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

Reply:

a) The queues are already reduced in both offices as a few management principles/ processes have been implemented such as floor walkers have been appointed

b) Clients are assisted with query management while on queues; those whose queries are resolved remain on the queue for collection of products and those with unresolved queries are released to reduce the waiting time on the queue and also Branch Appointment Booking System in both offices assist in managing the queues, improving delivery of services and reducing the waiting period. Whilst High volume of clients have also been addressed through extension of operating hours during school holidays and peak periods.

 

END

Reply:

1. a) Granted Asylum status per year

Year	Total
2012	6226
2013	7286
2014	9230
2015	2499
2016	3157
2017	2267
2018	1594
2019	1834
2020	2020
2021	184

1 b) Certification as a Refugee Indefinitely Granted per year at SCRA

Year	Total
2012	NOT AVAILABLE
2013	94
2014	948
2015	684
2016	510
2017	1082
2018	1463
2019	2459
2020	578
2021	606

2. The Department currently have asylum applications from the below mentioned countries

Afghanistan	Colombia	Haiti	Mali	Senegal	USA
Algeria	Comoros	Hungary	Mauritania	Serbia	Venezuela
Angola	Congo	India	Mauritius	Sierra Leone	Wallis and Futuna
Australia	Croatia	Iran	Morocco	Slovenia	Yemen
Bahamas	Denmark	Iraq	Mozambique	Solomon Islands	Zambia
Bahrain	Djibouti	Ireland	Namibia	Somalia	Zimbabwe
Bangladesh	DRC	Ivory Coast	Nepal	Sri Lanka
Barbados	East Timor	Jamaica	Netherlands	Sudan
Belarus	Ecuador	Jordan	Niger	Suriname
Benin	Egypt	Kazakhstan	Nigeria	Swaziland
Botswana	Eritrea	Kenya	Niue	Sweden
Bulgaria	Estonia	Kyrgyzstan	NULL	Syria
Burkina Faso	Ethiopia	Lebanon	Oman	Tanzania
Burundi	Gabon	Lesotho	Other	Thailand
Cambodia	Gambia	Liberia	Pakistan	Togo
Cameroon	Germany	Libya	Palestine	Turkey
Central African Republic	Ghana	Macau	Russia	Uganda
Chad	Guinea	Malawi	Rwanda	Ukraine
China	Guinea Bissau	Malaysia	Saint Kitts and Nevis	Uruguay

3. The current government policy position on refugees remain non-encampment, any policy shift will be informed by necessary political discussions and structures. My role in those discussions is to provide input informed as politically deployed to the Home Affairs portfolio.

4. The number of persons identified, arrested and confirmed for deportation in terms of the Immigration Act 13 of 2002 are indicated in the attached statistics.

5. The list of the countries and total figures with respect to each country are captured in the attachment.

END

Reply:

(1) The Department does not condone any illegal activities. The activities of Operation Dudula of identifying and forcefully removing alleged illegal foreign nationals in identified communities is not a programme of the Department.

The Department of Home Affairs through its Inspectorate has the legal mandate to ensure that all persons in South Africa are lawfully permitted to be here. The inspectorate does regular inspections and conducts investigations to detect those who may be here unlawfully. Multi-disciplinary operations with the South African Police Services and Metropolitan Police, including inspections of businesses, is a key source of the detection of illegal foreign nationals, their arrest and deportation.

In carrying out its function the inspectorate will first look at information received from all members of the public and investigate the matter before appropriate action can be taken. The Department of Home Affairs will not act upon any unverified information in applying the Immigration Act.

When a foreign national is found to be in the country without status by the Inspectorate, the undocumented individual can either be deported, issued with an Order to Depart or a Notice to Report to an Immigration Officer at specified intervals (with particular reference to those who must depart the country with their families) while in the process of leaving the country.

In situations where criminal charges are preferred against suspects, the individuals who provided the information including those affiliated to Operation Dudula, can be summonsed to court to give evidence in the state’s case.

It must be noted that presently the world is facing an international global crisis with regards to migration. The RSA government does not have a precise number of undocumented immigrants in the Republic due to the clandestine nature of the act of being here illegally. A number of persons entered without being recorded on any system and live here as unrecorded. It is only when they are detected or their presence is noted that we are able to act. However, the Department is looking how to manage migration issues with a view to find sustainable solutions.

