Home Affairs 2014 budget: Departmental briefing; Budget process, analysis of budget and performance plans: Committee section briefings

Meeting report

Chairperson’s Opening Remarks
The Chairperson welcomed everybody to the meeting and reiterated that the election of the Committee Chairperson was an indication of their willingness to work together towards one goal. He urged all Members to be committed, efficient, positive and time conscious by making substantial contributions.

Ms S Nkomo (IFP), on behalf of the Committee, expressed her sympathy on the demise of the Chairperson’s mother. The Chairperson appreciated these sentiments.

Budget Process: Committee Secretary’s briefing
Mr Eddy Mathonsi, Committee Secretary, said his presentation on the budget process would be centered on the Annual Performance Plan of the Department of Home Affairs. He said that the Executive authority was responsible for the tabling of strategic plans, the Annual Performance Plans (APP), annual reports and other documents to Parliament, which were then referred by the Speaker of the National Assembly to the relevant Committee for consideration, who would then report back to the National Assembly with recommendations to approve or not approve the budget.

The APP of the Department of Home Affairs (DHA or the Department) was initially referred to the Portfolio Committee in March 2014, and later again on 26 June 2014, with notification of errata. The Committee would process the budget vote on 1 and 8 July and the House debate was scheduled for 15 July 2014.

He added that entities’ APP were not included in the programme due to time constraints, but the Minister had been asked to indicate their allocations through the DHA vote.

Discussion
The Chairperson thanked the Committee Secretary for his brief report and added that the budget had been tabled and referred to the Committee, which now had to consider and deliberate it.

Mr G Gardee (EFF) asked why there was no briefing on the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), commenting that Members of the Committee needed to be acquainted with the progress on allegations against the Chairperson of IEC, and asked about the decision of the Committee on the Public Protector’s Report on the matter. He suggested that relevant documents be circulated to the Committee members.

The Chairperson replied that the Constitution provided for the Committee to call on any agency or entity at any time to brief the Committee on its work. He suggested that the matter of IEC be held over until the necessary documents were officially referred to Parliament, although Members would be able to access information online. There was an appeal pending, hence the Committee could not debate or deliberate on the matter at present.

Ms S Nkomo (IFP) asked about the impact of the exclusion of entities’ APPs at this stage on the ongoing budget process.

The Secretary replied that the allocations to these entities were done by the Department of Home Affairs and the Department had been asked to attach, to its APP, notification on the allocations to the entities.

Dr C Mulder (FF+) commented that this would be the first time since 1994 that the budget of entities would be debated without interacting with them, as the Department could not do more than inform the Committee that it received the allocations and channeled them to the various entities.  Entities should be asked to explain how they planned to use and had spent their money as the Department may not be able to account for the expenditures of the entity. That would put Parliament in a difficult situation on the budget vote, as a huge amount of money was allocated to these entities.

Mr D Gumede (ANC) commented that the tabling of budget had already been completed, and that could be debated. The status of IEC or other matters could be handled in a different way, as there were other avenues in Parliaments for tabling matters. He added that there was limited time, as the Committee had only two meetings left before the budget vote on the 15 July, which made it practically impossible now to deal with matters related to IEC or other matters.

Mr M Hoosen (DA) agreed with the principle that the Committee had to adopt the budget on time and there may not be an opportunity to interrogate and deliberate with the entities now, due to time constraints. He asked, however, why the entities were not present with the Department when the budget was tabled.

Mr B Nesi (ANC) commented that the Parliament’s programmes were usually tabled by the entities or departments and that the Department was accountable on the allocations to the entities. He did not understand why it was suggested that the Committee did not have enough time for presentation on budget, as he doubted whether the Department could clarify the allocations to the entities without the entities being present, and suggested that it should not be a problem for the entities to present before the Committee on budget allocations.

The Chairperson replied that the Committee was constituted after the budget had long been tabled and the budget had to be approved quickly in order for all departments to carry out their duties. He added that the entities reported to the Department and the Portfolio Committee could call on the entities at anytime for briefing. Parliament had passed a law that empowered it to amend the budget figures but the Budget Office was yet to start its operations, which made it difficult to change budget figures. The Committee had to assist the government now that the tabling of the budget had been done. He said the Department could give a report on behalf of the entities, as it provided the funds to the entities, and reiterated that entities could be called along with the Department at any time, but pleaded that the Department be heard first and if there were questions, then the Committee could request entities’ reports. He said there would be time to review the budget by next year from February 2015.

