Questions and Replies

Reply:

(a)(i) The total number of (Late Registration of births) applications received of undocumented South Africans in the 2021/22 financial year were 104 823.

(a)(ii)&(iii) The total number of reports and grievances of undocumented South Africans that were received in the 2021/22 financial year were 598.

(b) The total number of the specified cases that were resolved in the 2021/22 financial year were 260.

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Reply:

a) The mandate of the Department of Home Affairs is to manage international migration. In discharging its mandate, the Department of Home Affairs ensures compliance with South Africa’s international obligations as they relate to migrants and their rights. This includes the United Nations 1951 Convention and the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) Convention of 1969. In addition, South Africa is a signatory to the United Nations Protocol against Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air; the United Nations Protocol against Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children; and the relevant Convention on International Civil Aviation regulating international travel.

Furthermore, the Global Compact for Migration requires that international migration should be safe, orderly and regular. Therefore, South Africa is duty bound to address irregular migration, as the Immigration Act already provides legal pathways through a number of Visas which migrants can apply for, enter and reside in South Africa. Enforcement against irregular migration is therefore not unique to South Africa, but an international practice of sovereign States.

In providing for the regulation of admission of foreigners to and their residence in the Republic of South Africa, the Immigration Act, 2002 (Act No 13 of 2002), inter alia, aims to promote economic growth through the employment of needed foreign labour which does not adversely impact on existing labour standards, rights and expectations of South African workers.

b) Adherence to the legislative prescripts ensures orderly migration and national security. It is critical that the DHA deals with illegal migration which is a criminal offence in terms of the Immigration Act. Any violation of laws undermines national security, territorial integrity and social cohesion.

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Reply:

a) The Department of Home Affairs has in the past five years developed five policy papers, namely:

• The 2017 White Paper on International Migration,
• The White Paper on Repositioning DHA,
• The Official Identity Management Policy,
• The One-Stop Border Post Policy as well as the
• White Paper on Marriages in South Africa.

These policies are available on the departmental website – www.dha.gov.za

b) The South African Constitution makes it pertinent that in any form of decision-making, public participation must be conducted in order for such decision or policy to pass the test of legality and rationality.

The Constitution makes provision for public involvement in law-making, oversight and other processes of Parliament. South Africa’s democratic system not only provides for citizens to elect their representatives, but also allows citizens to have a say in matters that affect them.

The Department has held consultations with different structures outside government. In this regard, the department held consultations with various stakeholders including non-governmental organisations, academics, private sector, religious groupings, traditional leaders and members of the public. Further, the National Economic Development and labour Council (NEDLAC) was engaged on policies that have an impact on the economy such as the One-Stop Border Post Policy.

 

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Reply:

a) The Department does not maintain migration data disaggregated by nationality on other types of visa except in respect of critical skills, business and general work visa.

b) There are currently 26 European nationals with active section 24 permits (Refugee Status).

c) The total number of Europeans in the Republic with work visas is 2 770 with effect from 04 January 2016 (this is from the period when the Department introduced an Online Visa Adjudication System).

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Reply:

(a) & (b),(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)

The Honourable Member is referred to the Statement made by Minister on 11th August 2022 in this respect, wherein Minister announced the first of three steps to be taken by the Department to secure the integrity of the South African passport, and make it foolproof against fraudulent acquisition. The Department thus has plans in place to combat fraudulent passports by intensifying the security measures in the South African passport and these plans will be implemented in phases. The following measures have been implemented:

• A passport can only be collected strictly from office where it was applied for, whereas previously you could collect from any office in the country.
• Only the person who applied for that passport can come and collect it by activating it through a fingerprint.
• For minor children, their parents or guardians who helped them to apply for that passport will be the only ones allowed to come and collect it and activate using their own fingerprints.
• The Director-General of the Department of Home Affairs has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Interpol on 29 July 2022 on reporting lost and stolen passports.
• South Africa is a signatory to the Convention on International Civil Aviation Origination (ICAO) and is subjected to regular audits including on how it handles including on lost and stolen passports.
• The Department has also revised its Standard Operating Procedures, Manuals and Policies regarding lost and stolen passports, and these are being implemented.

Further measures are also underway at our Government Printing Works facility to continue to secure our passports. The Department will make a determination and will make further announcements on the implementation of the further plans to be implemented in due course, when the ABIS programme has been completed.

(c)(aa) In the past three financial years, 500 passports were identified as fraudulent. Each time an investigation uncovered a fraudulently issued passport, they were referred for blocking of the passport numbers on the National Population Register so that the holders thereof cannot be able to use them. These were also referred for V-listing on the Movement Control System, which means that should the holders thereof attempt to use them at a Port of Entry, an Immigration Officer will be alerted.

(c)(bb) Since January 2022, 185 passports were investigated and the passport numbers were blocked on the National Population Register and also placed on the Movement Control Systems’ V-Stoplist.

(d) Whistle-blowers reported allegations pertaining to fraudulent passports. The Department then conducted investigations on those allegations and also profiled the User IDs of the implicated officials which uncovered that more passports were issued fraudulently.

(e) Twelve (12) officials were charged with misconduct with eight (8) dismissals and the remainder are still pending disciplinary hearings. The officials and members of the public involved have also been charged criminally for fraud, corruption, money laundering, racketeering and contravention of the Immigration Act with the cases still pending in court.

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Reply:

1. The department has always had good co-operation from the government of the Kingdom of Lesotho when it comes to repatriating their nationals who are found to be illegal in South Africa. The position of the department is to continue this co-operation which includes the Lesotho government confirming their nationals prior to deportation.

(2)(a) The Inspectorate as at 1 September 2022 has 700 members.

(2)(b) Funding was provided for the filling of 293 posts in quarter 1 of this financial year. The process to fill the posts has already commenced with 196 offers of employment being issued.

(3)(a) The number of deportation recorded for the last 3 financial years is as following:

• 1. 2019/20 – 29376
  2. 2020/21 – 14859
  3. 2021/22 - 14113

There was a notable decrease during the course of the state of disaster arising from the Covid Pandemic.

(3)(b) The budget allocation for deportations this financial year was R20,901,000.00

(4)(a) The department is aware of the figures given by the Statistician General Risenga Maluleke a figure of 3.95 million foreign nationals are in South Africa according to their mid-year population estimates in 2021. This figure includes foreign nationals regardless of status. The department therefore refutes the figure of 12 million as we are not aware of the verifiable source that figure comes from. In order to deal with the challenges arising from persons who are undocumented the department is vigorously conducting operations and inspections to deal with this.

(4)(b) The department has been active in engagements with communities like Krugersdorp and has ensured that local, provincial and national elected representatives, community groups and other stakeholders have direct access to the senior management of the department to respond to these challenges. The department has been part of the multi-disciplinary team that is responding to the challenges of illegal immigration. A team of 60 immigration officers has been part of this effort. Prior to this the department was part of the team that was involved in crime combatting efforts in Diepsloot from April 2022 to July 2022.

