused by advice from counter-corruption on reports with criminal records and negative credit records.

He outlined the demographic staff breakdown: representation of coloured staff were 0,2%, black staff 96,2%, white staff 3.3%, and Indian staff 0.1%. Women were 52.69% represented and disabled staff represented 1.8%.

There were three outstanding performance agreements and two outstanding annual assessment conducted.

The majority of staff had a National Certificate (440 people), while some had a Diploma (183 people) and some had a degree (54). A small minority were educated at a post-graduate level. 197 people did not have a National Certificate.

Training was conducted on absenteeism, the new management programme, middle management programme, grievance procedures, the basic accounting system, performance development management system and public service induction.

The Provincial Counter Corruption Unit consisted of two officials and was fully operational. Ten officials had been charged with corruption.

Budget and Expenditure
The total budget allocation was R205.2 million, of which R200.087 million had been spent, representing 98% of the budget. In terms  of the linear projections the province should have spent 25% to date, but it was found that it was under spending on compensation of employees.

93% (as opposed to the target of 100%) of valid invoices were settled within 30 days of receipt and approval. This was a significant improvement from the previous quarter.

R14 819 702 was collected in revenue for the 1st quarter of 2013/14. The provincial fleet had 169 vehicles; 165 were functional.

Youth
The programme of action for the Limpopo Youth Development Forum included a dialogue, sports day, celebration of Heritage Month, youth development meeting.

For Nelson Mandela day approximately 30 officials from five districts of the province and provincial office staff were deployed to a pre-school. A delegation from Aganang Municipality welcomed Home Affairs officials and led proceedings. A carpet was officially handed over to the pre-school principal and the exterior walls were repainted.

Achievements and Challenges
Main achievements included increased human resources at ports of entry, which resulted in service delivery levels improving and time spent in queues being reduced. The high impact outreach programme conducted in Waterberg District  from 3 to 12 June 2013 and the 11 areas visited in Capricorn District brought services closer to people where there was no Home Affairs Office, had increased public education, and strengthened stakeholder relationships. Other achievements included improvements in partnerships with other government departments, the fact that over 2 612 illegal foreigners had been detected and deported and the increased invoice-payment within 30 days, as well as training of newly appointed immigration officials.

Main challenges included the amendment and rectification cases; uncollected IDs; the temporary closure of Pafuri Border Post due to flooding; and prolonged turnaround times for temporary residence permit appeals and permanent residence applications. Offices were not compliant to physical disability requirements. The Beitbridge port of entry tents were no longer safe to use and so all staff members were operating in the main office. There was insufficient office space at Giriyondo office. The Elim Office had been closed and DPW was delaying in finding alternative office space in Elim. Sekhukhuni , Mopani and Vhembe Districts experienced electricity outages at least 3 to four times in a month, in addition to copper wire thefts.

Discussion
Mr  G McIntosh (Cope) noted that two of the provincial mangers, and many other staff in the province, were in acting positions and said that this was not ideal. People tended to work better if they knew they had a permanent job.

Ms  Motsitsi responded that candidates had been interviewed and had completed competency assessments. The final interviews would be chaired by the Deputy Director General (DDG), and these would take place before the end of the month.

Mr McIntosh asked for, and received an explanation on the acronyms HF and DOH.

Ms Motsitsi responded that they stood, respectively, for “health facility” and “Department of Health”. DHA was not only partnering with hospitals, but was expanding its catchment areas to other facilities such as clinics.

Mr McIntosh was concerned that there were 16 mobile offices but only four were fully functional. He asked for an explanation of why so few were in working order.

Ms Motsitsi responded that the Department was in the process of removing all the old satellite dishes and installing new equipment. This had started in January and was a work in progress. The problem was that mobile offices would be fixed but then would not connect in rural areas, and they were only deemed fully functional if they worked in rural areas. It was expected that all mobile offices would be fully functional by the end of July.

Mr McIntosh asked how DHA assessed the validity of late registration of birth.

Ms Motsitsi responded that any registration of birth done later than 31 days after birth was considered a late registration. Registrations done between 31 days and 14 years were still processed normally, although they may not be done on the spot. After the age of 14 years, children would have to provide proof, in the form of a letter from their school, a baptismal certificate, or a letter from their chief, of the birth date. These cases would be given to the immigration unit to verify that the person was South African, and applicants would be questioned to verify their nationality. 

