Department of Home Affairs Strategic & Annual Performance Plan for 2016/17; Immigration Amendment Bill, 2015: deliberations; Consideration of a Candidate to fill a vacancy in Electoral Commission, with Minister in attendance

Meeting report

Minister’s opening remarks

Mr Malusi Gigaba, Minister of Home Affairs, said that the annual performance plan (APP) was being presented at a crucial time, as the Minister of Finance had announced major fiscal consolidation during the budget speech, which had imposed on all departments the responsibility to tighten their belts. The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) understood very well the financial constraints on the government as whole in terms of the distribution of revenue. Therefore, a financial challenge was not faced only by the government as whole, but by all departments in general and the DHA in particular. The DHA was faced with the challenge of expanding its services to include all historical areas that had been neglected, particularly rural areas. The challenge stemmed from the lack of human capital which had, in turn, impacted on the quality of services that should have been delivered to the people. Due to these challenges, there were two issues arising. Firstly, there was a need for the DHA to cut its suit to meet its cloth in terms of budget allocation, and secondly the need to prioritise the provision of certain services without any hindrance. In the latter instance, the DHA had struggled when deciding on which services and goods could be set aside in order to perform within the allocated reduced budget.

The DHA would continue to ensure that quality service would be provided, regardless of financial and human resources constraints. Clients – citizens and non-citizens alike – ought to feel that there was an improvement in the service delivery. The presented APP had tried to create a linkage between the DHA’s five priorities and the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) so that these priorities find a resonance and articulation. These five priorities included the modernisation strategy, implementation of an effective Border Management Agency (BMA), improving frontline services, reviewing the immigration policies, and comprehensively upgrading ports of entry. On the question of biometrics, the DHA was developing a programme through its operational plan, to ensure that the capturing of biometrics was holistically rolled out in order to improve the management of immigrants. Finally, the presentation would illustrate how the budget was allocated to different programmes and what the expected outcomes were. The DHA would have to be strict with respect to how the managers should use the limited budget.

Annual Performance Plan

Mr Mkhuseli Apleni, Director General, DHA, said the aim of the presentation was to brief the Committee on the APP for the 2016/17 financial year and the budgetary information for the 2016 to 2019 MTEF, and for the Committee to provide guidance and support to assist the DHA in achieving its strategic agenda.

The DHA’s five priorities were:

• Complete its modernisation programme;

• Establishment of an effective BMA;

• Upgrading six key ports of entry;

• A comprehensive review of immigration policy; and

• Improving client experience through leadership.

Management of the DHA had developed a vision which they believed would transform all elements of the organisation – people, processes, organisation and funding model.

Mr Apleni described the critical challenges and the Department’s strategic responses.

He said there would be implications resulting from budget cuts on human resources and other resource considerations. This meant there would be a decrease in the number of targets from the 2015/16 to 2016/17 financial year. However, the scope of certain strategic targets had remained unchanged from 2015/16 to 2016/17, especially for birth registrations and smart ID cards.

An overview of the budget for 2016 to 2017 was provided on a structural basis.

Mr Apleni said that over the coming months the DHA would produce a business case for repositioning the Department as a modern, secure and professional organisation. All targets in the DHA’s APP for 2016/17 were fully funded.

Discussion

The Chairperson sought clarity on whether designing the DHA as a security department would not attract more budgets, given that the scope of its mandate had been extended. How would the DHA achieve the national security assignment within the reduced budget?

Mr Apleni responded that the budget for the 2016/17 financial year had been closed. Additional budget for the purpose of achieving the security assignment would be requested in the budget for the 2017/18 financial year.

Referring to the fiscal consolidation, the Chairperson remarked that it was the desire of South Africa to be to be part of global economy, but the country was actually suffering from being part of it.

Ms O Hlophe (EFF) agreed that the government was challenged by financial constraints and the DHA had to cut down its budget. However, Members should plead on behalf of the DHA for the Department of Finance not to reduce it. The DHA had traditionally been characterised by a lack of human resource capacity which, in turn, had affected its service delivery. In his last brief, the Minister had agreed that the issue of human resource incapacity would be addressed. In this brief, the Director-General had pointed out that the DHA was facing a critical skills shortage. How and when would this problem be addressed?

Referring to collaboration between the DHA and financial institutions (i.e. banks), a request was made for the DHA to come back and clarify certain outstanding issues. If the DHA was going to work together with banks and if the DHA was going to rely on the banks’ information technology (IT) systems, would such collaboration not open a can of worms by giving an opportunity for criminals to have access to people’s details?