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Reply:

(1)(a) To date the Department has paid a sum of R293 754 950-57 to appointed service providers against ABIS Phase 1 milestone delivery:

• EOH: R280 877 475.75
• IDEMIA: R12 877 474.82

1(b) Implementation of ABIS Phase 1 is not complete as measured against the requirements within the Master Services Agreement (MSA). The programme is currently at 85% of the Phase 1 deliverable. This includes -

• 100% development of two dedicated Disaster Recovery Sites and;
• Procurement of IT equipment and infrastructure needed for development of ABIS architecture, interfaces and systems with payments to EOH comprising R113 383 482.12 for hardware, a further R110 972 282.7 for licensing and software and a sum of R56 521 710.91 against professional service fees.

(2)(a) Phase 1 remains in development, but work-in-progress is advanced and some of the Workstreams are fully delivered, namely:

• 100% of Infrastructure development in the form of Data Centres and Security Integration is complete and ready for Production.
• Three (CONLV, ONLV, IJS) of the six Interfaces are complete whilst the outstanding three interfaces (Live Capture, NPR and NIIS are advanced and soon to conclude end-to-end testing.
• Change Management is complete at 100% whilst training of business users and SAPS officials is ongoing in preparation for use of the system.
• Latent Search capability at work station level has successfully passed testing, Integration testing at Interface level is undergoing enhancement.
• Facial recognition capability is enhanced at the Back Office and will soon conclude testing.
• Data Migration stands at 99.76% complete, however the Department requires 100% of the HANIS database to be migrated to ABIS. This is a prerequisite to ensure complete integrity prior to its deployment into Production, and ensure that every existing client of the DHA will be able to access a service within the ABIS solution
• By November 2022, it is anticipated that as ABIS moves into a Production environment, the system will become the primary biometric platform of the department, and HANIS will operate as a secondary, back-up. As the ABIS system stabilises, inclusion of new functionality will be introduced. Considering this, it may not be appropriate to appointment another service provider at this late stage of the programme as it will inevitably hold the risk of setting the ABIS Programme further aback.

(2)(b) It is estimated that a budgeted spend of R183 650 240.23 is required for conclusion of the ABIS Programme (all phases)

(3) The Department has meticulously managed its commercial contract with IDEMIA and the service provider is being held to account for its failure to conclude and ensure milestone delivery against the Master Services Agreement. Through this legal process, penalties will be applied for late or non-delivery. The Department has already communicated its intention to leverage such contractual penalties with effect from 1 April 2021.

Operationally, the department, and IDEMIA, have confirmed their commitment to finalise outstanding work and to commence with a phased release of functional ABIS components by end November 2022. This plan will be supported by enhanced ABIS testing within its development environments.

END

Reply:

The report from the Ministerial Review Committee was received by the Department, which outlined areas for further investigation. The report’s main recommendation is that a Multi-Disciplinary Task Team be appointed to conduct an in-depth investigation into the identified areas. The appointment of the Multi-Disciplinary Task Team is at an advance stage. The Task Team is to consist of experienced senior counsels, forensic investigators, Data analyst and other related skills. The team will conduct a deep-dive investigations.

The Multi-Disciplinary Task Team will provide advice on all permits issued fraudulently.

 

END

Reply:

(1)(a) The report from the Ministerial Review Committee was received by the Department, which outlined areas for further investigation. The report’s main recommendation is that a Multi-Disciplinary Task Team be appointed to conduct an in-depth investigation into the identified areas. The appointment of the Multi-Disciplinary Task Team is at an advanced stage. The Task Team is to consist of experienced senior counsels, forensic investigators, Data analyst and other related skills. The time frame to complete the investigation will be determined once the multi-disciplinary team is appointed following a procurement process.

(b) The following has been implemented:

Access control: All users have been requested to re-apply for user access to the Visa Adjudication System (VAS) to process permits and Visas online. This will limit abuse and access. Authorisation only granted to those approved to use the system to avoid ghost users

Fake users will be probed by the multidisciplinary team through data analytics/system analysis.

Legacy: DHA is in the process of implementing a new biometric information system called ABIS (Automated Biometric Information Sysem). The system will host information from the following: HANIS, NIIS, VAS and MCS.

Recommendations from the Nexia SAB&T investigation report on key loggers will be pursued by the Multi- Disciplinary Task Team.

(2) This will be determined once the Multi–Disciplinary Task Team has completed their investigation.

(3) This will be determined once the Multi- Disciplinary Task Team has completed their investigation.

END

Reply:

1. Roles of the Department of Home Affairs and the Department of Employment and Labour are outlined hereunder:

Department of Home Affairs:

- Project Plan including, project costs, deliverables and milestones. This was submitted by DHA to National Treasury on 26 August 2022.

- Drafting and compiling the advertisements;

- Exercising oversight role through weekly meetings with officials working on the project from the Department of Employment and Labour.

- Monitoring and assessing the process on the response handling process which includes assessing response per role through the online portal of the Department of Employment and Labour, email as well as its walk-in centres. This further includes monitoring of the process in terms of the principles of fairness and transparency which is obtained through ensuring access to unemployed youth graduates in rural and township areas;

- Accountable for the final selection process which includes shortlisting and interviews;

- Appointment, overseeing the signing of the contract as well as the administration of payment of the unemployed youth graduates; and

- Overseeing administrative processes for the unemployed youth graduates e.g leave, training etc.

 

Department of Employment and Labour

- Providing Employment Services of South Africa (ESSA) – portal for online applications.

- Running the advertisement on its website; and

- Monitoring the number of applications per role and providing weekly reports to the DHA in terms of numbers of applications received on its online platform as well as the walk-in centres.

2. The acquisition process will be guided by the following principles:

• Fairness and transparency;
• Inclusivity of Females (60%) and Persons With Disabilities (PWDs);
• Open to unemployed youth across the country; and
• Ensure accessibility as the applications will be received through walk-in centres, Labour Centres and on digital platforms.

END

Reply:

1. There is no provision for visas on arrivals in the current Immigration Act. The Department can therefore not issue visas on arrival.

2. In his State of the Nation Address on 14 February 2022 the President announced that he had appointed former Department of Home Affairs Director-General, Mr Mavuso Msimanag to Review the Visa Regime.

I therefore request the Honourable Winkler to await outcomes of the report.

(3)(a) An application for a visitor's visa not exceeding a period of three months shall be accompanied by-

1. a statement or documentation detailing the purpose and duration of the visit;
2. a valid return air flight ticket or proof of reservation thereof; and
3. proof of sufficient financial resources.

(3)(b) An application for a visitor's visa exceeding a period of three months shall, in addition to complying with the requirements mentioned above, be accompanied by a police clearance certificate. The proof of sufficient available financial resources shall be in the form of a recently bank certified statement, for the last three months.

