DHA & BMA Q1 2022/23 Performance; with Minister

Meeting report

The Chairperson welcomed the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs to a meeting with the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) and the Minister of Home Affairs to discuss the first quarter performance and expenditure for the 2023/24 financial year.

He appreciated the work done by the Minister with the DHA and the Border Management Authority (BMA). He also noted previous work on arrests of people illegally entering the country. He told the Committee that he had concerns regarding institutions used to oppose any of the work done on the ground.

Matters relating to the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) vacancies and the appointment of an IEC Commissioner were postponed to the following Committee meeting.

DHA 2023/24 First Quarter Performance

Overall DHA Performance for Quarter 1 2023/24

Mr Tommy Makhode, Director-General (DG), DHA, reported that 66% of the targets for the first Quarter were achieved. Despite all three programmes failing to meet their planned targets, he noted that there were improvements in the Administration and Immigration Affairs programmes when compared to the previous year. As well as an overall increase in the planned targets from 50% to 66% of the targets achieved.

Performance Per Programme

Regarding the Administration Programme, areas of non-achievement included a network upgrade for 16 ports, and completion of the Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS)Phase 2 system. He told the Committee that the revised DHA Bill must still be presented to the Minister, the National Identification and Registration Bill and One-Stop Border Post (OSBP) Bill must be approved by EXCO for submission to the Minister, and the White Paper on Management of Citizenship, International Migration and Refugee Protection submitted to Cabinet for approval.

(See presentation for details on the reasons for non-achievement and ways forward)

On Citizen Affairs, there was non-achievement of the target to register 200,000 births within 30 calendar days. This was attributed to several IT and loadshedding related issues. However, other areas such as issuing 2.5 million ID cards to citizens 16 years or older, 90% of machine-readable adult passports issued in 13 days and 18 days, all saw overachievement.

(See presentation for reasons for overachievement)

Concerning Immigration Affairs, the DG noted overachievement in terms of the DHA-led operations/inspections conducted for targeted areas to ensure compliance with immigration legislation and 85% of permanent residence applications for critical skills (S27b), general work (S26a) and business (S27c) adjudicated within eight months for applications collected within the RSA.

Although, concerns of underperformance were noted concerning the targets of 95% of critical skills visa applications adjudicated within four weeks for applications processed, 90% of business visa applications adjudicated within eight weeks for applications processed, and 90% of general work
visa applications adjudicated within eight weeks for applications processed.

(See presentation for details on the reasons for non-achievement and ways forward)

Challenges were attributed to issues caused by loadshedding, IT infrastructure on account of cable theft and lack of capacity due to loss of senior legal drafters in the legal unit and lack of capacity of Immigration Services. Other challenges included policy-related issues and the DHA’s introduction of stringent measures to scrutinise applications which led to prolonged processes for the finalisation of applications.

Going forward, the DHA sought to improve IT infrastructure, find alternative energy sources, develop improvement plans for unmet targets in Q1, digitise records and intensify the rollout of mobile trucks and online birth registration systems.

Budget versus expenditure

Mr Gordon Hollamby, Chief Financial Officer (CFO), DHA, reported that 25.5% of the earmarked funds for programmes had been spent as of June 2023.

(See attached for full presentation)


Discussion

Ms M Molekwa (ANC) appreciated the presentation and hoped that the DHA would be able to review programmes to ensure that the unmet targets could be improved upon. Regarding biometric systems, she said that the DHA should continue to apply pressure to ensure that this is presented as a matter of urgency.

On the rollout of mobile trucks, she asked whether this programme had already started. She asked this in light of the upcoming voter registrations which she did not want to be delayed.

Mr K Pillay (ANC) appreciated the achievements and efforts of the DHA. He said there were no notable changes within the State Information Technology Agency (SITA) and that a lasting solution must be implemented. He asked when this would be resolved.

He felt that network upgrades were constantly spoken about, though no clear plan was in sight. He asked the DHA how far it was with decentralising the network.