(2) The Inspectorate is a law enforcement unit whose mandate is to enforce immigration laws through the investigation of unlawfulness and ensure redress in accordance with set prescripts, together with other law enforcement agencies, including the South African Police Services and the Department of Justice and Correctional Services. The Department can therefore, not be in support of any activities by anybody or any structure which are not informed by the above prescripts and the rule of law.

(3)(a) The conduct of multi-disciplinary operations with the South African Police Services and Metropolitan Police as well as inspections, including those of businesses, is a key source of the detection of illegal foreign nationals, their arrest and deportation. The strategy is captured in the DHA Annual Performance Plan (APP) 2022/23.

(3)(b) In its daily operations, the provincial Inspectorates record all the documents issued in terms of each arrested on the Case Management System (CMS), which must be verified and approved at different levels of management before approval for direct deportation to neighbouring or a transfer to the Lindela Holding Facility to conduct mass deportations. The proof of deportation in a case can be drawn from the CMS where required.

END

Reply:

Information in respect of ID number: 7710156109081

(1)(a- c) The identity (ID) number, 7710156109081, was issued to a foreign born person, Raza Anjum, however, the circumstances under which he acquired the identity document are a subject of investigation being conducted by the Department’s Counter Corruption and Immigration Services branches.

Information in respect of ID number – 7401155924080

(1)(a-c ) Your request for information on the abovementioned ID number should be applied for in accordance with the provisions of the Promotion of Access to Information Act, 2000 (Act No. 2 of 2000), read together with the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (Act No. 4 of 2013).

Information in respect of ID number: 7710200992086

(1)(a- c) The identity (ID) number, 7710200992086, was issued to a foreign born person, John Noshi, however, the circumstances under which he acquired the identity document are a subject of investigation being conducted by the Department’s Counter Corruption and Immigration Services branches.

(2) Requests for access to information, in the form of vault copies of the documents pertaining to the specified applications, requires compliance with Promotion of Access to Information Act, 2000 (Act No. 2 of 2000), read together with the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (Act No. 4 of 2013).

 

END

Reply:

The expenditure on catering and entertainment relates to amounts incurred on refreshments for Departmental conferences, workshops, indabas, courses, forums, recruitment interviews, training sessions, hearings and management meetings. The amounts for catering in 2019/20 financial year was for external stakeholder meetings during the pre-Covid19 period.

The entertainment expenditure is for luncheon meetings held with colleagues, foreign delegations and/or other individuals from within or outside the public sector including dinner for meetings that go into late afternoon and evening.

The accommodation expenditure is for official trips, namely, domestic and international. These trips are to attend conferences, parliament briefings, bilateral meetings, visits to offices and for border deployment of officials to borderlines during festive/ Easter periods

The total amounts, in Rands, that have been spent on the following items since 01 April 2019 to 18 March 2022 are;

a)

CATERING	2019/20	2020/21	2021/22
(i) Minister	R5 000	R0	R0
(ii) Deputy Minister	R0	R0	R0
(iii) Departmental	R1 904 427	R653 146	R569 386

b)
ENTERTAINMENT	2019/20	2020/21	2021/22
(i) Minister	R30 565	R36 182	R15 342
(ii) Deputy Minister	R7 831	R3 927	R0
(iii) Department	R137 483	R48 046	R56 513
c)
ACCOMMODATION	2019/20	2020/21	2021/22
(i) Minister	R987 411	R43 526	R200 525
(ii) Deputy Minister	R1 016 343	R582 630	R873 683
(ii) Department	R68 125 806	R28 414 197	R45 386 791

END

Reply:

1. The Office Managers are responsible for sharing of information i.e. capacity intake, client volume inside and system stability with clients queueing outside. This must be done at regular intervals throughout the day. Furthermore, there are plans to strengthen capacity with the filing of vacant positions of additional front office staff during the financial year 2022/23.

2. As part of the Western Cape Complaint resolution mechanism, the contact details of the Office Manager, District Manager and Provincial Manager are displayed in all front offices. Complaints escalated to the Provincial Manager are being recorded and monitored. All Front Office staff are required to wear name tags. Once a specific complaint related to a staff member’s conduct was received the District Manager will investigate and apply the necessary corrective measures. The aggrieved client will be provided with feedback and assisted as part of redress. All the staff members from the Somerset West Office are multilingual and are required to address clients in English. The Office has staff who is proficient in other languages should there be a specific request from a client.