END

Reply:

1. The report from the Ministerial Review Committee was received by the Department, which outlined areas for further investigation. The report’s main recommendation is that a Multi-Disciplinary Task Team be appointed to conduct an in-depth investigation into the identified areas. The appointment of the Multi-Disciplinary Task Team is at an advanced stage. The Task Team is to consist of experienced senior counsels, forensic investigators, Data analysts, and other related skills. This is because the team will do deep-dive investigations and may end up preparing dockets, develop plans to trace people, prepare documents for possible DCs, go to court to recover Government documents obtained fraudulently, and where appropriate trace people who need to be deported. This team will provide the details of the implicated officials after the in-depth investigation has been concluded.

2. The report from the Multi-Disciplinary Task Team will determine the hotspots which will be investigated.

3. Once the Multi-Disciplinary Task Team has completed their in-depth investigation, a report on what measures must be put in place to curb the criminal behaviour will be provided and then implemented.

(4)&(5) The report will inform the Department on the process to follow to revoke illegally obtained citizenship and the information needed to trace the illegal recipients.

END

Reply:

No, there is no waiver of fees process in place by the Department for the parents who cannot afford DNA tests, as the fees and tariffs hereto are administered by the National Health Laboratory Services (NHLS). The National Health Laboratory Service is a South African national government institution established in terms of the National Health Laboratory Service Act 37 of 2000 to provide quality, affordable and sustainable health laboratory and related public health services to all public healthcare providers, other government institutions.

The Department however has a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the Department of Health regarding registration of births at health facilities. The DHA and DOH are exploring the provision of providing paternity tests free of charge or at a minimal fee to indigent clients. This will be done within the current MOA between the two departments once modalities are finalised.

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Reply:

1. The Department does vulnerability assessment and penetration tests from time to time. These are done by internal resources and also by external resources through the Internal Audit unit. The reports from these exercises are then shared with internal stakeholders like Application Management, Data Centre, and Networks. These reports come with findings of what needs to be fixed and by whom. The third party to do these vulnerability and penetration tests yearly is the Auditor General

2. The Department uses a variety of licences for different systems. These licences expire at different times based on when they were bought. The Department has not renewed licences for antivirus as there were delays in the procurement process of these licences. The specification has now been completed and approved by the Bid Adjudication Committee and is ready to be advertised.

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Reply:

1. There has been a deliberate misinformation campaign on this ABIS issue and we were shocked to read a headline on a Sunday paper that claimed that Home Affairs has blown R300 million. Another one followed a few days later and claimed that the amount that has been blown is R450 million rand. It looks like there was a competition to misinform. On 2 August 2022 I did address this matter in my media response to these claims and outlined that an amount of R113 million was spent on hardware which is still in our possession and the warranty of the hardware is still valid. R110 million was spent on software that the project is still using and EOH delivered project services worth R56 million. The Department has outlined the steps it was taking to recoup its money in the form of penalties from EOH for not completing the project on time, as stipulated in the original contract. That legal process is on-going.

2. In relation to the current service provider for the Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS), the department has already invoked penalty clauses for missing delivery deadlines.

3. The ABIS contract is milestone based meaning that once certain milestones are completed the department is duty bound to pay for the cost of the milestone. It must be noted that the recommendations of the forensic audit which was presented to the Portfolio Committee are being implemented. Names of those involved in any wrongdoing have been submitted to the Hawks, and other law enforcement agencies. Home Affairs has already opened a criminal case against certain individuals at the Pretoria Central Police Station on 5 March 2021. The case number is CAS 145/3/2021.

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Reply:

(1)(a)(i) The Department of Home Affairs is currently not having any employee working from home.

(ii) Not Applicable;

(iii) Not Applicable;

(b) Not Applicable; and

(2) Not Applicable

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Reply:

a) The rationale for the email solution is to try to work the two-year backlog downwards without troubling over around 40 000 clients to come to offices at once whilst the capacity can only take a limited number. It must be noted that the offices were closed for a period of two years due to disaster regulations and over this period no new asylum applications were processed. This booking solution was in place before the state of disaster, only difference is that clients would have travelled to office to get the future appointment, as launched in 2017 as the ABT (Automated Booking Terminals). The email solution serves to limit large crowds to offices that can lead to overcrowdings and stampedes.

On 25 January 2022, at the High Level Bilateral engagement between Minister and UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, it was further agreed that the Department should develop a solution for new asylum applicants to deal with the COVID disaster induced backlog for new asylum applications. This email solution was developed and deployed on 03 May 2022. It was initially suggested by UNHCR, as the custodians of international protection, during the lockdown period and was immediately developed and rolled out for existing clients who wished to extend existing permits. Civil Society and UNHCR have also been advised to assist clients through this booking solution.

(b) The solution was deployed as a compliance with the State of Disaster Regulations. It now works as a mechanism to ensure control and order during the recovery period of these services. It is the same mechanism that was utilised before the state of disaster where the Department cannot assist everyone in the form of the ABT (Automated Booking Terminal) that was launched and deployed in 2017. The deference is that the ABT expect clients to travel to the office to make a future booking whilst email brings services at their comfort. The ABT solution was challenged in the Qheberha High Court in 2019. The High Court judgement does concur with the Department that where resources and demand do not match the Department should utilise a booking solution that does not expose clients.

(c) There is a total of 9057 booked for future dates. There are 31 973 emails not yet processed which includes duplicates, unrelated requests/queries and incomplete requests.

Given the backlog estimates built over the past two years, the department is embarking on strategies to recover full services in manner that reduces the possibility of overcrowding in this area that include;

• Continuation of the online solutions to manage the volumes of clients visiting offices versus capacity.

• Increase capacity at offices with limited capacity

• Prioritize the reopening of CTRRO to new comers

• Utilize overtime in particular on critical areas like new comer adjudication

(d) 131 190 remain to be finalised at the level of appeal.

(e) The Refugee Reception Centers were opened to all services on 03 May 2022, except for newcomers in Cape Town where the Department is still finalising renovations of the new office. The offices are attending to clients through appointments. Clients who walk-in without appointment, where capacity allows, are also attended to over and above scheduled appointments.

The Department is also finalising the recovery strategy which includes fast-tracking recruitment of additional staff, working overtime and the re-opening of the Cape Town Refugee Center. These processes, once concluded, will assist in eradicating the backlog that was created by the closure.

(f)(i) 17 455 received as at 31 May 2022, including duplicates.

(f)(ii) 1860 have been booked as at 31 May 2022.

(g) The waiting period varies at each Center given the capacity disparities and language interpretation requirements. The Department in this regard is increasing capacity in offices like Durban and Qheberha in order to meet the demand. Waiting periods are as follows:

Desmond Tutu: One to two months

Musina: Slots available instantly

Qheberha: One month to twelve months (with only two RSDOs processing newcomers and the Department is currently recruiting an additional 12 RSDOs and a Centre Manager)

Durban: One to fourteen months (the office has introduced additional recent slots and clients are encouraged to rebook for earlier dates)

END

Reply:

The data and research that was relied on to compile the critical skills list, in particular as it pertains to architects, economists, chemists and tax professionals can be found in the 2022 Technical Report on The Finalisation of the Critical Skills List. The Report is available online at www.dhet.gov.za

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Reply:

(a) and (b)

The Critical Skills List was Published on 2 February 2022 with a detailed Technical Report by the Department of Higher Education and Training that provided a detailed methodology used to include and exclude certain occupations.