Regarding the Bills mentioned in the presentation, he was concerned that the Sixth Parliament may not be able to achieve all of these goals within their limited time. He asked that the Bills be placed into an order of priority to allow some of the Bills to be finalised within their term.

He noted severe underachievement in the Immigration Affairs Programme. On smart offices, he said that the report failed to mention any townships as target areas.

Regarding loadshedding, he said this issue should have been addressed by now. He asked what the DHA’s plan was to address this and what their timelines would be. He felt concerned that live-capturing had not been implemented in 28 offices. What is the current status?

On immigration services, Mr Pillay was dissatisfied that none of the target areas had reached 50% achievement. How long would it be before a DDG was appointed? How far are the DHA with the Visa Facilitation Services (VFS) and adjudication to avoid further delays of appeals?

Regarding BABS, he was informed that this would include the distribution of IDs at some point. He asked how far this was. He further said that the system was not working due to insufficient tablets at offices, systems which were not user-friendly for the elderly especially, and people being turned away.

Further, they were informed that a WhatsApp USSD would be used. However, this has not been mentioned since then. He asked what the progress was on these matters. He felt that BABS could work, though it should become more user-friendly and accessible to people who do not own smartphones.

Mr A Roos (DA) appreciated the passport and smart ID turnaround time. He attributed this improvement to BABS. He said that the VISA regime is a top priority on account of its contribution to the economy.

He recalled a briefing in March which detailed targets for as late as May or June. He asked where the DHA was with these targets and whether they were working. He expressed dissatisfaction with the statistics thus far for VISA applications.

The Committee was told that 18 lawyers were being appointed to deal with the backlog. This was not notable and he had recently discovered that they were appointed to deal with e-VISAs, not the backlogs. He asked what the plan was to deal with this poor performance.

Regarding downtime, Mr Roos said that SITA delivers above the SLA. He recalled a project from two or three years ago to replace routers in offices. He asked whether this had been done yet and whether the DHA was in the process of implementing generators in offices.

He asked what exactly was happening with the BABS system. He said that it was regularly noted to be offline and customers complained of not being able to make bookings. On ABIS, he estimated that R500 million was spent on maintaining HANIS. He asked whether this was true. He suggested that HANIS be upgraded as it already has all of the data.

He asked the CFO how the downtime affected the self-financing forecast, whether a specific amount of revenue was lost and what the impact of that would be. Roughly 20% of applications were sent to late registration. Does this increase the urgency to open on Saturdays and are unions onboard?

On immigration, Mr Roos said that it was good to see more operations. He noted a meeting on 22 October 2019 in which the Committee noted that illegal immigrants were migrating to metropolitan cities and causing issues there.

He said that this was highlighted in the previous week. It was agreed upon that there would be a meeting with the Ministers, mayors and the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) to start proactively working on these issues.

He remembered that the Chairperson at the time said that the DHA should meet with municipalities through SALGA to strengthen cooperation and report back on proposed solutions. Mr Roos said that this had not occurred in the four years that had passed. He asked how far the progress was on this matter as tensions continued to rise.

On late registrations of births, he asked whether the business process review took into account the Committee recommendations. He asked this in terms of the DHA proactively passing on data from mobile units visiting schools to social workers to register them.

He emphasised the right that children have to an identity. He asked what changes were made in this regard and whether they included proactively helping children with late registration of births.

He mentioned the Minister’s recent call to rein in spending due to the unexpectedly high budget deficit. He asked the CFO whether this had any effect on Home Affairs.

Ms T Legwase (ANC) commended the Department on its improved performance within the last year, especially regarding communication strategies and planning. She expressed concern regarding the network, while noting the initiatives underway. She asked that solutions be implemented as soon as possible as this was a recurring issue.

She noted the impact of loadshedding on the rollout of mobile trucks. Were there alternative energy solutions for the new trucks being rolled out so as to not impact the provision of services?