Dr Mulder commented that there was no intention to delay the adoption of the budget, but the Portfolio Committee had to give proper scrutiny of funds for the Department and entities, reiterating that huge amounts of money were involved. He added that there should be a compromise on the way forward, by asking the entities to prepare a document on the budget plan; interaction with entities on the budget was important. He suggested that a short presentation by the entities be scheduled for the following week in order to justify the budget vote on 15 July.

The Chairperson reiterated that the Department should be heard before taking a decision to invite the entities.

Mr Gardee suggested that even before the Department commenced its briefing, a decision in principle should be taken for the entities to be present on 8 July for briefing on budget plans .He added that IEC was an institution of national importance, with a huge amount allocated to it for the upcoming local government elections, and should not be reported upon solely by the Department.

The Chairperson replied that the Department should be allowed to present first, in order to identify the gaps. He said the meeting in the following week was intended for the Committee to deliberate and produce a report that would be presented to the House. He suggested that IEC should be invited to give a briefing after the budget had been finalised.

Mr Gardee asked about the validity of the statement of Dr Mulder about this being the first time since 1994 when a Committee would recommend a budget to the House, without the entities having been present before the Committee to defend the budget. If this was correct, it meant there was precedent and convention, although he appreciated that the problem was caused by the ill-advised timing of the national elections.

The Chairperson replied that Dr Mulder had perhaps been speaking from his experience in Parliament. He reiterated that IEC would be summoned after the budget had been finalised as the Executive and Minister of Finance had already tabled the budget to Parliament and the Speaker had referred the budget to the Committee, which had to consider it.

Mr Hoosen felt that the budget should not be approved before listening to the budget plans and asked that entities be asked to provide reports on budget plans.

The Chairperson expressed displeasure at the insistence of the Members on having entities’ briefings before the budget approval.

Analysis of the Annual Performance Plan and Budget of Department of Home Affairs: Committee Researcher briefing
Mr Adam Salmon, Committee Researcher, presented his analysis of the Annual Performance Plan of the Department of Home Affairs. This analysis was informed by observations on several budgets of past Parliaments and the analysis compiled from previous years.

He summarised some of the issues covered, including the budget recommendation process and engagement with the entities and department over the last couple of years, which were highlighted later. His analysis looked at what guidelines were in place to ensure that the 12 Government Outcomes and National Development Plan (NDP) were considered. He pointed to a significant reduction in allocations to Corporate Services and Administration, and whether there was likely to be improvement in target performance and service delivery with the reduction. He noted that it was necessary to look at what form self financing of funds would take, relating to issuing of liaison documents, as the DHA was financing its own documents from its budget, and the impact on the DHA, and how this would be addressed in future. He noted that Government Printing Works (GPW) no longer required government funds, so it was necessary to look at how it would be funded. Other issues included how many posts remained unfunded in 2014 in the Department and how many post were funded, what positive changes were implemented to ensure more consistent quarterly spending, the impact of the overall reduction of budget on the implementation of services in Provinces, how many offices had implemented biometric systems and the impact of IT modernisation process, particularly on continuity in IT projects.

The Department published the strategic plans for five years and the APP provided more details of plans for the current financial year, and would be published online. Ideally, coupled with the five year strategic plans and APPs, there should be quarterly and monthly reports for each financial year.

Interventions by Parliament included the budget review, and the tabling of Budget Review and Recommendation Reports.  Plans of the Department for the past five years did not show strict adherences on the process to be followed. In 2011, a strategic plan was tabled and since then Annual Performance Plans had been tabled. He said the question must be asked why the Department had not submitted a five year Strategic Plan? He questioned how continuity and monitoring could be ensured, when the targets were changing. The Committee should ask how Government priorities would improve social cohesion. Another point was how to deal with staff morale, given the workload, with the decentralisation of some services. DHA had stopped publishing its APP on its website, and the reason must be asked.
Annual Performance Plan of the Department of Home Affairs 2014/15: Briefing by the Department of Home Affairs
Mr Mkuseli Apleni, Director General, Department of Home Affairs, commented that the Department would today give briefings on the plans for the financial year 2014/15. He started with a brief introduction on the civic and immigration mandate of the Department. The DHA’s work involved verification and issuing of identity and travel documents, that were recognised by other countries, to citizens and permanent residents in South Africa. It also controlled, regulated and facilitated immigration and movement of persons through ports of entry. DHA also provided funding to and oversight over the Electoral Commission (IEC) and funding of political parties through IEC amongst others.