Subsequent to the publication of the final Critical Skills List 2022 of 2 February 2022, the Minister of Home Affairs received substantive representations from stakeholders within the health sector, including associations and organisations such as the Hospital Association of South Africa (HASA), motivating for the re-inclusion of certain Medical Specialist occupations into the List.

Following a high level meeting between the Minister of Home Affairs, senior officials from the National Department of Health, representatives from the Nursing Council and the Health Professional Council of South Africa (HPCSA) a resolution was taken to amend the Critical Skills List published earlier this year to include Specialist Nurses and Medical Personnel.

The Critical Skills List was gazetted by the Minister of Home Affairs on 02 August 2022 and is inclusive of both Nurses and Specialist Medical Personnel as listed from the Occupation number 102 to 133 in the gazette.

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Reply:

(1) VFS only attends to the “non-judgemental” part of the application process (i.e. the administrative function). VFS is not permitted, by law, to give any advice or to take over the role of the DHA. Consequently, VFS are not permitted to validate the documents or provide any substantive confirmations to applicants. In order to assist applicants, the DHA has developed a checklist which VFS uses, from an administrative perspective, to cross check whether all the required documentation is present. If any document is missing, the applicant is informed at the point of submission. The applicant then has the option to, despite the missing documents, proceed to submit their application or return later with the missing documents. In the event that the applicant, despite being informed of the missing documents, wishes to proceed with their submission, they are required to sign the checklist acknowledging that he or she was informed about the missing document. All applicants are issued with a receipt which is an acknowledgement of submission of their application.

(2) In view of the fact that VFS has a process in place as indicated above, there is no need to implement any further measures.

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Reply:

(1)(a) The Statistics for the Mining Indaba, 2022 as received from the Missions were consolidated and reflects in Annexure A attached hereto.

(1)(b) Annexure A also reflects the statistics for applications processed by each country.

(2)(a) The numbers rejected are contained in Annexure A as attached.

(2)(b) The reasons for rejection vary from case to case but in general is subject to what the findings are in the adjudication process.

 

See the link for Annexure A: https://pmg.org.za/files/RNW2375_-_Annexure_A.pdf

END

 

Reply:

(1)(a) Charges against Mr Ronney Marhule were as follows:

(i) Gross dishonesty;

(ii) Gross negligence; and

(iii) Non-compliance with the Immigration Act, Regulations and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPS) in relation to granting of Permanent Residence.

(1)(b) The disciplinary hearings of the other officials were postponed due to preliminary points raised by the employee. However the hearings are now proceeding as planned.

2. The matter of Mr Ronney Marhule was reported to South African Police Services for criminal investigation at Pretoria Central and it is handled by the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, DPCI.

END

 

Reply:

a) Justice Moseneke Inquiry on Free and Fair Local Government Elections during COVID-19

(i) The total fees incurred were R 2 544 169,09

(ii)(aa) Justice Moseneke waived his entitlement of R 800 000 being fees payable to him in favour of the University of Pretoria while R 849 000 was paid to the team of researchers and administrative support personnel.

(bb) The deliverable in respect of the Moseneke Inquiry was a report in terms of section 14(4) of the Electoral Commission Act 51 of 1996 on the likelihood or otherwise that the Commission would be able to ensure that the general elections of municipal councils in 2021 would be free and fair in view of the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Justice Moseneke presented the report on 20 July 2021.

(b&c) Ministerial Advisory Committee Report on Electoral Reform and Task Team to review some permits that were issued by his department since 2004

(i) Total expenditure budget allocated to both committees is R10 000 000 per annum and Total expenditure costs incurred for both committees is R9 144 000.

(ii)(aa) Fees were billed in line with National Treasury regulations and DPSA hourly fee rates for such Committees.

(ii)(bb) Ministerial Advisory Committee on Electoral Reform

The Honourable Roos is part of the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs and the report will be tabled before the Committee in due course.

(ii)(bb) Task Team to review some permits that were issued by his department since 2004

The Honourable Roos is a member of the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs and the report of the Task Team will be tabled before the Committee in due course.

(d) Investigation within the Government Printing Works (GPW on the loss of financial data:

(i) The total budget allocated was R 3 771 156,70.

(ii)(aa) The review panels’ remunerations were determined in accordance with National Treasury regulations and DPSA hourly rates for Committees. .

(ii)(bb) The Honourable Roos is part of the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs and the report will be tabled before the Committee in due course.

Loss of Curricula Vitae

• An internal investigation was done by the Security Management Unit and the matter was also further referred to the Hawks. No external service provider was utilized to do investigation.
• Consequently, no financial implications were incurred by the GPW.

 

END

Reply:

a)  The Department has done a lot with regards towards ensuring that fake passports are identifiable which include amongst others:

• • All passports have unique security features of which specimens were shared with all foreign governments present in South Africa for purposes of differentiating a fake passport from an authentic one.

• • During the production process of a passport a unique identifier is uploaded onto our Movement Control System which upon scanning at a port of entry is able to verify the authenticity of a passport, i.e. to check if such passport was issued by the Department.
• Airlines have access to the Advanced Passenger Processing system which enables them to screen travellers before they depart. The Department also runs a 24-hour Operations Centre which airlines can use if they want to authenticate SA passports. Department also regularly communicates with all airlines to update them on how to validate South African passports, including the look and feel.

b) Passports issued under fraudulent circumstances are traced, flagged as fraudulent and removed from the records.

c) We have started following up and arresting Home Affairs Officials and Foreign Nationals involved in passport fraud.

END

 

Reply:

1.  The Department of Home Affairs does not condone such conduct by our outsourced security guards. It remains the responsibility of the Office Manager to communicate with clients and grant access. It should be noted that the Department has an immediate complaint resolution process which might be used by clients to escalate and report the conduct of employees to senior managers immediately. It is to this end that a photograph and contact details of the Office Manager, District Manager and the Provincial Manager are displayed in all our front offices. Contact details are also available from the DHA website. The Department has no record of any formal complaint lodged on or after 14 March 2022 related to the mentioned scenario. The matter was however raised with the Office Manager and the security guards. The Department will however be in a better position to launch a formal investigation once a complaint is lodged by the applicant or representative.

2. Once a formal complaint is received, the Department will then launch an investigation, and apply the necessary consequence management, should the perpetrator be found guilty of committing such an offence.