On VISA application backlogs, she said that this was a matter of great concern. The DHA was asked to intensify its measures to reduce backlogs. She noted the DHA’s increased operations in some offices over weekends. She also asked about the possibility of mobile trucks operating over weekends and being rolled out in all provinces. She said that the budget must assist this plan.

The Chairperson asked for further elaboration on the correspondence to the three Ministers regarding the challenges faced in terms of SITA. He also asked for clarity on the resources put in place for purposes of mitigating these challenges, to gauge the progress undertaken in this area.

On the Bills, he agreed that there were too many unfinished ones for the sixth Parliament to finalise in their term. He asked for a timeframe of the processes undertaken by Cabinet, saying that this was important as it directly affected the implementation services that the DHA offered people. He also asked what obstacles it is currently facing in this regard. He agreed that the Bills must be prioritised.

He appreciated the progress on youth employment, though he asked for clarity on the contracts concluded. He said that a lot was invested in the youth. Furthermore, he asked what the plans were of the DHA to keep them employed, in light of the high levels of youth unemployment.

On the  Council for Scientific Industrial Research (CSIR) project, he asked for a detailed brief on the collaboration of work and how it will assist the DHA. He feared that while it may appear that progress is happening on paper, there could be a different experience on the ground.

Regarding the Lindela matter, he said that the Committee may have to conduct oversight in this area to assess operations, governance and financial intake. He said that in a previous oversight, it was noted that the environment was more conducive for tech and this area should be ventured into.

On the appointment of a CIO and immigration officer, he said that these were critical positions and asked for updates on the progress of this appointment process.   

DHA Responses

Mr Makhode said, on youth outreach, that there was a partnership with the IEC which encouraged the youth to vote, including online votes over the voter registration weekend.

On mobile trucks, he said that the work towards rollout was ongoing. He noted that the manufacturing sector was also impacted by loadshedding, though the work was still on track to roll out mobile trucks. One challenge in this area concerned equipping mobile trucks with generators. He said there were accessibility issues in acquiring them due to the large demand. The mobile truck manufacturers were in the process of making plans to fast-track this.

Regarding physical offices, he said that an area of frustration was the office of Public Works and Infrastructure. The Minister wrote to this Department to raise issues of delays in constructing offices. He said that progress done in this regard was seasonal. A solution to this was to deploy the mobile trucks in areas which were still under construction.

On network upgrades, the challenges with SITA were documented. He said in the previous meeting with the managing director of SITA, the DHA asked for solutions to their issues. He appreciated the Chairperson’s call for correspondence between all the relevant Ministers to enquire whether they could go to the market to find alternative solutions to these issues.

Concerning network clusters, he identified the biggest issue to be that loadshedding affects both DHA offices and SITA data centres, preventing the DHA from accessing information. It was previously brought up that these data centres need generators to prevent the knock-on effects on productivity for the DHA.

He said that the problems arise when loadshedding intensifies. However, SITA has invested money into generators.

On the Bills mentioned, he said that the Marriage Bill, OSBP and the National Identification and Registration Bills would all be able to reach the deadlines on time. Other Bills, such as the White Paper on Citizenship, International Migration and Refugee Protection, were instructed by the Constitutional Court to be finalised.

Regarding backlogs, he said there was a limit to how many applications the system could take on within the available resources. He said their main issues in this regard concerned permanent residence as the intake far exceeded its capacity.

He noted that the Second Quarter report to the President indicated that the Department was in the process of finalising things with a trusted employer scheme. The state law advisors have provided inputs regarding areas that need further assessment.

He said that certain areas still required finalisation with SARS, though some of the requirements had already been moved upon request from the Department and SALGA. He said that the issues experienced related to systems and legislation which were yet to be finalised. This was already workshopped with all major businesses in the country who expressed interest in the trusted employer scheme.