3. Yes. The complaint was related to the alleged discrimination against a member from the LGBTQI community in August 2021.

a) There was no disciplinary hearing due to a lack of evidence against any specific employee.

b) A training session for all staff was facilitated by the District Manager: Operations to update staff on prevailing policies.

END

Reply:

(a)(i) The Department of Home Affairs obtained a database from Department of Basic Education (DBE), at the beginning of the school year and then determines the number of learners with a qualifying age for Identity documents (matriculants and non-matriculants). Learners 16 years of age without an identity document are also assisted irrespective of the grade they are in, to ensure that by grade 12 they are in possession of a Smart ID Card.

(a)(ii) The breakdown below is the total number of services provided per province:

Province	(ii) Total Number of Schools visited (01 January – 31 Dec 2021)	(iii) (aa) Total number of birth registration within 30 days	(bb) Smart ID cards applications
Eastern Cape	207	40	6 226
Free State	57	0	1 825
Gauteng	487	0	2 696
Kwazulu-Natal	244	407	7 595
Limpopo	202	2	8 160
Mpumalanga	208	0	6 482
Northern Cape	209	264	4 204
North West	127	83	4 225
Western Cape	22	3 463	2 872
TOTAL	1763	4 259	44 285

(b) Collaboration by all stakeholders (i.e Councillors, religious groups, Amakhosi, DBE District Directors and School Principals) advise on the areas where there is a dire need for learners without ID documents, especially where there is no DHA footprint in close proximity, and then a schedule of schools to be visited is developed on monthly basis. Dates for visits and lists of requirements are determined and shared with the school authorities and an implementation schedule is developed and actioned

END

Reply:

a) District Manager: Operations and Office Manager to ensure compliance to basic queue management principles of communicating with clients at regular intervals and to educate the staff to conduct themselves in a professional manner.

b) All offices prioritise the aged, persons with disabilities, pregnant mothers, mothers with babies as well as school learners in uniform. The Departmental Service Charter is displayed in front offices and staff pause areas and two (2) front office clerk posts will be filled before July 2022.

END

Reply:

a) The Somerset West Office has twenty-four (24) posts on its fixed staff establishment.

b) Fifteen (15) posts are currently filled.

c) It is envisaged to fill two (2) front office clerks, two (2) Immigration Officers and one (1) Control Immigration Officer posts before the end of July 2022. All workstations are currently equipped and will be further capacitated once the above mentioned appointments are concluded.

d) The building is shared with the Department of Labour. Clients for both Departments are using the same entrance. The Department is looking at the possibility of using an alternative entrance, unfortunately the building is classified as a heritage site and no alterations may be considered to the facade of the building. A secondary cause for the congestion is the various lockdowns due to the Coronavirus pandemic and the limited services available to clients as per the lockdown restrictions.

e) Several overtime projects have been conducted to increase access and alleviate the congestion.

END

 

Reply:

• The Office Manager, Supervisors and floorwalkers manage long queues outside the offices and using manual ticket system to serve clients.
• The public is given information relating to the requirements of various applications/ services in the morning before they enter the office.
• The collection clients are also verified by service manager to avert a situation where the clients come to the office to check personally even if they did not receive the text SMS.
• The collection counter is strategically placed to allow efficient and better flow of queues.
• People with disabilities, the elderly, pregnant women and breast feeding mothers are prioritised and those who applied on line are also prioritised.
• All the Births, Marriages and Death re-issues of certificates are prioritised as they are already on the system and most can be issued on the spot.
• Back office staff assists at the front office during peak and high volume periods in line with the operations management principles.

To alleviate long queues at offices the Department has piloted the Branch Appointment Booking System at some live capture offices for Smart ID Card and Passports applications, as well as for the collections of both documents during the 2021/22 financial year. This system will allow clients to make a booking (appointment) and visit the office on the day and time of the appointment without standing in queues. The system will be rolled out to other identified high volume offices in the next years.