END

 

 

Reply:

a) The total number of tourist visa applications that were rejected for the 2021/2022 financial year is reflected in Annexure “A” as reported per Mission. The operations in Missions and lockdowns as a result of the spread of the Coronavirus-19 pandemic impacted on the applications for visas globally.

b) The reasons for rejection would be related to the application which will require the Mission to provide the details of an individual to a third party. However, in general Missions reported the following general reasons for rejection:

• Falsified bank statement

• Falsified invitation letters

• Falsified hotel reservation

• Falsified employment letters

• Insufficient funds on submitted bank statements

• Presentation of false South African Visas

c) The total number of rejected applications per country as reported by the respective Missions is contained in Annexure A.

d) The Department accept applications for visas from all countries recognised by South Africa as autonomous States.

e) We accept applications from passport holders from recognized States only.ccepted.

f) The information is as reported in Parliamentary Question No. 2048.

END

Reply:

There has been no engagement in the 2021-22 financial year.

The last engagement between the Department of Home Affairs and Organised Labour on this matter was on 3 November 2020, at the General Public Service Sector Bargaining Council, GPSSBC.

The minutes of the said meeting noted a concern from Organised Labour and this resulted in Unions invoking Clause 17, thus declaring a dispute on the matter. An agreement was reached by both Labour and the Department that this matter should be facilitated by the GPSSBC. The Department has approached Organised Labour to reopen this matter for further engagement.

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Reply:

Performance Area 1: Conduct general border management activities and security services to ensure effective and efficient border management

(i) Attend the on and off duty parades and be stationed as per deployment schedule of border guards.

(ii) Process proactive and responsive complaint attendances.

(iii) Report on arrested illegal foreigners held in the temporary holding cells.

(iv) Safeguard and control exhibits / evidence found to be handed over to other Agencies.

(v) Conduct arrest of illegal foreigners/ detainees to be transferred to the nearest ports of entry or police station for further handling.

(vi) Gather information for compiled reports as required by higher authority.

Performance Area 2: Implement controls on the movement of goods and people in the identified ports and segments

(i) Search people, luggage and vehicles as per the relevant regulations on the planned roadblock / check point operations in the port of entry and the vulnerable areas in the borderline.

(ii) Perform borderline duties, traffic check point operations and other law enforcement duties at outer/inner perimeter areas.

(iii) Report on all illegal movement of people and goods.

(iv) Maintain surveillance from covert positions at or near the international borders.

Performance Area 3: Control the access/egress at the identified port of entry and in border law enforcement area

(i) Conduct vehicle/foot patrols around the inner perimeter.

(ii) Control and regulate illegal movement of people and goods.

(iii) Identify and report on international visitors, travellers and shoppers for monitoring purposes.

(iv) Respond to electronic sensor alarms in remote areas as a Mobile Response Team.

(b) As clearly captured in the South African Constitution and the Defence Act, the responsibility of members of the Defence Force is to protect and safeguard the country’s territorial integrity through the patrolling of the 4773 kilometres of the land border areas, including the maritime coastline. They have currently deployed 13 companies to fulfil this responsibility through the application of high mobility patrol mechanism from on point to the other.

Therefore, as for the Border Guards, it should be noted that our sub-region has a number of inter-linked communities whereby the border fence had divided them into two halves. For instance, in the North-West Province, there are Batswana on the South African side and the Batswana on the Botswana side. In Mpumalanga, there are communities with Ba-Swati on the South African side and Ba-Swati on the eSwatini side. In the Free State, there are Basotho on the South African side and the Basotho on the Lesotho side. Therefore, this situation means that there is a lot of civilian activities taking place between South Africa and its immediate neighbours. These activities have been taking place in those areas for centuries. Therefore, at this point our concern is the fact that those areas have been hijacked by criminal elements who are then moving counterfeit goods through those.

communities for their own nefarious gains. It is for this reason that the BMA Border Guards would be statically deployed in those communities to monitor their activities with the intention to decisively deal with any criminal elements taking advantage of the situation. Further, the BMA would be registering those kind of areas and declaring them as Informal Community Crossing Points and statically deploy the Border Guards for monitoring those civilian activities.

In addition, there are certain areas outside the communities along the borderline which are being exploited by criminal elements for advancing their illegal activities. In this case, members of the SANDF and the Border Guards would collectively identify such areas (known as vulnerable segments of the border line) and get the latter to be statically deployed in those segments. This approach seeks to enable members of SANDF to freely apply their high mobility deployment mechanism while areas of concern are properly protected by the Border Guards. Further, since the Border Guards would have immigration, agricultural, and environmental legal empowerment amongst other prescript, the SANDF would be able to hand over intercepted civilians to the Border Guards for processing (e.g finger printing, declaring them undesirable and effecting deportations). Lastly, the BMA Act empowers the Border Guards to effectively protect the Port of Entry, including its 10 kilometres radius to detect any traveller who avoid using the port for whatever reasons. The deployment of the Border Guards to the borderline does not seek to compete with the deployed members of the SANDF, but

END

Reply:

1. We consulted with SITA and requested the network outage statistics for the stated period, unfortunately their monitoring systems (eHealth & NMS) overrides data after12 months. According to the attached report from the e-Health system, the office experienced downtime for a whole day on the 29 Nov 2021over the 12-month period 01 June 2021 to 15 June 2022. We have also extracted information from the DHA network monitoring system (Manage Engine). The office experienced downtime on the following days 03/10/2022, 03/23/2022, 04/12/2022, 04/13/2022 and 06/10/2022, see the attached report for detailed downtime information.

The office downtimes would have been due to SITA Switching Centre network outage emanating from Cable Breaks, load shedding, and infrastructure theft in the Stellenbosch area.

2. The office is already running on a 2Mbps fibre optic line. The Department has made stabilisation a top priority. In addition, the department is working closely with SITA to carry out the various commitments made on this matter. A number of these measures were outlined during the recent budget vote speech by the Minister of Home Affairs. See attached summary slide.

END

Reply:

The Department of Home Affairs does not administer a refugee assistance fund.

 

END

 

Reply:

a) The application for permanent residence with reference number PRP2700955 is currently in final stage of the adjudication and quality assurance the process.

b) The application will be finalised on or before 30 June 2022.

END

Reply:

a)  The Department would not be in support of such a requirement as the law as it is currently stated does not allow for the employment of undocumented foreign nationals. Section 49 (3) of the Immigration Act , 2002, states as follows:

“Anyone who knowingly employs an illegal foreigner of a foreigner in violation of this Act, shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine or to imprisonment not exceeding one year: Provided that such person’s second conviction of such an offence shall be punishable by imprisonment not exceeding two years or a fine, and the third or subsequent convictions of such offences by imprisonment not exceeding five years without the option of a fine.’

The department therefore takes strong action against any employer hiring undocumented foreign nationals and would not advocate that they do so even if they took their fingerprints.

(b) The department does not document individuals who are undocumented as the Immigration Act, 2002 is very specific about the processes to be followed in the employment of foreign nationals whilst those individuals who are under the Refugee Act, 1998 have specific provisions that allow them to work whilst awaiting the outcome of their refugee status determination applications.