On staff in the e-VISA hub, Mr Makhode said that some staff was employed that had a legal background. Many of the staff who underwent training were looking into other areas of the project for future work. He said that backlogs were being dealt with. He reminded the Committee that the DHA was dealing with countries that the Minister announced during the previous budget as well as 20 other countries. He attributed some of the backlog to this influx.

Regarding BABS, he felt that good progress was being made on this initiative as over 2.2 million South Africans have been registered. He clarified that work was being done with the IEC to create innovations and dedicated queues for collections.

On LRPs, this work was conducted by counter-corruption and security services to look at whether there are vulnerabilities in this crucial work. He said that it is important to register legitimate South Africans. Counter-corruption found during their work that many Mozambiquan citizens were being registered through Home Affairs.

He said this system was being monitored very closely to ensure the correct people were registered. To further enhance these processes, the DHA said it would regularly engage with CoGTA in conjunction with the Department of Health (DoH).

On DHA staff working weekends, he said that this would be ideal if it were feasible. He explained that their young staff volunteered to work on weekends. He felt that the DHA Bill would help to address these issues.

Regarding IT challenges, he supported that the DHA was in the process of applying for some of the facilities working with the Department of Public Works. He said this would result in great savings, in terms of operations, as the facility would finally be a working Department. 

On appointing a CIO and immigration officer, he said this had to undergo rigorous processing. They had conducted interviews of potential candidates, however, they could not find anyone with the required qualifications. He felt that these positions were too critical to appoint someone underqualified. The issue had been brought up to the Minister through the Department of CoGTA.

Mr Thulani Mavuso, Deputy Director-General: Operations, DHA, said that the DHA was putting pressure on SITA to ensure all sites were completed. Their initial target was to have all sites completed by the end of September. He reported that 19 sites had been completed in the last week as it prepared to roll out more by the target date.

On mobile trucks, he confirmed that the process was continuing, including the process of ensuring connectivity through routers.

Continuing on SITA, he said it was charging exorbitant costs for connectivity. He said, on account of this hindrance, that the DHA would have to find an alternative solution to this.

Regarding network decentralisation, the following day, the CSIR would present its work conducted thus far to the Minister. He said that the process had taken longer as the CSIR had to plan the environment and document the information, as well as it had to request various permissions from different role players. He appreciated the work done so far and said that he would report back to the Committee at the appropriate time.

On offices and their accessibility to townships, he said they finalised an access model on the optimal locations for offices and service points. There were 778 mobile service points where trucks needed to be deployed. He said that one major issue has been the connectivity of these mobile service points. He reported that an additional 20 mobile service units were expected to be connected and operational within a few days. After that, a further 100 were being prepared to be deployed the following week.

Concerning live capturing of BABS registration, he said that 28 offices were functional. The DHA developed a model to do BABS registration in 28 offices. This also allowed for the registration of foreign nationals.

On the BABS collection, he said that this was originally meant to be released on 21 June. This process was slowed down based on the requirement that BABS collection also be programmed for desktops, however it was still underway to be released on 8 September.

The DHA committed to follow up on the issue of insufficient tablets, as all of their tablets had been distributed to their offices. 

Continuing on BABS, the DHA only committed to the USSD, not WhatsApp. Although, this was under discussion with developers.

Concerning SITA infrastructure, he clarified that SITA was improving the infrastructure of its network. The DHA had its own infrastructure project which was still undergoing and required replacement routers from Cisco. Mr Mavuso highlighted that it was particularly looking into being able to reroute centres in instances where one goes down.

On BABS being offline, he explained that it was competing for use of the the National Population Register (NPR) web services. The DHA attempted to throttle the network on account of the many users on the NPR network. The DHA agreed that each user should have an Application Programming Interface to throttle users.

The DHA was also considering creating a separate database from the NPR which would not affect production. He confirmed that the DHA had considered upgrading there, especially after its large investment over the five years. The DHA was currently planning to implement it back into production to be monitored over time.