Mr Apleni reported that the Department achieved its targets in 2013/14 with respect to birth registration within 30 calendar days and the issuance of smart ID cards. 650 682 births were registered within 30 calendar days  against the target of 642 000, which was made possible through online birth registration facilities at 391 hospitals. A total of 125 112 smart ID cards were issued against target of 100 000, through the roll out of live capture functionality for IDs and passports at 70 offices. A new strategy for Late Registration of Births (LRBs) was adopted and the Amendment Regulations in terms of the Birth and Deaths Registration Act was signed into effect on 20 February 2014. The Border Management Agency (BMA) was established to secure ports of entry. Other highlights included modernisation of DHA, amendment of immigration regulations and introduction of Visa Facilitation Services(VFS).

The key challenges of the Department included the management of asylum seekers or refugees, including the relocation of Refugee Centres to borderlines, border management, the DHA’s continuing dependency on Departments of Public Works and State Information Technology Agency (SITA), non- integration of IT systems, records management, lack of capacity in critical areas like inspectorates, the ongoing fight against unlawful activities, improvement of administration and the need to ensure that all staff were appropriately trained, professional and caring.

Mr Apleni mentioned the strategic initiatives of the Department, which included finalising the total review of immigration policy, regulations for the amended Refugee Act, system modernisation, ID smart card roll out and the development of the National Identity System. He also pointed to the DHA’s lead on the establishment of the Border Management Agency (BMA), strengthening the stakeholder forums linked to the ending of Late Birth Registration (LRB) and the DHA’s efforts to obtain a clean audit. He further highlighted the modernisation plan for 2014/15, which included live capture and smart ID card technology in 70 offices; development of National Identity System (NIS) and the trusted traveler system and E-permit system. More than 423 509 smart ID cards had been processed to date by 70 offices.

Budget 2014/15 by the Acting CFO
Ms Josephine Meyer, Chief Director (Acting Chief Financial Officer): Finance, DHA, briefed the Committee on the budget for the last three financial years and the present financial year 2014/15. In 2011/12, there had been a total saving of R202.3 million, comprising a saving of 3% on Compensation of Employees, which was as a result of late filling of posts, and a savings of 7% on Goods and Services, which was due to the funding being set aside for the payment of unauthorized expenditure. In 2012/13 there was an over expenditure due to the non implementation of the trading account. The 2013/14 (unaudited) budget figures showed a saving of R2.165 million related to DHA modernisation. In 2014/15 in terms of linear projections, the department should be spending 16.6% at the end of May 2014.

Discussion
Mr Hoosen commended the Department for the progress made over the years with new innovations and meeting their challenges. He asked for the numbers of hospitals that were yet to have online birth registration systems, and if the penalty for late birth registration would not have a negative effect on parents.

Mr Vusi Mkhize, Deputy Director General: Civic Services, DHA,  replied that a memorandum of understanding had been reached with some hospitals with high volumes of birth, like 2 000 to 3 000 births in a year. 389 hospitals had high rates of births spread across the rural areas too. Private hospitals had facilities for online birth registration. Mobile offices also issued birth certificates on the spot. He clarified that the penalty for late birth registration was intended to ensure that citizens were conscious of their responsibility to register births, as it was criminal for a child not to be registered after birth. The penalty should serve more as an incentive than disincentive, because children were able to get social grants when registered immediately.

Mr Hoosen asked if the Department had the figures of the number of foreigners in South Africa, commenting on the porosity of our borders. He commented that he was impressed to know that the inspectors would be capacitated as it was important for them to be well trained.

Mr Apleni replied that the borders were porous, so DHA did not have the figure of the numbers of people coming into the country illegally. He added that the Border Management Agency (BMA) was responsible for borderline control, and said the numbers of asylum seekers had started to reduce with BMA intervention.