In cases where the Minister exercises discretionary powers under section 31 of the Immigration Act, 2002, (Exemptions), where he/she grants the rights of permanent residence for a specified period this would require extensive consultation and approval at a Cabinet level. A full and detailed case for such special circumstances would be required as was done in the dispensations for Lesotho and Zimbabwean nationals that occurred during the last 12 years.

Regarding parts C, and E the department is not supportive of the recommendation as the department is guided by the legislation it is mandated to apply. With regards to D, the department conducts law enforcement inspections which provides statistics on the number of undocumented persons detected and also alerts employers of the penalties that will arise from employing undocumented persons.

END

Reply:

Date	Location	Suspects verified	Impact (Arrests)		Date	Location	Suspects verified	Impact (Arrests)
10-Apr-21	Hammanskraal	3	3		21-Sep-21	Waterkloof	3	1
17-Apr-21	Sunnyside	6	6		23-Sep-21	Villieria	9	9
19-Apr-21	Boekenhoutkloof	13	12		24-Sep-21	Hartebeespoort	3	3
23-Apr-21	Sunnyside	12	12		24-Sep-21	Rankuwa	50	0
25-Apr-21	Olivenhoutbotch	17	17		24-Sep-21	Pretoria	2	1
30-Apr-21	Mamelodi East	8	8		25-Sep-21	Sunnyside	42	19
30-Apr-21	Akasia	29	29		25-Sep-21	Pretoria	22	22
01-May-21	Sunnyside	13	6		25-Sep-21	Sunnyside	18	18
01-May-21	Olivenhoutbotch	9	9		25-Sep-21	Pretoria North	3	0
02-May-21	Mamelodi East	8	8		29-Sep-21	Hatfield	40	0
06-May-21	Sunnyside	4	0		29-Sep-21	Mabopane	4	4
06-May-21	Hammanskraal	47	0		30-Sep-21	Sunnyside	1	0
07-May-21	East Lyn	58	1		2-Oct-21	Akasia	4	4
07-May-21	Villieria	5	5		2-Oct-21	Hammanskraal	20	20
08-May-21	Sunnyside	15	11		03-Oct-21	Waverley	1	0
08-May-21	Olivenhoutbotch	81	81		03-Oct-21	East Lynne	5	3
15-May-21	Villieria	31	20		3-Oct-21	Villieria	3	3
20-May-21	Sinoville	7	7		08-Oct-21	Soshanguve	9	0
21-May-21	Soshanguve	10	10		8-Oct-21	Olivenhoutbotch	4	4
21-May-21	Hammanskraal	1	1		8-Oct-21	Bronkonspruit	4	4
21-May-21	Olivenhoutbotch	11	8		8-Oct-21	Soshanguve	3	3
22-May-21	Soshanguve	10	10		09-Oct-21	Soshanguve	6	0
22-May-21	Attridgeville	24	24		09-Oct-21	Mamelodi East	24	22
23-May-21	Mamelodi East	7	7		10-Oct-21	Villieria	8	8
28-May-21	Villieria	6	6		14-Oct-21	PTA West & Hercules	46	46
28-May-21	Hatfield	9	9		15-Oct-21	Brooklyn	3	3
29-May-21	Olivenhoutbotch	50	24		16-Oct-21	Olivenhoutbotch	79	79
29-May-21	Mamelodi East	11	11		16-Oct-21	Brooklyn	6	6
04-Jun-21	Pretoria West	17	17		19-Oct-21	Moreleta Park-	8	8
05-Jun-21	Hammanskraal	6	6		22-Oct-21	Hercules	2	2
10-Jun-21	Rankuwa	95	14		23-Oct-21	East Lynn	9	0
12-Jun-21	Bronkhorspruit	8	8		23-Oct-21	Bavianspoort	2	0
15-Jun-21	PTA West	27	27		23-Oct-21	Brooklyn	15	15
18-Jun-21	Erasmia	1	0		23-Oct-21	Boschkop	25	25
26-Jun-21	Moot	11	11		23-Oct-21	Loate-Mabopane	7	7
26-Jun-21	PTA West	3	3		23-Oct-21	Rankuwa	18	18
27-Jun-21	PTA West	3	3		23-Oct-21	Mamelodi	9	9
2-Jul-21	Laudium	15	15		24-Oct-21	Pretoria East	7	7
3-Jul-21	Silverton/ East Lynn	90	7		29-Oct-21	Temba, Hammanskraal	21	21
3-Jul-21	Loate-Mabopane	7	7		5-Nov-21	Olivenhoutbotch	42	42
4-Jul-21	Sinoville	25	25		20-Nov-21	Pretoria	15	15
8-Jul-21	N4 West Orchards	21	0		25-Nov-21	Bronkorhorspruit	24	0
17-Jul-21	N4 East Bronkhospruit	15	15		26-Nov-21	Attridgeville	5	5
18-Jul-21	Rankuwa	6	6		6-Dec-21	Pretoria	1	0
22-Jul-21	N4 West, Orchards	4	4		08-Dec-21	Erasmia	3	3
24-Jul-21	North Corridor, Mabopane	7	7		22-Jan-22	Sunnyside	15	14
25-Jul-21	PTA West	6	6		29-Jan-22	Brooklyn	2	2
4-Aug-21	NC- Rietgat & Soshanguve	9	9		05-Feb-21	Mamelodi East	25	25
7-Aug-21	Attridgeville	9	9		18-Feb-22	Strydfontein	1	1
08-Aug-21	Soshanguve/ Orchards	36	25		26-Feb-22	Brooklyn / Moot	25	25
15-Aug-21	Temba	14	14		07-Mar-22	Marabastad	23	15
20-Aug-21	Olivenhoutbotch	158	158		19-Mar-22	Menlyn	2	0
28-Aug-21	Soshanguve/ Mabopane	3	3		20-Mar-22	Soshanguve	38	0
29-Aug-21	Soshanguve/ Mabopane	6	3		20-Mar-22	Sunnyside	7	0
4-Sep-21	Akasia	46	46		22-Mar-22	Pretoria	8	0
16-Sep-21	Pretoria West	8	8		25-Mar-22	Olivenhoutbotch	37	35
17-Sep-21	Rankuwa	11	11			TOTAL	1172	812

END

Reply:

(a) (b) & (c) Please see the attached statistics for the different geographical regions as submitted by the Diplomatic Missions as follows:

• Annexure “A” for the European Geographical Region
• Annexure “B” for the Australasia and Oceania Geographical Region
• Annexure “C” for the Africa West and Central Geographical Region
• Annexure “D” for the Africa East and North Geographical Region
• Annexure “E” for the Africa SADC Geographical Region
• Annexure “F” for the Americas Geographical Region
• Annexure “G” for the Middle East Geographical Region

d) The Statistics received from the Missions were consolidated and reflects in Annexure H.

(e) The maximum processing timeframe for the issuance of visas is 10 working days.

(f) With the advent of the Corona virus-19 there has been a steep decline in international travel which also impacted on the volumes of Visa applications that went hand in hand with a curb in Government spending and an economic decline. There was therefore no specific focus in addressing the turnaround times for visa processing periods.