On the retention of staff, he said that this was resource-dependent. He agreed that keeping these trained staff operating the machinery for the project hubs they established would be favourable. He said that once the serious backlogs had been digitised, the hub would be fully operational and would appear on finance and immigration records. He said that moving forward, staff who had completed the training may qualify to continue working in the hubs.

Mr Hollamby said, regarding the Lindela Holding Facility, that he would not call the facility a hotel. Although, it had been maintained at high standards set by the Committee and the Human Rights Commission (HRC).

Concerning generators, he said that all DHA modern offices were equipped with their own generators, UPS and water tanks. The DHA said it had since resolved its issue of requiring service providers to maintain the generators.

He noted another issue where generators obtained from landlords were poorly maintained to the required levels. The DHA was currently in the process of engaging with the landlord offices to find solutions to the generator problems.

On the impact of downtime on revenue collections, he confirmed that when systems are down for prolonged periods of time, they lose out on revenue. The DHA has mitigated that risk by increasing prices. He said that he was not too concerned with not meeting their revenue targets for the year.

Regarding the Minister of Finance speaking of impending budget cuts in media reports, the DHA has been engaging with National Treasury (NT) on possible budget cuts and the impact it could have on the DHA. The DHA advised NT that it was not in a position to accommodate a 10% budget cut.

The DHA was also not looking to decrease its headcount. Its business case made provision for an increase in headcount from 42% to at least 60%. The DHA understood that this was a great task at the time. He explained that the DHA may not succeed in getting additional funding for its second business case in the current economic climate.

The DHA has not yet received its letter regarding the specifics of the budget cut yet.

Minister’s Response

Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, Minister of Home Affairs, said, regarding mobile trucks, that amongst all platforms of home affairs offices, mobile trucks were the best. There were still plans to expand in malls. Though, mobile trucks were the best option for the majority of South Africans on account of their accessibility.

He said that while the Department was acquiring more mobile trucks, it was struggling with issues of obtaining routers from SITA. He said that this has been an ongoing issue. The issue has since been finalised and the DHA can begin to roll out the 20 new trucks. He said that another 100 trucks were in the process of being rolled out.

He said that he took it upon himself to meet with the companies manufacturing the trucks. While trucks were able to be manufactured quickly, the process was frequently hindered by waiting for generators to be supplied. He said that the Department would continue to place orders for mobile trucks until it had acquired roughly 1 000.

He said that he had already discussed with the CFO on preparing orders to ensure that it could receive generators sooner. He said that the issue of insufficient generators also affected Home Affairs offices.

On immigration quality, he said that when budgets are tight, it becomes a choice between civic spheres and immigration. He said that Home Affairs was in a fortunate situation, with staff capacity sitting at 39%. NT provided R722 million to increase the headcount to 42%. He, personally, wanted it to be pushed higher to allow the capacity to increase to 60%.

He said immigration and policing, consequently, get left behind as budgets prefer addressing issues and providing services for civilians.

Concerning BABS, he said that BABS was not the issue. The issue was rather that no one was able to book an appointment on BABS without first consulting the staff of operation. He said he intended to meet with all the banks rationale of the national corporation with SITA.

He noted the problem of people being turned away from offices as they did not place a booking on BABS. He stressed that turning people away who had not booked was unacceptable.

Regarding working on Saturdays, he felt that they would not make inroads with unions. He felt that the only solution was the National Home Affairs Bill which could ask every department to work on weekends on a voluntary basis. He said that the DHA would move quickly on this matter.

Concerning the issues in Johannesburg, he said that this regarded bylaws. He said that any person hijacking a building is a criminal and only concerns the DHA if the illegal activity concerns an undocumented person. He was organising a two day workshop with the House of Traditional Leaders, SALGA and CoGTA.

On the improvement of massive infrastructure across the six ports of entry, he said that upon visiting Oshoek, he found a large mosque located where the project was meant to be. He was extremely dissatisfied that the planning was approved for this area. He made this example to say that Ministers and leaders must take responsibility for their role in matters which they bring to Home Affairs.