Mr McIntosh asked how many non-South African learners were in schools, and how DHA distinguished between them.

Ms Motsitsi responded that the target was for every matriculant writing exams to have an ID book. DHA communicated with the Department of Education for the names of all students registered to write exams. DHA then identified which learners did not have ID numbers and those were targeted in particular. Some learners were not South African and many did not even have study permits. The Department was engaging with school officials to ensure that these students were legalised.

Mr McIntosh commented that people with multiple IDs were understandably unwilling to bring in their duplicates. He asked what the Limpopo office’s view was on the plan to block duplicate IDs, and how this would impact the Limpopo offices. 

Ms Motsitsi agreed that those with duplicate IDs were not coming forward, and said that in most cases people had obtained the duplicates fraudulently. Often, duplicate IDs were identified over Easter or Christmas when people were crossing the border to go home for the holidays. People may have bank accounts and houses registered on their fraudulent IDs and were unwilling to hand them in unless this could be resolved. This was being handled by the Inspectorate at Head Office. 

Mr McIntosh made the point that not all duplicate IDs were necessarily fraudulent; many were a function of the old homelands. He was interested to know how the Provincial Department in Limpopo would cope with the sudden influx of people if these duplicate IDs were blocked.

Ms Motsitsi replied that the office did have a problem with storing ID books. Many were not collected and had to be stored in the offices, and officials may take them and sell them. Usually, the uncollected IDs would be returned to Head Office to avoid this, but in the run up to the election this practice had been stopped. IDs being blocked would exacerbate this problem.

Mr McIntosh said that he was not so much interested in the physical problem of storage space, although he appreciated its implications, as to whether the offices were ready for the influx of people applying for new IDs.

Ms Motsitsi replied that the large offices could cope, as they had been preparing for the influx related to the Smartcard. The small offices would not be able to cope and people would have to be referred to larger offices.

Mr McIntosh asked how the Smartcard roll out training was conducted, and who handled the training.

Ms Motsitsi replied that the training was done at Head Office by the Learning Academy. The first session was conducted in early June in Pretoria. When training immigration officers, Learning Academy would visit Limpopo for training. 

Mr McIntosh was concerned at the high number of temporary passports being issued, and thought that this would create loopholes in the system.

Mr McIntosh was impressed with the short queuing times at DHA offices, he asked how this was measured. The queues for section 22 permits were very long.

Ms Motsitsi replied that a queuematic system was used in some offices, but where this was not yet installed, security guards would give customers cards with their arrival time noted, which would be handed in when they were served. This was cumbersome, but was the only way of measurement there.  There were plans to put queuematic systems at the refugee reception office (RRO) and Beitbridge. The queue times for section 22 permits were long, because of the process that went on at the reception office, as checks were done while the applicants were present.

Mr McIntosh noted that the presentation reported that 876 performance agreements had been signed, but there were only 828 posts and many were not filled.

Mr Matshaya apologised for the numbers that did not tally, and undertook to correct them. 

Ms T Gasebonwe (ANC) asked why people were resigning, and why they were dismissed, and wanted to know if those dismissed had criminal charges laid.

Mr Matshaya responded that the resignations were mostly for personal reasons. Before staff were allowed to leave, there was an investigation into any cases pending against them. Exit interviews were conducted to ascertain the reasons they were leaving.

Ms Gasebonwe asked if the Pafuri Border Post was guarded, and asked if there was a chance of people crossing there illegally.

Mr Matshaya said it was currently operational, that DHA had appointed a control immigration officer, but there remained a challenge of office space.

The Chairperson asked if it was true that people were working out of a tent at the Elim office, how long this office was closed, and what had been done to ensure its proper operation.

Ms Motsitsi replied that there had been serious issues with the office infrastructure, which had been damaged by water. The Department was negotiating for space with the South African Police Service offices, who would be providing space that week. This was not a permanent solution, however, as not enough space was provided. The Department had sent a needs assessment to DPW and was awaiting a response.

She added that the office in Elim had been given notice in May 2010, because the owner wanted to demolish the property. The DHA had moved out and reassigned services to the nearest offices. There were also some services being offered at Elim Hospital. DPW said that it had been unable to find alternative offices, although DHA had made a number of suggestions. For three months, a mobile office had operated outside the old office, which had offered some services and redirected people to other offices.