Mr Hoosen asked how long it would take to roll out smart ID cards to all South Africans.

Mr Apleni replied that South Africa had a population estimated at 52 million people and 38 million already had identity documents. He said the issuance of smart ID cards was to be completed in a period of five to seven years as the Department was coming up with e-channels for smart ID-card issuance.

Mr Hoosen pointed out that the estimated cost of sick leave taken for 2013/14 was not specified, as days or amounts.

Mr Hoosen asked to what extent the budget set aside on immigration service impacted on the department in terms of cost with the introduction of Visa Facilitating Services (VFS). He also asked if the new visa fee of R1 350 would be shared between the VFS and the Department of Home Affairs.

Mr Apleni replied that VFS would be invited by the Committee to present the rationale behind the amendment of Act and visa amount estimate. He added that VFS was not taking over the responsibility of Home Affairs.

Mr Gardee commented that budget funding to entities increased constantly from the 2011/2012 to 2014/15 financial years and asked the reasons for the increase during the periods when there were no elections.

Mr Apleni replied that the increase of funding budget to entities was due to elections at both local and national levels. He said funds were utilised in previous financial years to an election year in order to prepare for the elections. He said money for political parties was with the Department of Justice before it was transferred to Department of Home Affairs. The IEC budget for 2011/12 was R839 million; in 2012/13 it was R762 million and in 2013/14 it was R1.579 billion.

Mr Gardee commented that the Department of Home Affairs was known as a multifunctional department that was responsible for identity cards, birth status and visa issuance, amongst many others, and asked if there was a rapid response unit that concentrated on “red flag” areas.

Mr Apleni admitted the inefficiency of the Department as a multifunctional department hence the need to constantly make improvements. The Department had to automate its processes to avoid documents going missing. He added that the Department was moving in IT direction in solving problems.

Mr Mkhize commented that a rapid response team was in place to answer when queries or challenges were received. Some of the measures put in place include the having the contact numbers of DHA in all offices and the introduction of a triplicate form which helped to identify and minimize errors.

Mr Gardee asked why the Department was under so much attack on the new immigration rules.

Mr Apleni replied that the Department had been under attack on the new immigration laws, which sought to achieve changes in the best interest of the State.

Ms Nkomo commented that a lot of oversight would be done on some of the key challenges and asked for a time frame for the finalisation of the strategic initiatives. She called for clarification on the clean audit mentioned in the presentation and why the Department was looking towards a clean audit. She requested clarity of the underspending and over-expenditure of funds in the budgets.

Mr Apleni replied that the strategic initiatives were programmed to be achieved in time frames with set quarterly or yearly targets. He said the Department of Home affairs had in the past received a qualified audit report and the statement “clean audit” meant it was looking towards an unqualified audit report. He also added that the word “savings” meant unspent funds.

Ms T Kenye (ANC) asked what changes were needed to avoid overspending of budgets. She asked how many posts were not funded.

Mr Apleni replied that the Department did not overspend the budget in 2012/13, due to the non-implementation of the trading account. In the 2013/14 year there was a saving of R2.1 million which was related to the modernisation of the Department. He said the department did not have a lot of unspent money. The total structure of DHA concentrated on positions that were funded by National Treasury allocations to the Department, which covered 10 000 positions.

Ms Avril Williamson, Deputy Director General: Human Resources, DHA, commented that the Department had a strategy that identified posts that had indeed been vacated and advertised immediately. Within the Public Service, some posts were meant to be filled within 12 months while some were filled between 16 and 18 months. Process management principles were in place to support the recruitment process, and exit interviews were conducted. She added that recruitment strategies included delegation of authority and review of policies to ensure that the standard operating procedures were reviewed to improve efficiency.

Ms Kenye asked to what extent scanning and biometrics had been implemented at the offices and various ports of entry. She commented that many people came to the country especially through Mpumalanga to get benefits. She also asked if the Department had a recruitment strategy, as it did with integrated exit management. Some foreigners, after committing crimes in South Africa, still returned to their countries of origin without facing penalties, and she asked if there was a strategy to keep them in the country until tried.