Regarding CSIR, he said he had a meeting planned for the following day to obtain feedback on their systems being down and improvements made thus far.

On Lindela, he said that none of the boarding schools there were able to provide a detailed list of the food served. He felt it was important for a nutritionist to visit the site to ensure they eat healthier, balanced diets. People living in Lindela were fed high-meat diets. He felt this may contribute to why some people stay for extended periods.

Regarding Bills, he said that all departments were experiencing this pressure. He explained that the Deputy President must sit with the Speaker of the National Assembly to determine which Bills are imperative to be finalised before the end of the parliamentary term. This would include urgent Bills for the running of the country and Bills which the Constitutional Court required.

He said that the Marriage Act was delayed as it was awaiting public comments, which ended up being an extensive process. It was scheduled to reach Cabinet in the following two weeks before being sent to the Committee.

Concerning Section 34, he said that this was about to be handed in. He said all constitutional amendments and updates would be communicated to the Committee.

On migration, he said that, at this stage in Parliament, they could only pass the White Paper. He felt there was no time to complete the amendment of all three acts.

The OSPB and Identification Act received public comments that would be sent to the Committee shortly.

On the CIO, he reiterated that they had been trying to appoint someone to this position on account of its importance. He said the DHA had spoken with the Department of Public Service and Administration about their criteria. They discovered that the private sector does not have the same entry qualification in terms of government requiring a senior degree. The DHA asked the CSIR to help facilitate this appointment process.

BMA Q1 2023/24 performance

The Minister said this would be the first BMA presentation since it became a stand-alone public entity and would concern the work done thus far. He noted corporate issues, such as absorbing and merging 1 000 employees in Home Affairs, Agriculture and Land Affairs, and Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

Organisational performance against targets

Dr Mike Masiapato, Commissioner, BMA, said the BMA originally planned to have 22 targets in the APP based on their initial request of R2.9 billion. When the budget was reduced to R250 million, it reduced the number of targets to 15.

He reported that eight of the ten targets were achieved in the first quarter of the financial year. The two areas of non-achievement fell on the corporate and operation sides.

Programme 1: Corporate services Quarter 1 report

The BMA did not meet the target of paying 100% of the invoices within 30 days. This was as there was an aid analysis which was not finalised. He explained this was an administrative issue as they had the commitment register, though they were not afforded the final verification. This issue was addressed after the first quarter.

Programme 2: BMA operations Quarter 1 report

The BMA did not achieve their target of a formal engagement with the Gate 6 community leaders and SAPS. This was as the BMA could not meet with the Gate 6 community as the Umhlabuyalingana
Municipality could not confirm the date of the meeting.

Dr Masiapato confirmed that the meeting had taken place, though outside of the quarterly target time frame.

Quarter 1 expenditure

The BMA was granted R1.3 billion for the compensation of employees and provisioning goods and services in 2023/24. Most of the funds went towards the compensation of employees during the transitional period where the focus was on human resources and salaries.

Regarding goods and services, he noted that spending in this sector only increased in July once the entity stabilised after its transitional period.

Operational challenges and remedial action

During the first quarter, the BMA did a lot of work setting up governance structures. Job evaluation, grading and recruitment processes were confirmed to have started in Quarter 2. This was noted with the recruitment of 450 border guards.

These guards were placed in a learnership programme until there was a redesign of the compensation of employees and were ready to be absorbed into the entity. The BMA recruited 50 coastal guards which were in the process of being directly absorbed as employees.

The BMA was confirmed by NT that Armscor could be used for the procurement of goods and services.

Regarding operational challenges, the BMA acknowledged the R4 billion funding gap over the MTEF. This prevented them from being able to fully execute their mandate.

See presentation for the inherited status of capacity within ports of entry

Dr Masiapato indicated that this was a difficult Quarter as the entity needed to be stabilised from a management perspective while implementing the core business imperatives. He believed the second quarter would be more successful as the entity stabilised.