(g) The continued prevalence of the Coronavirus globally and the response thereto by the individual countries hinders the effective response mechanisms.

(aa)-(bb) The continued prevalence of the Coronavirus globally and the response thereto by the individual countries hinders the effective response mechanisms.

END

Reply:

(a)(i) The numbers are as follows:

FINANCIAL YEAR	TOTAL
2019/20	16677
2020/21	8415
2021/22	11018

 

(a)(ii) and (b)(i) The numbers deported from the Lindela Holding Facility and directly from the provinces to their countries in the past three years are as follows:

2019/20 – Total 29376

COUNTRY	TOTAL
ALGERIA	3
ANGOLA	22
BANGLADESH	26
BOLIVIA	6
BOTSWANA	11
BRAZIL	10
BULGARIA	2
BURUNDI	15
CAMEROON	11
CAPE VERDE	3
CHINA	29
CONGO BRAZZAVILLE	10
CUBA	1
DRC	87
ECUADOR	1
EGYPT	7
ETHIOPIA	13
GABON	1
GHANA	25
GUYANA	2
INDIA	29
IRAQ	2
ISRAEL	1
IVORY COAST	1
KENYA	21
LESOTHO	3963
MALAWI	4277
MOROCCO	1
MOZAMBIQUE	13834
NAMIBIA	19
NIGERIA	176
PAKISTAN	32
PALESTINE	1
PERU	1
SAINT VINCENT	1
SAUDI ARABIA	1
SENEGAL	3
SOMALIA	8
SPAIN	1
SRI LANKA	2
SWAZILAND	314
TANZANIA	517
THAILAND	11
UGANDA	50
UNITED KINGDOM	2
VENEZUELA	2
ZAMBIA	31
ZIMBABWE	5790
TOTAL:	29376

2020/21 – Total 14859

NATIONAL	TOTAL
ANGOLA	23
ARGENTINA	1
BOLIVIA	1
BOTSWANA	3
BRAZIL	13
BULGARIA	1
BURUNDI	19
CAMEROON	2
CHINA	3
DRC	51
GERMANY	1
GUINEA	2
GUYANA	1
INDIA	1
KENYA	5
LESOTHO	5796
MALAWI	2019
MOZAMBIQUE	2714
NAMIBIA	24
NIGERIA	59
PAKISTAN	1
PARAGUAY	2
PERU	5
PHILIPPINES	2
SEYCHELLES	1
SWAZILAND	622
TANZANIA	236
THAILAND	3
UGANDA	9
UNITED KINGDOM	4
USA	1
ZAMBIA	8
ZIMBABWE	3226
TOTAL:	14859

2021/22 – Total 20093

COUNTRY	TOTAL
ANGOLA	11
BANGLADESH	8
BOLIVIA	3
BOTSWANA	3
BRAZIL	1
BURUNDI	23
CAMEROON	2
CHILE	2
CONGO BRAZZAVILLE	2
DRC	67
EGYPT	7
ETHIOPIA	13
FRANCE	0
GABON	1
GHANA	8
INDIA	7
IRAN	2
KENYA	11
LEBANON	1
LESOTHO	6582
MALAWI	2797
MAURITIUS	1
MOZAMBIQUE	4766
MYANMAR	6
NAMIBIA	46
NEPAL	2
NIGERIA	69
PAKISTAN	13
PORTUGAL	1
SENEGAL	3
SOMALIA	6
SWAZILAND	1434
TANZANIA	141
UGANDA	26
UNITED KINGDOM	1
VENEZUELA	4
VIETNAM NORTH	1
ZAMBIA	10
ZIMBABWE	4012
TOTAL:	20093

(b)(ii) The cost to the Department was as follows:

FINANCIAL YEAR	TOTAL
2019/20	R30,459,100.64
2020/21	R15,953,826.04
2021/22	R26,089,452.68

 

END

Reply:

(a)(i) South African citizens by birth who were born in another country are already entitled to apply for Smart ID Cards.

(a)(ii) The Department is proceeding with the expansion of the Live Capture footprint and the verification processes for the records of naturalised citizens and is continuing with the implementation of the system upgrades that will make provision for this category of applicants.

(b) The Minister will make an announcement upon determination of adequate footprint and system status readiness which will enable naturalized citizens the opportunity to apply for Smart ID Cards.

END

Reply:

When fraudulent documents are detected the Branch Civic Services refers such cases to the Branch: Counter Corruption and Security Services if it involves the Departments officials and/or to Branch: Immigration Services (Inspectorate division) if it entails investigation of foreign nationals. Otherwise cases are referred to the South African Police Services (SAPS) and other law enforcement agencies.

Upon conclusion of the investigations conducted by the above institutions, and when the outcome renders the enabling documents to be fraudulent, the Department follows a process to set markers to block, nullify and to cancel the fraudulently issued identity documents and passports on the National Population Register(NPR) as a means to maintain the credibility of the system in the Republic.

Furthermore, the Immigration Service Branch within the Department is also involved to flag such documents on the Movement Control System (MCS). As a result a note verbale is also published and circulated through the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) as a means to communicate to foreign countries regarding fake or fraudulently issued passports and identity documents.

END

Reply:

a) Sendelingsdrift; Onseepkans; Rietfontein; Middelsputs; Mc Carthys Rest; Makopong; Bray; Makgobistad; Swartkopfontein; Derdepoort; Pilanesberg Int Airport; Stockpoort; Zanzibar; Platjan; Pondrift; Giriyondo; Josefsdal; Nerston; Emahlathini; Bothashoop; Nerston; Waverley; Onverwacht; Monontshapass; Pekabridge; Sephaposgate; Makhaleng; Boesmansnek; Ongelusknek; Ramatsidiso.

b) Enforcement of Health protocols remains a critical requirement and with the absence of that capability the border posts cannot be re-opened.

c) The reopening of each border post is dependent on the Department of Health.

d) This is dependent on the Department of Health.

END

Reply:

(a&b) According to the SITA e-Health report the network reachability and availability was 100% for this office. See the attached bandwidth utilisation report. All the functional workstations within the Somerset West Office are equipped with computers with the required software to run the Modernisation system. This office is part of dataline upgrades for the Live Capture project for 2022/23 which is already in process with SITA SCM.

END

Reply:

(a) The Auditor General signed off on the 2019/20 audit report on 18 December 2020, and the 2019/20 Annual Report was sent to Parliament for tabling on 30 September 2021.

(b) The main reason for the delay was the interactions between Management and the Auditor-General and the disputes that arose from the Auditor-General’s findings that ultimately led to a disclaimer opinion being issued.

END

Reply:

(a)(i) People who have lost their IDs are already being helped. The Provincial Manager of Home Affairs in KZN has attended meetings of the Disaster Management Center since its inception. The Center provided him with a list of affected people/families. The Deputy Minister of Home Affairs led a campaign to trace such people, offer them identity documents and these are in two forms, (a) Temporary Identity Certificate (TIC) )which they get same time on the scene. (b) An application for a smart card which is issued after a week. All these are provided free of charge.