Mr Apleni replied that the systems of all departments had to be linked in order to avoid people from coming in and out of our country for benefits. If a person was arrested, finger prints would be taken to ensure that accused persons were traceable. The new smart ID card has finger prints embedded on the chip which would make everyone traceable. Without the biometric data, border control would be difficult to achieve as every traveler at the point of exit or entry into the Country would be asked to give finger prints. Even if criminals changed their names their finger prints would always remain unchanged, and deportation would be done at a cost, hence the implementation of biometric would help to control the borderline.

Mr Gumede asked about the impact analysis of the Department, particularly around Provinces, on the reduction of overall budget.

Mr Apleni replied that National Treasury would look at the economy of the country. Reduction of overall budget would impact on the growth of the Department. If resources were utilised effectively and efficiently progress would be made, but an increase of R1 billion would help as a lot of innovations were needed in the Department, like e-channels and VFS. Provinces would be increasing their budgets. In 2011/12 their budget was R1.4 billion, in 2012/13 it was R1.5 billion and 2013/14 it was R1.8 billion.

Ms D Raphuti (ANC) asked about the border control of pregnant women who cross the borders to deliver their children in South Africa, and how such children would be registered at birth.

Mr Mkhize commented that in the past people with fraudulent registrations of birth were not easily identified. Biometric access systems would assist the Department to trace who had entered legally or illegally. Some foreigners would misrepresent themselves as South Africans because in the past there was no audit trailing. All births must be registered, and hand written certificates were issued for record purposes.

Mr A Figlan (DA) asked how long it would take to issue an unabridged birth certificate. He asked when the issuance of smart ID cards for 16 year olds started. He asked how long it would take to train the staff on the issuance of smart ID cards, as many people did not have any understanding about the smart ID card.

Mr Apleni replied that out of 403 offices across the Country only 70 offices were ready for smart ID issuance, so it would be unfair to stop the issuance of green IDs to children as that would have a negative effect on them. When there was enough geographical spread children would not be allowed to apply for green IDs any longer. Training of staff was an ongoing exercise, as the more efficient the staff became, the better for the department.

Mr Mkhize added that the green ID book remained a valid legitimate form of identification. Smart ID cards fell within a phase of reaching out and capacitating as many officers as possible before all 16 year olds could stop applying for green ID book. Depending on the area or vicinity that a child stayed, accessibility to a smart ID card was already possible.

Mr Nesi asked for clarification on those entitled to social grants and the application processes. He asked for the difference between abridged and unabridged birth certificates.

The Chairperson advised that Members should understand that when a Department was called to brief the Committee, Members should confine their questions to clarity on the presentation. He added that further discussion or debate could be done during the Committee’s deliberation meeting.

Mr Apleni replied that the abridged birth certificate only had the details of the child, but the unabridged birth certificate included all the details of the parents such as ID number, marital status and work status. People must be forced to get the unabridged birth certificate. A parent could not travel with a child without being in possession of an unabridged certificate, except when the child had his passport. Abridged birth certificates were no longer issued, as unabridged birth certificates were issued at hospitals on the spot, and also at DHA offices. The State would save a lot of money by ensuring that the systems of all departments were linked together.

Mr Gumede took the Chair at this point, as the Chairperson had to leave the meeting.

Mr Figlan asked for the clarity on the waiting period for the unabridged birth certificate, if applied for at a DHA office.

Mr Apleni replied that the unabridged certificate, when registering a child for the first time, would be issued on the spot. If the child had not been registered at birth, it could take 6 to 8 weeks.

Mr Mkhize added that the process of issuing an unabridged certificate on the spot started in March 2013. Application for children born prior to March 2013 would follow the old process of DC24 birth record. Digitalisation had become the focus of the Department in order to prevent data compromise, hence the need for unabridged birth certificates to now be issued on the spot.

The Acting Chairperson appreciated the Department’s efforts, and commented that the input of the Department could be scrutinized by Parliament in order to ensure that it worked hard to service the people.

Adoption of minutes
The minutes of the meeting on 30 June were tabled for adoption.

Mr M Hoosen (DA) commented that the minute did not capture the Committee’s agreement to have a briefing on the new immigration laws by the Department of Home Affairs.

It was pointed out that section 3.1 of the minute had captured the point raised by Mr Hoosen.

Members unanimously adopted the minutes.

The meeting was adjourned.