Gauteng Provincial Department
Mr Mpho Moloi, Acting Provincial Manager: Gauteng Province, gave a briefing on the progress towards achieving strategic objectives in 2013/2014. The Gauteng province achieved five out of 25 targets for the 1st quarter. Mr Moloi gave an overview of the Department of Home Affairs' (DHA) footprint in the province, listing operational offices, health facilities and mobile offices.

Operations
Birth registration and hospital connectivity targets were 99% achieved. The 1% non-achievement was due to the non-connectivity of some health facilities. Birth Registration at hospitals increased (59 out of 129 health facilities were connected). Out of four planned health facilities none were connected for the first quarter, but ground work had been done. The national marketing strategy for new birth registration certificates had contributed to raising awareness. Mobile offices had also contributed, with new satellites installations being 90% completed.

Births at hospitals from foreign parents were not registered, as they were done manually and clients were sent to offices. Children born over a weekend in the hospitals were not registered, as there were no DHA officials and mothers were discharged after one day.

The issuing of IDs to 16 year olds was partially achieved, by 68%. School visits were key enablers, and the province had visited 275 out of 313 schools. 11 835 first ID applications had been taken at schools, and 17 863 ID books had been handed to learners. The province planned for campaigns to be intensified to educate learners and parents about the importance of applying for enabling documents at the age of 16.

Out of the ten mobile trucks in Gauteng, nine had been fitted with the new satellite dish; six needed to be serviced, two were not on line and one did not have a printer.

The target for issuing machine readable passports within 24 working days for applications collected and processed within the RSA was partially achieved. 18 757 manual applications were received, 12 307 manual passports were received, 19 701 live passport applications were received, and 11 129 life passports were received. Only 66% of manual passports were received back to the office during the 1st quarter. Only 56% of live passports were received back at the office during the 1st quarter. There was constant cable theft at one of the offices in Tshwane Regions and one office in Ekurhuleni Region had its power shut down during the month of April, which had resulted in offices not capturing applications on Track and Trace.

The Late Registration of Birth (LRB) campaign targets were achieved during the 1st quarter. 49 areas were visited and 154 applications were taken in. Of these, 96 applications had been sent to Head Office and four ID numbers had been created.

The high impact outreach programmes serviced the West Rand from 10 to 25 June, and Sedibeng from 15 to 21 June. A significant number of enquiries were received and IDs issued. The number of LRB applications was decreasing in the area.

Another target was for 85% of temporary residence permits (critical skills) to be issued within 8 weeks for applications processed within the RSA and abroad. 7 617 applications were received, 4 696 were approved, and 391 were rejected. 67% of decisions had been received back out of the 7 617 applications that were sent to Head Office. Two regions achieved this goal, two regions partially achieved it and one region did not achieve it at all. There was difficulty in updating Track and Trace for old applications on the new system due to limited access. Checking and making recommendations on applications was time consuming, thus applications could not be forwarded within the turn-around time. Another challenge was the lack of monitoring tools to ensure that all applications were dispatched.

The target for 50% of permanent residence permits to be issued within 8 months, for applications collected within the RSA, was partially achieved. 4 215 applications were taken in, 2 575 were approved and 61 rejected. Only 65% of the decisions were received back from the 4 215 applications that were send to Head Office.

In Gauteng, the average time spent in queues for IDs was 26.62 minutes, while the average time spent in queues for permitting was 106.22 minutes. At the refugee reception office, the average time spent queuing for section 22 permits was 15 minutes.

The Department had aimed for 100% of section 22 permits to be issued within one day and 75% of first instance status determinations to be finalised within six months. Both were achieved and 655 cases were approved during the 1st quarter.

The Immigration Inspectorate had achieved most of its goals in its operational areas. The only goal not achieved was charging transgressors of Department legislation - only 748 were charged out of an intended 1 492. The Inspectorate was successful in charging employers, deporting undocumented foreigners within 30 calendar days, transferring undocumented foreigners to Lindlela within 20 calendar days, referring cases to the Inspectorate within 28 working days, establishing the provincial project on fraudulent marriages and marriages of convenience, attending case flow management and local command cluster meetings, conducting inspections of registers in hotels, lodges, hostels and businesses, and finally, recording cases in the case management system.

A key challenge was insufficient human resources (HR) capacity. With only 297 immigration officials the Inspectorate was unable to cover the areas under its jurisdiction, unable to process foreign nationals arrested in police stations within the required time, and unable to initiate operations independent of SAPS. In response, the provincial office was looking at prioritising Civic vacant funded posts to Immigration posts.