(ii) Yes their applications are fast tracked, because this is a special project.

(b) The people who have lost their documentation are already in the system, i.e the National Population Register (NPR), hence this whole exercise is a replacement exercise, where there is no chance of fraud.

END

 

 

Reply:

a) The Department desperately want Home Affairs offices to open on Saturdays. The type of services rendered by Home Affairs offices fall in the same category as services rendered by Police Services and Clinics.

Unfortunately, the Unions took the matter to the Public Service Coordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC) and made it a subject of negotiations, it ended in a stalemate. We wanted Saturday work done through the shift system in the same way Police and Nurses do. However, the unions insist on deploying the same people who work during the week hours, but paying them overtime.

Should we agree, the Department will be forced into paying overtime for life/permanent overtime and this is untenable. The Department has submitted to Cabinet a Home Affairs Bill which will change the nature of Home Affairs Department into a security Department which is entitled to open on weekends.

b) It has affected it negatively, because we could reduce long queues through Saturday work. It is affecting clients in a bad way, especially clients who work during the week and have no time to visit Home Affairs because they are always at work. Ironically, I believe this affect members of unions the most.

END

 

 

Reply:

1. I am appealing to the Honourable Member to be a bit patient because these questions are a subject of a tribunal/investigation, which was introduced to the Portfolio Committee when it started its work last year.

2. The tribunal is about to report its findings to the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs

END

Reply:

1. Balfour is a Small Office (Service Point), wherein DHA was allocated space in a Thusong centre by Dipaleseng Municipality to provide limited services. The office is open 5 days per week (Monday to Friday).

2. Balfour SP has 1 civic services employee and is attached to Secunda Office which has 7 civic services employees. During April 2022, Balfour office processed an average of 6 applications daily for birth registration and death registration, while Secunda office provided services to an average of (155) members of the public daily, during the same period. If the employee is on leave or off sick DHA is not able to allocate an employee to the SP due to capacity limitations, also considering that the demand for services at full service offices such as Secunda, Bethal, Ermelo, Standerton increases during peak season.

3. The employee’ s salary has not been changed as she is on duty 5 days per week.

(4) (a) The department is in the process to fill selected vacancies.

(b) The Small Office is not modernised and does not have the required number of staff to operate the modernised system.

(c) The Province has engaged the local Municipality and Department of Basic Education to identify mobile unit service points in Balfour and schools in the area, the mobile schedule allocation will start during the month of June 2022.

END

Reply:

a) I had visited Steve Biko Academic Hospital while Minister of Health, with the then Minister of Finance Mr Pravin Gordhan on 11 September 2012.

b) We did not ask for such details because it was not necessary to do so.

END

Reply:

a) Disciplinary action is instituted against officials who are found to be involved in the illegal issuing of passports in accordance with the Disciplinary Code and Procedure for the Public Service (PSCBC Resolution 1 of 2003);

b) Passport processes are evaluated regularly to identify possible vulnerabilities to fraud, corruption and security breaches, and recommendations are made to affected business units for implementation. Passports that are found to be issued illegally are referred for cancellation.

END

Reply:

a) There is no regulation for Late Registration of birth for abandoned and/or orphaned children. However, abandoned and/or orphaned children are registered in terms of Section 12 of the Births and Deaths Registration Act (Act 51 of 1992), Regulation 9 of the regulation on Registration of Births and Deaths (2014) as well as Sections 46 and 156 of the Children’s Act, Act 38 of 2005.

b) Neither the Births and Deaths Registration Act nor the regulation on Registration of Births and Deaths specify which types of relatives may register an orphaned or abandoned child. However, the Births and Deaths Registration Act as amended (Births and Deaths Registration Amendment Act, Act No 18 of 2010) points out that any person other than the parents of such child who registers a child must be prescribed. Section 46 and 156 of the Children’s Act. Act 38 of 2005 deals with the designation of a person as a care giver of a child.

c) According to Section 9(1) of the Births and Deaths Registrations Act, 1992 a notice of birth of abandoned or orphaned child in terms of section 12 of the Act must be given on Form DHA-24 illustrated in Annexure 1A by a social worker within 60 days of obtaining a court order in terms of section 156 of the Children’s Act, and must be accompanied by-

• A court order issued by the children’s court;
• A certified copy of the identity document or valid passport and visa or permit of the social worker:
• Where available a certified copy of the identity document or passport and visa or permit of the parents of a child
• Where available, a copy of the death certificate of the parents of a child; and
• A social workers’ report that was presented to the children’s court

END

 

Reply:

1. Various upgrades have been done at Front Offices, Bank Branches, Ports of Entry (Land, Airports, and Harbours), and Refugee Reception Centres.

a) On a late evening of Thursday, 31 March 2022, Live Capture access to the National Population Registration was severed due to a damaged network cable that connected the DHA Network to the SITA hosted Mainframe Systems, with the National Population Register being one of these systems. The fault was only picked up the following morning of Friday, 1 April 2022, by SITA engineers. The exact location of the cable damage was found after a lengthy cable tracing process, and the cable repair process was completed by SITA engineers at 13:40.

SITA was supposed to have picked the drop in connectivity the very evening of Thursday, 31 March 2022 as SITA operates a 24x7x365 Network Operations Centre.

b) SITA has committed to the following interventions to prevent reoccurrence of this incident:

(i) SITA technical teams is investigating the possibility of installing a redundant cable that will need to be routed via a different path in the data centre in order to provide higher availability.

(ii) SITA is reviewing the alerting, monitoring processes and procedures in order to ensure there is additional monitoring in place in the hosting and network environment which will trigger events to log incidents directly on the call logging system. SITA has also proposed end to end monitoring to DHA that will assist to proactively pick up potential risk areas, or specific failure locality impacting service delivery for quicker resolution, across the value chain.

A list of all upgrades done for the period in question (1 September 2021 to 25 April 2022) is available. The list is broken down by Office Name, Upgrade done, and Upgrade date.

END

Reply:

(a)&(b) Due to capacity constraints the Department was not able to have an official stationed at the hospitals to register births of newborns. Issuance of birth certificates are rendered at the Bethal and Standerton offices. The Department is currently filling critical vacant posts with funds granted by National Treasury. These critical positions that have been identified will be filled in this financial year.

END

Reply:

International migration in South Africa is regulated in terms of the Immigration Act, 2002 9Act No 13 of 2002) (the “Act”), read together with the Immigration Regulations, 2014. The long title of the Act specifically indicates that the Act has been enacted to regulate admission of persons to, their residence in, and their departure from the Republic. It follows, therefore, that all migrants, African or otherwise, who wishes to enter, and reside in, the Republic must apply for, and meet the requirements of, entry and residence as prescribed. In this regard, all migrants are welcomed into South Africa regardless of their nationality.

END