Regarding the ports of entry, the Minister said that Home Affairs had been working on this matter on a need-be basis. He said that many borders only had two police officers stationed, while the border management has a minimum of four functions.

During COVID, many borders were closed as they had poor commercial value. He said the BMA planned to rationalise the borders through connections with neighbouring countries. He noted the neighbouring countries had logged complaints over insufficient border gate access. Some countries, such as Zimbabwe, had few border gates, while other countries with ample border gates, such as Lesotho, were still requesting more access.

He explained that the BMA is responsible for rationalising which border gates are necessary to access other countries while bringing in commercial value.

See attached for full presentation

Discussion

Mr Pillay noted the challenge of the BMA not receiving a sufficient budget to deliver on their mandate. He asked what interventions the BMA planned to implement in their systems. He said that borrowing funds from their current budget to compensate employees for increases and salaries created further challenges down the line.

He asked what happens at ports of entry where there are no port health services. He noted that previously the Committee had been told that they were looking into connecting all ports of entry to have access to whoever comes in and out anywhere. He asked where the BMA was in ensuring this was possible.

Mr Roos asked what the BMA was unable to do now that their budget had been decreased. Regarding Section 4.2, he asked how this worked at the Oshoek and Lebombo borders on account of the previously close relations shared and the current long queues to make it through the borders. He asked how the command structure worked with these border guards and what would be needed to resolve this situation.

He asked what the 50 coastal border guards were responsible for. Regarding expenditure, he asked for further clarity on the erroneous expenditure. He asked why all border guards were concentrated on a few border posts, instead of some of them being spread out to other posts. He found it difficult to believe that there were border posts without any BMA officials present.

Ms Modise commended the BMA on the critical role that they played in the BRICS summit to ensure the arrival of officials and guests. She expressed great concern regarding the budget issues. She complained of the lack of staff at border entries, particularly at the O.R Tambo International Airport. She noted that she only found two BMA members out of the eight cubicles where departing people are processed.

She said that the situation was worse when entering the country. She feared that this gave the impression that South Africa does not take security seriously. She asked the BMA, if they were to be given the needed financing, what security system would they be prepared to deploy at ports of entry. She made the example that South Africa did not have proper security, when compared to other countries when travelling.

The Chairperson said that during their planning in Gauteng, BMA presented their budget issues to NT and they made a commitment to conduct a business case. He asked for an update on this interaction.

Regarding four border ports assigned different functions by the police, he asked what measures the BMA employed during this interim period, including levels six to eight of the staff component which could not measure the management at the border.

On labour, he asked what the relationship was. He agreed with Ms Modise that better safety and security standards should exist, especially in airports.

BMA Responses

Dr Masiapato explained that the initial 22 targets were based on the request of R2.9 billion. However, when the budget was reduced to R250 million, the number of targets was allowed to be reduced to 15. Regarding which targets were removed, the BMA said that they were receiving assistance from the DHA on this on the basis of their shared agreement.

On Oshoek, he explained the challenge that enterprises often viewed themselves as outside the BMA. However, the BMA functions as an umbrella structure for many other entities. He felt that the confusion on the matter was being projected to a higher level.

He said a critical issue was that access control functions surrounding the port no longer have funding. BMA asked SAPS in their information protocol to work on their behalf in cooperation with BMA.

This prompted the BMA to engage with the Commissioner of SAPS and officials on the ground. They found that Oshoek and Lebombo were the most challenging areas, though he reported that this had since been addressed.

Regarding queues, he explained that work group two within the National Logistics Crisis Committee dealt with corridor and port management, including labour, business, private and government enterprises. The intention of this group was to facilitate the BMA with their work.

He noted the problem of the SAPS officers acting as corridor managers in Mpumalanga who were not offered compensation to work later than 4 p.m. He said that they had committed to finding funding to allow them to work 24 hours.