The Department also has a strategy to expand its infrastructure and its footprint, whereby currently twenty eighty (28) bank branches which are operational and available to service clients requiring DHA services. As part of the outreach programmes, mobile units are being deployed to far flung areas to deliver services to the public. There is currently a fleet of hundred (100) Mobile Units across the country. An additional ten (10) mobile units are being procured to increase the footprint in the department. The plan is to have all ten mobile units delivered before end of this financial year 2021/22.

END

Reply:

(a) There were only 6 (six) Section 23 visas issued in the period 1 February 2021 to 1 February 2022. These visas were all issued at OR Tambo International Airport.

(b)(i) For the period 1 February 2021 to 1 February 2022 a total 41 applications were captured due to special circumstances e.g writing matric, furthering studies or assuming new employment.

(b)(ii) These applications were granted at the following offices: 8 at Cape Town Refugee Reception Office and 33 at Desmond Reception Office.

(c) There were 155 thousand extensions granted during the period in question.

END

Reply:

(a) The figures of cases which are being prepared for deportation are 323.

(b) Illegal foreign nationals who are detected as illegal in the country, but found to have children or family units are issued with Orders to Depart and not deported, in order to allow them time to make their own arrangements to leave the country.

(i) Children born in the Republic

In cases where parents do not have legal status, they are issued with Orders to Depart from the country with the minor child, as they are attended to in the spirit of family unit principle.

(ii) Children attending schools in the Republic

All learners in schools (South African or foreign national) are managed primarily by the Department of Basic Education, whose policy allows for provisional registration over a 90-day period. At the end thereof, a study visa or proof of application at the Visa Facilitation Services must be submitted.

In cases where minors are unaccompanied, the Department of Social Development (DSD) becomes involved when requested to perform a background verification of the child, and this would be done with the Social Development and, International Red Cross where, necessary in the country of origin.

After tracing the child’s family, the family’s immigration status in the country is also verified. The DSD prepares report and can apply through the Children’s Court for a court order to place the child or relocate them to their country of origin.

END

Reply:

 1) One of the root causes of long queues in DHA office is the office space constraints which limits the capacity of the office to accommodate its infrastructure and clients thereby it is not fit for purpose. Currently the total office space occupied by the department in Alberton office is approximately 594 square metres which is significantly lower than the norms and standard required by the Department. The office space constraints lead to overcrowding and long queues in and outside the office. Clients prefer to visit the Alberton office as opposed to other Home Affairs offices in the vicinity probably as a result of access to public transport and accessibility of secured public parking facilities.

(2)(a)(i)(aa) The Department can not divulge the names of the officials and their respective positions. However, the name and contact details of the local office manager is displayed in the office.

 

(2)(a)(i)(bb) & 2(a)(ii) The positions held and vacancy rate is as follows:

POSITIONS OF EMPLOYED OFFICIALS	SALARY LEVEL	NO OF OFFICIALS	VACANCY RATE
CLEANERS	3	1	0
IMMIGRATION OFFICERS	6	1	0
ADMINISTRATION CLERKS	6	16	0
CHIEF ADMINISTRATION CLERKS	7	2	0
ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER	7	1	0
CIVIC SERVICES SUPERVISOR	8	1	0
LOCAL OFFICE MANAGER	10	1	0
TOTAL		23	0%

(2)(b) The department will be prioritising Alberton amongst the offices that need additional staff in order to cope with the demand. As explained above civic support will be added with two positions and one position for Immigration service and will be considered for the next level of recruitment.

The business case regarding filling in of vacancies has been approved. The Department will resume the recruitment process as of the new financial year 2022/23.

3) The department has conducted geographic accessibility study used to revise the DHA Access Model. This DHA Hybrid access model provides the optimal number and location of offices the department requires to meet the service delivery levels based on the service norms and standards, including population threshold and the distance norm. Accordingly, the maximum distance norm of the department is set at 25km in urban areas and 20 km in rural areas. This implies that clients are considered having access to the department’s services if they travel 25km or less to DHA service points. Thus, Alberton office is within 25 km radius of the following DHA functional offices in the surrounding areas.