On the issue of network connections, Ms Hlophe commented that the DHA had indicated that it was the SARS’s network that had been used at port of entries. However, there was no brief in which the challenge of network connections had not been raised. The IT system was the major challenge. Last time, the DG had raised the matter to the Minister, who had taken the matter to the Cabinet. What had the Cabinet’s resolution on the matter been?

She sought clarity on how much the upgrading of the key ports of entry project would cost, and on the compensation of the staff -- especially whether there was any employee who was being compensated under the BMA programme.

Ms D Raphuti (ANC) commented that since the previous year, most managers -- if not all – had occupied their positions in an acting capacity, and sought clarity on whether those acting managers occupied funded positions. If the DHA could not find a suitable candidate and an acting manager had been there for a while, why could the acting manager not be promoted? It was time the DHA took some hard decisions. Could it tell the Committee when these managing posts would be filled?

On the issue of modernising the DHA, clarity was sought on how this would be realised in the face of a budget cut. On the implementation of the BMA, she felt that the launching of the BMA on 1 April 2017 was too far in the future, as the BMA was crucial in ensuring the security and safety of the nation. It ought to be operational as soon as possible. Finally, she welcomed automation of registering marriages and deaths, as this would resolve the pervasive issues of duplicated identity documents or declaring people dead when still alive.

Mr M Hoosen (DA) remarked that the picture projected by the DHA was very positive. The issue was the capacity to achieve its core objectives. Yes, the DHA was trying to modernise its system in order to fight against corruption, but how would the corruption be rooted out? Members had had opportunities on several occasions of engaging with the DHA to discuss its strengths and weaknesses, but issues of security, internet connectivity and long queues were still recurring in the debate. He asked to what extent service delivery would be impacted by the budget, and why only five posts had been allocated to the BMA programme.

Mr D Gumede (ANC) commended the DHA for its efforts to fight against fraud and corruption. Members had understood the need to increase the budget in the Department of Foreign Affairs and the DHA also required more resources. The DHA’s mandate had been extended to include security because it would play a crucial role in ensuring that people who were within South African boundaries were safe and secure.

He was of the view that the DHA ought to introduce harsh punishment to be imposed on fraudsters and corrupt officials. Was the DHA in the process of drafting a policy articulating how such measures could be imposed? Due to fraud or the reproduction of identity documents (IDs), some people were being declared dead when they were alive -- to the extent that the DHA had been branded the “horror of home affairs” by the media.

Referring to the BMA, he said that in the light of the budget allocation, there was no clear indication to show that the DHA was committed to launching the BMA, and sought clarity on what was delaying its roll-out. During the Committee’s border oversight, Members had found to their surprise that some immigration officers had no uniforms. Immigration officers were experiencing a shortage of uniforms. When would that issue be addressed?

Finally, he sought clarity on the people who would be affected by the court decision which had ruled that a very voter had to have a physical address. Would the ruling not impact on the right to vote, especially among people in the rural areas who were staying at unnamed streets and unnumbered houses? Would the ruling not supersede the agreement between the political parties to allow certain people to vote?

Ms T Kenye (ANC) asked about people who pretended to sell some products, but who were actually selling drugs. Was there any measure that could be taken by the DHA to combat such activities? What measures were being taken with regard to refugees who returned home to visit their relatives? She felt that non-governmental organisations (NGOs), which were advocating for the plight of refugees and asylum-seekers, had a hidden agenda and that their missions were not genuine at all. On the question of the skills shortage or lack of human resource capacity, she asked whether the DHA had adopted any mechanism to attract foreigners with critical skills, as requested by the President. What was the DHA doing to fill its own vacancies?

The Chairperson commented that the DHA was facing various challenges, including the correction of wrongly captured IDs. With the existing challenges, how could the DHA operate if it was under-funded? What was the DHA doing to address the conflict between citizens and non-citizens? What could be done to avoid situations where a foreign national killed a local citizen, and citizens attacked all foreign nationals in their community and looted their businesses?

Minister’s response

Minister Gigaba responded that the DHA had been misconstrued and viewed as a low level department, whose only job was to deliver documents. The end result had been that its budget reflected this poor understanding of its role, and the budget had been negatively affected. The DHA could not provide its services due to the inadequacy of its financial resources.

Repositioning of the DHA would be established on the basis of a clear understanding of four pillars: contribution to economic growth, enhancing national security, enhancing good governance and administration, and improving management of immigration. In fact, South Africa’s economy could not grow if learners were not issued with an ID, which enabled them to take tertiary studies and enabled an individual to seek employment. An ID was a vehicle to drive economic growth. It was used to carry out financial transactions with banks, to apply for a passport, to apply for commercial licences, etc. A passport was issued by the DHA. It enabled citizens to go around the world and invest there. These documents were so important that they could not be carried around for fun. They contributed much in relation to economic development of the country.