Finance and Support Services
The provincial capacity rate was 95%, with 77 vacant funded posts. Out of an establishment of 1 530 staff members, 62% were female, 38% were male and 0.01 were disabled. Most of the staff had only their grade 12 qualification. Staff were encouraged to further their studies.

The summary of the budget showed that R383.45 million had been voted for the province, and as of the end of June, 25.66% of this had been spent. The biggest cost was compensation of employees, on which the province had so far spent R86 056 217. The total revenue collection was R47 428 232.

The main challenge with regards to the budget had been that the provincial budget was captured wrongly at Head Office, which meant that requests were required in order to shift funds from one allocation to another. Gauteng had spent 25.66% of its allocated budget in the first quarter.

Counter corruption and security services had received 12 cases and held 12 hearings. Six cases had been finalised in the quarter.

Projects
100% of identified ID duplicate cases had been resolved (multiple persons sharing same ID number). The provincial office had visited 58 areas during the 1st quarter to rectify duplicated cases. 604 people sharing IDs had come forward and of those, 141 cases were resolved.  

Achievements and Challenges
The main achievements were that 49 areas had been visited as part of the campaign to eradicate LRB; two high impact outreach visits were conducted; two offices had been evaluated and a process had been put in place to ensure readiness for the launch of the ID Smartcard. Other achievements included the registration of ID applications on Track and Trace at front offices within one day; the fact that 100% of section 22 permits were issued within 1 day and 75% of first instance status determinations were finalised within 6 months; and that the average time customers spent in queues was reduced. There were areas that still needed improvement, as 18 targets were partially achieved and two targets were not achieved.

Progress had been made towards achieving some key strategic objectives. Region 2 had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Johan Heyns Hospital; and there were well-advanced preparations for launching the Gauteng Provincial Stakeholder Forum during the 1st quarter. 49 areas in Gauteng had already been visited to eradicate LRB. The project to eradicate the temporary residence permit backlogs was completed at Germiston Regional Office. Preparations were at an advanced stage for the three identified offices (Johannesburg, Soweto and Byron Place) for the Smartcard roll out; and all 9 mobile trucks had new satellites installed, although they still were not fully functioning.

The key factors impacting on progress included inadequate capacity within the inspectorate unit; delays caused by the need to shift funds required the offices to do individual requests; accruals were not paid due to incorrect capturing of the budget. There was still a high number of non-finalised cases of amendments and rectifications; and delays in filling of vacancies had been caused by the slow response from the South African Police Service (SAPS) for security clearance.

Discussion
The Chairperson asked for an explanation of the funds which had been moved. She felt that the incorrect capturing of the budget was unacceptable.

Mr McIntosh said that the explanation given was that the provincial budget was wrongly captured in Head Office, which led to a change in shifting funds. He was also concerned by this.

Mr Moloi responded that there had been inaccuracies in capturing of line-items, for all provinces, not only Gauteng. This had been an administrative nightmare, because for every budget item a written request to transfer the funds to the correct line item had to be processed. It had been a challenge to correct this, but it was in fact corrected later in the year. The problem had, however, already delayed spending. 

Ms Gasebonwe was concerned that the Randfontein office had been offline, and asked if there were any measures put in place to address that.

Mr Moloi responded that the problem was that the lease had not been renewed, and the landlord was therefore unwilling to refurbish the building. DPW was avoiding committing to a long-term lease, because another building that was under construction would be ready in three years’ time.  It was difficult to find a landlord who would agree to a short-term lease. Therefore, occupational health and safety issues had arisen and were having an impact on the delivery of services.

Ms Gasebonwe asked how clients were being assisted, since the services were offline.

Mr Moloi responded that they were being assisted in a semi-manual process. This made it hard to track the progress of applications. Services had not completely collapsed, but he was concerned that they were nearing that stage. The alternative was to find another site. Even this would be for the short term, and again, landlords were unwilling to accommodate for this time.

Mr McIntosh asked why the SAPS were used to conduct security clearances, when banks and credit bureaus could supply this information.

Mr Moloi responded that the security process included financial clearance and a police check as it should be a holistic check.

Mr McIntosh noted that Mr Moloi and Ms Motsitsi had raised the question of preparing for elections. He asked what the instructions were from Head Office about getting ready for elections.