• Germiston – 8 km
• Johannesburg – 12 km
• Edenvale – 15 km
• Boksburg – 15 km

However, the Department also is looking at extending its services as it has a strategy to expand its infrastructure and its footprint. In so doing the Department also delivers services at twenty eighty (28) bank branches which are operational and available to service clients requiring DHA services. As part of its outreach programmes, there is currently a fleet of hundred (100) Mobile Units across the country that are deployed to far flung areas to deliver services to the public. An additional ten (10) mobile units are being procured to increase the footprint in the Department.

4) Alberton office uses the Live Capture System to process and issue smart ID cards and Passports, it also uses National Population Register System for processing and issuing Birth, Marriage and Death Certificates. The Department experiences system unavailability due to various causes like power outages, hardware issues, network outages, and application failures. Frequent network downtimes are experienced and the matter is dealt with by State Information Technology Agency (SITA) and the Department in terms of the SITA Act.

END

Reply:

The Department does not have the records of undocumented children as the records at its disposal are of those who are documented. As such it is difficult to ascertain the number of the undocumented children being those born to South African parents or foreign nationals. Undocumented persons have to present themselves for registration on the National Population Register by the Department to achieve such. Thus far the North West Province has received 4773 applications for children 14 years and younger, that are to be processed.

END

Reply:

a) The status of the reported cases for the Department is as follows:

(i) 2019/20 – 2 cases were reported;

2020/21 - 0 cases reported; and

2021/22 - 2 case was reported.

(ii) No incidences of sexual assault were reported in the last three financial years.

b) Since 1 April 2021, only 2 cases have been reported.

(i) 2 cases were opened, 1 in the Department and 1 reported to CCMA, none of these have been concluded;

(ii) No case has been withdrawn;

(iii) The 2 cases are still open, the case with the department is still undergoing a disciplinary process and the case CCMA is at arbitration stage

c) The sanction of dismissal was meted out to the employee who was found guilty.

 

END

Reply:

1. The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) and the Banks have not signed the Public Private Partnership (PPP) due to a number of pertinent issues that still need be resolved between the parties before the signing of the PPP agreements. These issues are related to: system support at the banks, allocation of dedicated DHA official per bank and also training of certain bank officials. Currently, the Civic Services team is under-capacitated across DHA Civic Services branches nationwide with no additional staff to send to the Banks. This issue is applicable to all potential banks for further rollout of the service, in question.

2. Indeed, equipment has been installed at ABSA Stellenbosch Branch, however there is no dedicated DHA official to be assigned to the branch. Furthermore, the issue of PPP sign-off is still pending and this will pave a way for the DHA to initiate a rollout plan (including human resources) with the banks who are will to participate and this includes ABSA Branch in Stellenbosch.

END

Reply:

1. According to the departmental records on the National Population Register (NPR) the total number of girls under the age of 18 years married in the past eight years to date is as follows:

ACADEMIC YEAR	14	15	16	17	TOTAL UNDER-AGE MARRIAGES
2015			14	57	71
2016		1	5	56	62
2017		1	7	25	33
2018			11	16	27
2019		1	13	29	43
2020			8	21	29
2021		1	7	13	21
2022				1	1
TOTAL		4	65	218	287

2. The statistics above were recorded on the National Population Register (NPR) and were not registered per province. The statistics therefore only represent the total number of under-age marriages during the review period.

END

Reply:

(1)(a) The waiver was issued in 2016 long before I came to the Department and was never mentioned in any report. I was alerted to this waiver by the Director-General who himself was alerted by a phone interview on Thobela FM an SABC radio station, where a Zimbabwean citizen mentioned it.

(1)(b) In 2016 the Department only issued a waiver that allowed students who are studying towards a critical skill in terms of the old critical skills list of 2014, to be able to apply directly for permanent residence if they so opted. I am advised that this waiver was not in terms of the immigration laws and hence unlawful more so, it said the waiver is indefinite.

(2) Yes, the waiver has been withdrawn because we can’t perpetuate an illegality.

(3) No investigation has been conducted as graduates must ensure that they have the necessary valid visa if they stay in the RSA thereafter.