National security was at the heart of the DHA’s work. The DHA was a department concerned with the control and management of immigration. In doing this, the DHA ought to ensure that only desirable people had access to South Africa. It was the DHA that would be blamed if criminals and terrorists came easily into the country.

Good governance and administration should be characterised by the DHA, given that the services rendered by the DHA were integral to other departments’ ability to deliver. For example, the Department of Higher Education could not deliver if tertiary students did not possess IDs, the tourism industry could not flourish if the DHA was not allowing visitors into the country, social assistance could not be assessed if births were not registered or if parents were undocumented. Moving towards the introduction of the smart ID card was a solution to various challenges. With a smart ID card, an individual would be able to have access to various licences and an official would be able to see how many licences had been granted to an individual if the smart ID card was scanned.

A well managed flow of immigration would indeed contribute to South African economy. The tourism industry contributed enormously to the economy. The same applied to attracting foreigners with critical skills, or who could invest in the country.

The DHA was well aware of where it was and the direction it wanted to take. The Department of Human Settlements would struggle to deliver its services due to difficulties in differentiating between citizens and non-citizens on the one hand, and between temporary and permanent residents on the other. This differentiation was made possible by the work of the DHA. It was so sad that people felt that the DHA’s services were low level services which did not require professional or critical skills, resulting in the employment of unskilled or low-skilled people. At the forefront of the DHA’s effort was the move to professionalise it, for the people to receive quality service. In the time to come, the DHA would like to see a situation where the renewal of certain documentation would not require a person to come back to the DHA, but could be done on-line. This process would be introduced for the people to benefit from innovated services.

The Minister admitted that while one of the two DDG posts had been filled, the other one could not be filled because the DDG had been dismissed and had taken the matter to the labour court on the basis of unfair dismissal. The matter was still before the labour court.

The illegal reproduction of IDs was problematic. However, this problem would be addressed by the smart ID card. Nobody would be able to reproduce the South African smart ID card because of the chip inserted in it. The smart ID card would be linked to various things, such as revealing whether an individual possessed a driving licence or a passport.

Minister Gigaba said that the BMA would help the country to solve many problems related to immigration, including accessing the country by land or sea. At the time of brief, there was no person employed by the BMA, which was why they were only five posts under the BMA programme. Officials would be employed after the BMA legislation came into force. Legislation was still under discussion. The discussion was revolving around issues of whether the BMA should be a department under the DHA, on what the power of the Minister should be, on whether employees would be entitled to the right to protest, and how confidentiality should be dealt with. The DHA had objected to establishing the BMA as a department within another department. The issue of confidentiality ought to be deeply discussed, because the BMA would have to work closely with other security departments, such as the police, defence and state security.

The Minister responded that the issue of internet connectivity had been taken to Cabinet, where an exemption from transacting through the State Information Technology Agency (SITA) had been requested. The request had been approved, but the DHA had been requested to talk to SITA to find out whether there was any other way that it could accelerate and improve its services.

He said no guarantee could be provided that there would be no queues at the DHA for services. The DHA served not only citizens but also non-citizens, including illegal migrants. The issue of queues would be resolved by the modernisation of the DHA. At some DHA offices, security guards were working as if they were officials of the Department. They were telling clients that this or that service was not offered by the DHA, instead of allowing clients to go inside and get the information. This was not the duty of security guards.

It would be wrong to point a finger at another department and say that it was a source of problems, but it was true that other departments might be a source of problems. The DHA was experiencing a huge problem of network connectivity, and this had serious implications for its overall work. Without a reliable network, it would be difficult to deliver smart ID cards to people in the rural areas.

Minister Gigaba vowed that the DHA was not only aiming at combating corruption and fraud, but also at preventing it. In 2015, 37 officials had been arrested for being involved in fraud and corruption. Another challenge that the DHA was facing was that some officials could have access to DHA documents, even if they were no longer employees of the Department. A new mechanism had been introduced to address this in order to fight against fraud.

On the question of attracting foreigners with critical skills, he responded that the DHA did not recruit. Companies recruited people with critical skills and approached the DHA for registration.

The Minister said that the Constitutional Court ruling would not have an impact on the right to vote. The court had ruled that people who wanted to register to vote ought to produce their particulars, including their physical address. People ought to vote in accordance with where they lived. People who lived in rural areas could provide a physical address by referring to churches, schools, hospitals, bus stops or any other proof which indicated that they were living in a particular area. Indeed, about two-thirds of South Africans did not have physical addresses. Out of 25 million who had registered to vote, two-thirds had had to go back and re-register because they had not provided their physical addresses.

Mr Apleni said that modernisation would be a response to the need for tightening the belt. If the ID process was automated for example, it would reduce the amount of work that was required to produce a bar-corded ID book. The DHA would be careful in balancing the resources available for certain work according to its priority.

