Question NW186 to the Minister of Home Affairs
29 April 2024 - NW186
Khanyile, Ms AT to ask the Minister of Home Affairs
(1)Whether, with reference to his reply to question 4076 on 8 January 2024, his department received a memorandum from the State Attorney's office in Cape Town, in which the State Attorney raised concern about the flood of lawsuits due to his department’s inability to issue permits and visas expeditiously; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what are the further, relevant details in this regard; (2) what is the total breakdown of the visa categories that constitute the visa backlog of 95 000 applications?
Reply:
1. The Department never received any formal memorandum from the Office of the State Attorney Cape Town. However, we learnt from the Sunday Times that such a memorandum existed. We then investigated and found that there was correspondence between two junior officials, one from the Department and the other from the Office of the State Attorney Cape Town. We enquired from the Head of the Office of the State Attorney Cape Town, Mr Mbeki, whether he had any knowledge of such correspondence. Mr Mbeki confirmed that he did not approve such correspondence and that he only learnt from the media that there was such a memorandum. We therefore do not regard that memorandum as official correspondence save to state that, information contained therein is inaccurate.
2. As at 31 January 2024, the Critical Skills, Business and General Work Visas that form part of the annual performance plan have no backlogs. Majority of the delays and backlogs are on two visa categories, they are section 11(6) and Section 18 visas for spousal and relatives respectively.
The department experiences challenges concerning the legitimacy of relationships being claimed and cited in the applications. It must be noted that some foreign nationals have taken advantage and follow corrupt methods to legitimise themselves, family members, friends and others. The backlog for both stands at 79 916. 85% of the backlog falls under these two categories where massive corruption and collusion was detected. The breakdown is as follows:
|
Temporary Residence Permit: Categories |
|
|
Row Labels |
31-Jan-24 |
|
Exchange Visa Section 22 |
9 |
|
Medical Treatment Section 17 |
1090 |
|
Relative's Visa (brother) Section 18 |
2609 |
|
Relative's Visa (major child) Section 18 |
3952 |
|
Relative's Visa (minor child) Section 18 |
9580 |
|
Relative's Visa (Parent) Section 18 |
2190 |
|
Relative's Visa (sister) Section 18 |
841 |
|
Relative's Visa (Spouse) |
18661 |
|
Retired Person Visa Section 20 |
1686 |
|
Study Visa Section 13 |
1751 |
|
Treaty Visa Section 14 |
49 |
|
Visitor's Visa Section 11(1) |
1106 |
|
Visitor's Visa Section 11(1)(b)(i) |
14 |
|
Visitor's Visa section 11(1)(b)(ii) |
2229 |
|
Visitor's Visa Section 11(1)(b)(iii) |
191 |
|
Visitor's Visa Section 11(1)(b)(iv) |
3883 |
|
Visitor's Visa Section 11(2) |
1233 |
|
Visitor's Visa Section 11(6) |
41083 |
|
Grand Total |
92157 |
END