END

:

Reply:

1. Yes, the Department is able to monitor people serviced daily at its offices. The Department uses the Branch Queue Management System (BQMS) where tickets are issued to clients based on the type of services they seek from the Department. Thus, the Department is able to analyse the total number of clients serviced per day and for which services. Furthermore, the Department is piloting the Branch Appointment Booking System to live capture offices for Smart ID Card and Passports applications, as well as for the collections of both documents. This system will allow clients to make a booking (appointment) and visit the office on the day and time of the appointment without standing in queues. Currently ten (10) offices have been successfully rolled out with the Branch Appointment Booking System and the system is now available for clients to make use of it. The booking system has been piloted to 8 of the 24 offices identified for the financial year 2021/22. The remaining 16 sites will be piloted by 31 March 2022. With this system the Department will be able to monitor and evaluate services required and the number of people served daily at it offices.

(1)(a) N/A

(1)(b) Currently the office resource capacity is 1x Office Manager and 5x Front Office Clerks. Resource allocation is determined by the current fixed staff establishment.

The resources for the Department’s service points is based on the DHA Access Model and geographic access norms and standards. The department locates offices in line with the population concentration and the Access Model recommended a Small office in Stellenbosch based on the total population. The Department determines the resources of its service points based on the size of the office and the population threshold for that office. Thus, the adequate capacity (human resources and counters) for Stellenbosch office is determined at 41 officials and 17 counters that should serve clients efficiently. Furthermore the office size should be 1746, however, the existing office is approximately 406 in size which is less than the office norms required. The Department through the implementation of the DHA Access Model will be acquiring alternative accommodation for Stellenbosch office that aligns to the model office design. This will address the existing challenges pertaining to over-crowding, long queues inside and outside the office. Furthermore, the Department has developed a business case on funding compensation of employees (COEs) which will ensure that front offices are fully capacitated.

(2) On average approximately 222 clients queue in front of the Stellenbosch office on a daily basis. Queues are not cut off or limited to any specific number. According to the Access norms and standards, a Small office has a population threshold of 168 000 people per annum, translating to 811 clients per day. However, due to the office space constraints and internal capacity, the office can only accommodate client commensurate with the capacity, that is, 222 clients that queue in Stellenbosch daily.

(3)(a) No clients are admitted after 15h30. Operating office hours are from 07h30 to 15h30 daily from Monday to Fridays.

(3)(b) All clients in the office are served. However, clients waiting outside are informed by the office manager/ floor walker on a 2 hourly basis of the number of clients inside the office being processed and the systems functionality.

(4)(a&b) Yes, there are plans to strengthen capacity and recruiting additional front office staff ie. 1x Civic Services Supervisor and 3x Front Office Clerks, to increase the intake capacity of the office.

The Department has developed the norms in relation to internal capacity in line with DHA Access Model and facility standards. According to the facility standards, Stellenbosch office requires 41 officials and currently have only 6 officials. A recruitment process will be initiated by the Department in the month of March 2022.

The Department has also submitted the strategic accommodation requirements to DPWI to determine budgetary requirements for the department’s infrastructure in order to allow the Department to apply for capital budget from National Treasury. The capital budget will ensure that the Department constructs/ acquires fit-for-purpose infrastructure. The Department will capacitate offices as and when alternative accommodation is sought.

END

Reply:

(a)(i) As at 16 March 2022, the number of total applications received since 2014 was 1 196 659.

(a)(ii) Of the total mentioned above 242 642 were for visitor’s visa, 19 368 were for business visas, 513 642 were for general work visas, 33 479 were for critical skills visas, 94 042 were for study visas, 10 869 were for retirement visas, 91 540 were for relatives’ visas, 6 788 were for medical treatment visas and 56 108 were in other categories not on the requested list.

128 181 were applications for Permanent Residence permits.

Applications not yet finalised from the totals mentioned above were as follows 17 042 were for visitor’s visa, 59 were for business visas, 948 were for general work visas, 585 were for critical skills visas, 4 977 were for study visas, 602 were for retirement visas, 7 887 were for relatives’ visas, 296 were for medical treatment visas and 5 283 were in other categories not on the requested list.

Applications not yet finalized for Permanent Residence permits were 34 186.

(b)(i&ii) There are 2 875 Permanent Residence appeal applications and 516 Temporary Residence appeal applications that are not yet finalised.