Mr Moloi responded that the Department had been proactive in encouraging the public to apply for ID books, and was running 36 outreach programmes. DHA was also trying to get to hard-to-reach areas with the LRB campaign. The outreach approach was two-pronged, and dealt with LRB eradication and readiness for the election.

The Chairperson asked about the office in Lenasia, which she had heard was under-capacitated and was not performing well. She asked that something was done about this before the Committee went to Gauteng on oversight. She commended the provincial office on having offices in malls, which were very accessible.

Mpumalanga Provincial Office
Mr Robert Zitha, Acting Provincial Manager: Mpumalanga, briefed the Committee on the state of the DHA office in the Mpumalanga province. He gave an overview of the footprint of the Department in the province, listing operational offices, health facilities and mobile offices. There were 11 mobile offices although only 7 were fully functional.

The Witbank, Nelspruit and Middleburg offices had been earmarked for Smartcard processing. Electronic queue management systems were in place in Witbank, White River and Nelspruit offices. The benefits of this system were that a number was issued to the client, then did not have to wait in line to be assisted, and would be given an estimated waiting time. The system indicated the number of clients waiting in an office and the number served, made it possible to determine busy periods, and it gave a more professional impression.

Capacity
The province had a total of 1 677 posts, with 39 vacant funded posts. 11 posts had been advertised. 12 officers had disabilities, making up a total of 1.6% of the staff. The provincial target for staff with disabilities was 2%. A staff training session had been held from 3 to 14 June and was attended by eight newly appointed civic service officials. Another training session was held for 15 newly appointed immigration officers from 3 to 28 June.

99.9% of the 2012/2013 assessment reports had been submitted. One official was still to be moderated. All performance agreements had been submitted, and the provincial business plan had been compiled, signed off and submitted.

The province interacted with staff through the following meetings: monthly provincial management meetings; monthly regional meetings; weekly district management meetings; weekly staff meetings; and quarterly review meetings.

Youth
A youth plan of action had been initiated. This involved a campaign for registration of birth within 30 days; a door-to-door campaign on duplicate cases; a LRB mop up campaign; a provincial youth forum; and school projects. It would also cover the Enhlanzeni district Elections; Nkangala district elections; Gert Sibande district elections; and provincial elections.

Counter Corruption
The province had 20 counter corruption cases on hand, and had investigated and finalised seven. Four arrests had been made. A Deputy Director: Vetting had been appointed in the province, and new vetting forms had been requested from all officials to do their clearances.

Budget and Resources
Mr Milingoni Nemutshili, Director: Finance, Mpumalanga Provincial Department of Home Affairs, said that the total budget allocated to Mpumalanga was R187.84 million. Expenditure, as at 30 June 2013, was R46 015 468, leaving R141 832 332 available. Thus 24.5% of the budget had been spent. R7 614 027 had been collected in revenue. He also noted the opening and closing value of assets.  There were 146 vehicles in the provincial fleet, of which 131 were functional.

Operations
Mr Moloi briefed the Committee on the province’s operations. The first target was for births to be registered within 30 calendar days of the birth. The baseline for the province was 39 373 births, the annual target for the province was 38 196 births, and the 1st quarter target was 9 543 birth. The total births registered in the province from April to June 2013 was 11 236.

The province had targeted for two additional health institutions to be operational for online birth registrations in the province. These were Siyabuswa Clinic and Mmamehlake Hospital, both in Nkangala district. This was achieved.

The annual target for the province was for 22 stakeholder forums to be maintained and functional, including those to be revived. No forums needed to be launched in the province. The quarterly target was for 12 forums to be maintained, as provincial stakeholder forums only met half-yearly. This was achieved.

The quarterly target for the strategy to reduce late registration of births was for seven areas to be visited. This was achieved and 52 LRB applications were taken in. A high impact outreach was also held where 44 areas were visited.

The 1st quarter target was for at least one high impact outreach programme to be conducted. This was conducted in Nkomazi from 20 to 31 May. 44 venues were visited at the province, where the office h ad received applications for IDs, registered births, and received enquiries from people who did not qualify for South African documents.

100% of South African learners aged 16 years and above were issued with IDs in the province. 263 High Schools were visited and a total of 5 182 applications were taken in.

1 200 applications were received for LRB; 750 were sent to Head Office, 53 were handed to the inspectorate for investigation, and 28 were received back from the inspectorate.