On the issue of countering the selling of drugs, he reasoned that the most important thing was to capture the biometrics of foreign nationals who came into the country. If a person was caught, there was nothing that could be done to change his or her identity. People could change their identities through changing their names and IDs, as well as their passports, but they could not change their biometrics.

The Chairperson asked whether people in rural areas should name their street in order to have physical address. What measures were being taken in relation to security companies which recruited people from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)?

Minister Gigaba responded that people in rural areas were providing postal addresses, and this was not a sufficient particular for a voter. A person ought to vote where he or she lived. Sufficient particulars would not necessarily require street names and house numbers, but a reference to the nearest church, school, clinics, etc. On the issue of recruiting security officers from DRC, he said that a company might apply for exemption from general work visas. The requirement was that the post be advertised, and if it could not be filled by a local, one could find someone else to fill the post.

Immigration Amendment Bill [B-2016]

Ms Daksha Kassam, Parliamentary Legal Advisor, said that at the previous meeting the Committee had not agreed on the wording of amended provision. There had been a disagreement on the interpretation of section 30(1)(h). The Committee had argued that the provision did not include internal recourse. In her engagement with the DHA, it had been concluded that Immigration Act 13 of 2002, as amended, should be further revised to provide for an adequate sanction for foreigners who had stayed in the country beyond the expiry date on their visa.

Section 32 of the Immigration Act 13 of 2002, as amended by section 33 of the Immigration Amendment Act 19 of 2004, had been amended. It had been agreed that the provision should state that foreigners who were illegal by virtue of having overstayed did not qualify for a port of entry visa, a visa, admission into the country or a permanent residence permit during the prescribed period. Upon application from outside the country by the illegal foreigner, the Director-General may waive the disqualification where exceptional circumstances existed.

Section 50 had also been amended. It now stated that any foreigner who left the country after the expiry of his or her visa should be dealt with in terms of section 32(1A).

The Chairperson commented that when a person was visiting South Africa and overstayed, that person should be disqualified from coming back.

Ms Hlophe asked what the Committee wanted to achieve by disqualifying visitors. Most of victims would be visitors from African countries. For that reason, the EFF could not be part of chasing fellow Africans. Both the Committee and the DHA should know that people could move from one place to another.

Mr Hoosen asked why the principle legislation should be amended if clarity could be inserted in the regulations.

Responding to Ms Hlophe’s question, Mr Apleni stressed that visiting a country was not a right but a privilege. There were bilateral agreements signed between countries that visas should be waived for 30 days. If someone was denied entry, he or she could not argue that he or she had a right to visit. It should clearly be noted that coming to South Africa was a privilege, and was not a right.

The Chairperson agreed. He said that the amended text presented to the Committee was correct because there was a legal recourse if foreigners were disqualified as being undesirable.

Ms Raphuti moved adoption of the amendment, and was seconded by Ms Kenye.

Ms Hlophe reiterated that the EFF was not supporting the amended provisions because they were intended to punish fellow Africans.

The Chairperson said that it was a matter of abiding by the law and ensuring the security of the nation. It could not be interpreted to imply that South Africa was enemy of fellow Africans.

Mr Gumede commented that the amendment had been discussed in detail in previous meetings. At the Committee’s last meeting, lawyers of both the DHA and Parliament had been requested to reach a middle ground in relation to the manner in which the texts of amended provisions should read. They had returned with the texts before the Committee. For that reason, he moved the adoption of the Bill.

The Chairperson said that Bill was adopted, and would be submitted to the Parliament. He therefore read through the report to be submitted to the Parliament in order to introduce the Bill.

Ms Raphuti moved the adoption of the report, and was seconded by Ms Kenye.

No objection was raised, and the report was adopted.

Independent Electoral Commission vacancy: consideration of candidate

The Chairperson said that eight candidates had been recommended. In order to consider a candidate, he reminded Members that the Constitution required gender equity. He asked Members to recommend a candidate of their choice.

Ms Hhophe endorsed the candidacy of Ms Janet Love.

Ms Raphuti stated that she, as a member of the ANC, also endorsed Ms Love’s candidacy. In choosing her, they had considered issues of gender, expertise, experience, and capability to execute a mandate.

Mr Gumede seconded her and remarked that, having regard to the remarks of judges, it was apparent that Ms Love was the right candidate to be endorsed.

The Chairperson proceeded to read a report to be submitted to the Parliament, endorsing Ms Love as the candidate to fill the vacancy in the Independent Electoral Commission.

The report was supported by Mr Hoosen, and seconded by Ms Raphuti, Ms Kenye and Ms Hlophe.

The meeting was adjourned.