END

 

Reply:

1. Areas visited:

a) Yes, a Mobile Solution Truck did visit the areas of the Dr. Beyers Naudé Local Municipality in 2021, as indicated, here-below:

i) Aberdeen- 28th March 2021

20th April 2021

21st June 2021

6th July 2021

8th November 2021, and

18th November 2021

ii) Steytlerville – 20th January 2021

21st September 2021

23rd September 2021

21st October 2021

(iii) Jansenville - 26th April 2021

18th May 2021

15th September 2021 and

18th November 2021

(iv) Klipplaat - 17th May 2021

19th September 2021

20th October 2021

v) Reitbrone - 26th May 2021

vi) Willowmore - 17th May 2021

9th September 2021

18th September 2021

21st September 2021

10th October 2021

(vii) Baviaanskloof - 20th March 2021

26th June 2021

29th September 2021

2. In the year 2022 the Mobile Solution Truck visited Aberdeen on 16th February 2022, Jansenville on 17th February 2022, Klipplaat on 17th February 2022. As scheduled, it is envisaged that it will visit Willowmore on the 8th March 2022, Klipplaat on the 15th March 2022 and Steytlerville on the 16th March 2022. Other areas will be visited in April 2022, dates not yet confirmed.

2a) The Local Municipal / Home Affairs Stakeholder Forum Executive disseminates the envisaged visits through the Municipal Mayor, the Municipal Speaker, the Community Development Workers (CDWs), Ward Committees, and Councillors.

b) Smart ID Cards /Green Barcoded ID Books, Births Registrations, Re-Issues of Births, Deaths, and Marriages, Amendments, and Rectifications

END

Reply:

a) Persons that arrive in the Republic of South Africa for tourism purposes can be visa required or visa exempt. Upon entry, such international tourists are normally provided with a period of stay between 30 to 90 days.

Information on Purpose of Visit is collected for foreign arrivals into South Africa with the inclusion of the following categories considered as arrival statistics for tourism purposes:

• Holiday/vacation
• Visiting Family and Friends
• Conferences
• Visits under three months’ days

(i) 2015: 14 314 029

(ii) 2016: 15 256 448

(iii) 2017: 15 083 469

(b)The total recorded movements for traveller departures are the following:

(i) 2015: 14 174 416

(ii) 2016: 14 988 924

(iii) 2017: 14 929 567

The difference between arrivals and departures could arise as a carryover of movements into the next year or extension of the period of stay.

END

 

Reply:

a) For the said period the Government Printing Works website was never offline.

b) The Government Printing Works website was only offline from 31st January 2022 and restored on 13 February 2022. However, it subsequently went down again from 15 February 2022 to 21 February 2022 due to technical challenges experienced when the physical server on the DMZ which manages the website services crashed. During this period the publishing of the gazettes still continued and gazettes were made available to the public through the following channels:

• Contact Centre accessible through telephone (012) 748 6200 or email: [email protected]
• GPW Bookshop, both hard and soft copies with soft copies requested through [email protected]

The website came back online on the 22nd February 2022 and gazettes are being uploaded

c) During the time when the website was down, GPW ensured that all requested e-Gazettes were sent through to customers per email to avoid service interruptions and ensure business continuity. The channels mentioned in (b) above were used to keep customers updated.

GPW has developed a Business Technology Strategy and Plan that serves to migrate the ICT environment from the old to the new web service infrastructure to avoid a recurrence of the system crashes.

END3

Reply:

In investigating this matter, DoEL consulted with DHA to determine whether DHA had granted Huawei a permit to employ more than 40% foreign nationals. The response bt DHA waqs that DHA had not granted any such permission, whether explicitly or impied. The only visas for which the Immigration regulations prescribe the 60:40 ratio are Corporate visas and Business visas. None of the current Huawei employees are on either of those two visa categories.

Home Affairs records show that Huawei has been issued with 538 intra-company transfer work visas, 76 critical skills work visas and 11 general work visas. This makes up a total of 625 work visas issued to Huawei employees.

Holders of intra-company transfer work visas do not hold a local position in the staff establishment of Huawei in South Africa. They remain employed by Huawei abroad in the Peoples Republic of China. They are physically head quartered in South Africa but employed by the mother company abroad to service other markets on the African continent.

While Huawei may have 625 foreign employees based in South Africa, those who are employed on the staff establishment of Huawei in South Africa in terms of the Immigration Regulations are 87 in total (76 critical + 11 general work).