The BMA was currently working on locating immigration officers of the BMA and customs to ensure that they were both processed at once without the need for delays. He said that this had contributed to queues in immigration offices. The BMA met with the Crisis Committee last Friday, who reported that they were in the process of making this move.

He reported that they had interviewed for a CFO for the BMA who would begin their work in October.

On the work of the coast guards, he explained that they were responsible for doing border enforcement along the coastline. He especially expressed concern for the poaching along the coastlines, particularly as some areas were without any protection.

Concerning O. R. Tambo, he said that the new public service officials had taken their leave days in June before they expired, explaining the insufficient staff present at the airport. The BMA recalled all their managers on the ground to address this issue. Since then, capacity has increased in O.R Tambo, while remaining insufficient. The BMA has since asked staff to write down their leave plans in advance to avoid issues such as this.

On labour, he recalled numerous meetings and engagements with the Department of Employment and Labour. This resulted in signing Resolution One of 2023. This was meant to manage and supervise the transition of people to the BMA, including the s197 of the Act. This was agreed upon and resulted in creating the BMA Task Team to fulfil this role in conjunction with Labour.

He said this Task Team visited all regions over December/January with the Department of Employment and Labour. The BMA Entering Labour Forum to manage the transition from the PSCBC to the BMA. The BMA has consistently engaged with the Department. He said it was unfortunate that they had certain challenges in April and May. He reassured the Committee that the BMA would and has responded to every challenge raised within 24 hours.

Maj. Gen David Chilembe, Deputy Commissioner, BMA, said, regarding border guards only placed at bigger border ports, that this was untrue. He said that border guards are based predominantly at ten ports, namely by Zimbabwe and Mozambique. He clarified that once they received word that there was insufficient personnel in Oshoek or Lebombo, however, the border guards were not specifically intended to be stationed at those ports.

On the command chain of personnel, he explained that the police often did not want to be under the command of the BMA. Although, this issue was being dealt with by the Port Management Committee. He said that the police would be asked to Chair operational control meetings. He acknowledged that the current status of the command chain had created issues for the BMA trying to carry out their work.

Regarding O. R. Tambo International Airport, he explained that the measures put in place were on account of the insufficient capacity. He said that this has improved over time. The BMA placed senior officers on each of these shifts to monitor the staff and situation. He said that the BMA planned to pay staff to put in overtime hours once their budget allows for it.

Ms Jane Thupana, Deputy Commissioner, BMA, said, regarding border guards operating in customs areas, that it is better to capacitate a few border guards thoroughly than have many stationed in this setting. She explained that spreading them out could compromise security in high-risk areas such as immigration.

On the business case and engagement with NT, she said that they had done everything possible in this regard. Following discussions, NT has made promises to the BMA, though nothing has been yielded yet.

Mr Hollamby said, concerning expenditure, that the expenditure was reflected in the DHA report. He explained that this resulted in an erroneous report which was thrown out as the entity cannot spend without a budget. Once the processes are finalised, the DHA will claim back the expenditure spent by BMA. He noted that the BMA expenditure is still centralised under the DHA office.  

Minister’s Response

Minister Motsoaledi said that, within the available resources, border management must be conducted on a risky basis. He explained that border guards are placed based on their needs in an area, not based on the size of the border itself. He said it would be quite a while before more border guards are deployed to the Botswana and Namibia posts, considered low-risk areas.

Regarding Lebombo, he said that the queues stemmed from the numerous trucks crossing. Mining companies in Limpopo, Mpumalanga and the North West went from using the Richards Bay port to Lebombo. This decision was not communicated to the officials at the border post. This resulted in trucks having to pass through the border one by one as Mozambique still uses manual systems.

Mozambique also previously had a law which prevented trucks from entering after 10 p.m. The Minister said that there was going to be a press conference the next day with the DHA, NT, the Development Bank and SARS to announce the process of the massive new developments of the easiest ports of entry.

The Chairperson appreciated the advancements of the BMA and DHA on these matters, and said that the Committee would follow up on these matters.

The meeting was adjourned.