A total of 13 102 passports were issued, the bulk of which were tourist passports. 2 792 temporary passports were also issued.

As of 1 April 2013 there were 17 884 uncollected IDs, but by 30 June this had been reduced to 10 655. The strategy to lessen the number of uncollected IDs in offices was that lists with the details of uncollected IDs would be sent to the Office of the Premier on a weekly basis. The lists would also be sent to the Chairpersons (Speakers) of the Local Stakeholder Forums on a weekly basis, and would be distributed to councillors, who would go to the areas to see if they could find the applicants. They had to report to the Office of the Premier on a frequent basis to indicate progress.

140 applications for permanent residence had been received; 135 were sent to Head Office and 26 were approved. 15 were refused. A total of 1 114 applications for temporary residence were received; 882 were approved and 93 were refused.

The Inspectorate successfully charged 82 cases and received R282 500 in admission of guilt fines. 3 336 transgressors were directly deported; 127 were deported to Lindlela; 1 377 undocumented foreigners were detected; 16 illegal foreigners were released; one employer was successfully charged; and nine cases of alleged fraudulent marriages were investigated.

A total of 914 671 people arrived through Mpumalanga ports of entry, 890 881 departed. 1 460 were refused arrival and 53 were refused departure.

The combined total foreigners, primarily from Mozambique and Swaziland, for January to June 2013 amounted to 8 192.

Challenges and Achievements
The province’s main achievements included the appointment of staff, for which the turn-around time had improved. A total number of 87 officials were appointed in this reporting period. There was delegation of functions for appointments up to level 8 to provinces. This province had been issuing its own order numbers for BI-488s and accommodation. Payments were also now done in province. This improved turn-around times on orders and payments.

The main challenges related to infrastructure. It was very difficult to secure accommodation in the rural area. Landlords in these areas did not have the funding to upgrade the accommodation according to the specifications. Long processes by DPW to secure accommodation also created challenges. With regard to LRB, which was another challenge, applicants often did not show up for interviews or did not have all the necessary documents, and parents were not always available. The influx of illegal foreigners through the porous borders created a major challenge. The opening of Thusong Centres without the involvement of DHA caused problems . Offices were not set up according to DHA specifications, and human capacity and equipment was not available.

Discussion
The Chairperson noted that Mpumalanga had spoken about a youth programme, but the other provinces had not. She asked that the presentations be consistent.

The Chairperson asked what the main reason was for foreigners and South Africans being refused permission to leave the country or enter the country.

Mr Zitha responded that people could be refused departure from the country if their passport was full and could not be stamped. There were also people who claimed to be South Africans, but, after questioning, turned out not to be.

Mr McIntosh said that Mpumalanga presented particular challenges. This was highlighted by the approximately 80 000 undocumented persons. He asked how this number was reached. 

Mr Zitha responded that when the presentation referred to “undocumented people” it in fact meant “illegal foreigners”. A pilot study had been done, although it only covered six wards, and from that the provincial office had been able to estimate the total numbers of people without documents.

Mr McIntosh noted that the presentation said that 40% of the population in the province was illiterate. He wondered if this implied that they were unable to operate a cellphone. 83% of South Africans had cellphones, so he felt this was a pessimistic figure.

Mr Zitha responded that this figure was sourced from Statistics South Africa. The term “illiterate” could be misleading as most of those people would be able to operate cellphones, although some would need assistance. There had been a decrease in the number of people who were illiterate because of the increase in basic education.

Mr McIntosh asked for the time frame of the 140 applications for permanent residence, and asked if they were actually received in that quarter.

Mr Zitha confirmed that the figures were for the quarter.

Mr McIntosh said that the challenge of finding offices in rural areas was understandable, but DPW had to be proactive. Businesses such as Capitec Bank or McDonalds managed to find offices.

Mr Zitha responded that the office had tried many times to talk to DPW but this had not had the desired outcome. Shopping complexes were being built in rural areas, providing potential office space. However, DPW insisted on putting out tenders, and these were sometimes won by people who did not even own the property. The buildings that the provincial offices were occupying had serious problems. In one office, there was a butchery above the office and blood would come down into the office, some officials had to be hospitalised, and the stench was unbearable, but they had still not been able to move. DHA had noted that there were indeed many buildings vacant, but clinching the deal was the problem.

The meeting was adjourned.

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