The 87 employees are the ones who have local contracts to conduct work in South Africa for Huawei. When properly interpreted, Huawei South Africa employs 87 foreign employees.

END

Reply:

I have not received the attached letter, neither does the department have it on its records.

END

Reply:

Our understanding of the China Policy is that if you extend e-visa to China, all territories that are regarded as part of China are automatically covered.

END

 

 

Reply:

(i) I never purchased any vehicle since 29 May 2019. The vehicle I am using

was purchased before I arrived in the department.

(ii) Deputy Minister

a) BMW

b) 520d

c) 2019

d) R668 000.00

e) Order was issued on 19 December 2019

END

Reply:

(a) The down time percentage for 2020 - 21 financial year is 1,26% and the reason for down time at affected offices in Annexure A was related to cable theft.

(b) The down time percentage for April 2021 and February 2022 is 4.39% and the reason for down time at affected offices (Annexure B) was related to load shedding at some offices without generators.

(c) The Department never closed its offices due to system downtimes and continued to render services that are not system-dependent such as births, marriages and deaths certificates.

 

ANNEXURE A

 

See the link for Annexure A & B:  https://static.pmg.org.za/RNW373-2022-03-_-_Annexur_A_B.pdf

a) In FY 2020-2021

Percentage of Branch Servers Outages (2020 - 2021)
	Total Downtime
	Downtime	Uptime
	1.26	98.74

 

ANNEXURE B

b) 1 April 2021 – 9 February 2022

Percentage of Branch Servers Outages (2020 - 2021)
	Total Downtime
	Downtime	Uptime
	1.26	98.74

END

Reply:

1. The backlogs are with SCRA and RAASA. Hitherto, SCRA has already cleared past backlogs in other four RROs, with 24 000 files remaining at Desmond Tutu Refugee Centre. All these files are already on paperless platform and are awaiting final enhancements which should be finalized early March 2022 before they are loaded on the SCRA platform for finality.

RAASA backlog opening balance is 123 500 and the newly recruited members have already started to consider these files.

(2) The Department of Home Affairs has entered into a multiyear agreement with the United Nations High Commission for Refugee (UNHCR) for the implementation of the Backlog Project aimed at providing support to the Refugee Appeal Authority to finalise and deliver appeal decisions. The project aims to introduce support mechanism that will not only address the existing backlog, but to put in place new systems and capacity to prevent new backlogs from forming. The agreement sets out the essential elements of the project and relevant obligations of the parties over a period of four years. For the full four years of the project, UNHCR will contribute to the recruitment of additional 36 members of the Refugee Appeal Authority.

On 25 January 2022 I met the UN Assistant Higher Commissioner for Protection to review this partnership and related work. In that meeting it was agreed that as part of the next five-year period, an assessment focusing at the first instance asylum process will be undertaken to enhance the already done work in ensuring that these kinds of backlog do not reoccur. The assessment report will determine further assistance, if any.

(3) The numbers are as follows:

Month	Cape Town	Durban	Musina	Gqeberha	Desmond Tutu	Total
April	216	318	33	76	582	1225
May	2654	4405	1252	131	4630	13072
June	3059	3629	3039	1087	8335	19149
July	3409	3765	1143	396	5864	14577
August	3123	3455	847	281	10123	17829
September	1742	2255	945	295	9764	15001
October	1030	1271	469	139	4124	7033
November	835	924	365	119	3294	5537
December	403	496	220	111	1713	2943
Total	16471	20518	8313	2635	48429	96366

END

Reply:

a) There are two processes in the Department that deal with status of visas awarded to foreign nationals to work in the Republic. The first process is ongoing and is handled by Counter-corruption branch of the Department. The branch benefits a lot from tip-offs by members of the public

The second process is that in February last year, after learning how Bushiri obtained his documents to be in the country, I set up a team headed by the former DG in the President’s office, Dr Cassius Lubisi to review all the permits issued by the Department since 2004. These includes work visas.

b) Apart from the Counter-Corruption Unit, Home Affairs also has an inspectorate unit that investigates, detect and open cases or withdraw documents that were acquired irregularly or illegally. Transgressors are then deported.

END

Reply:

Teenage mothers of new-born babies are able to register the birth of their children under their names with the assistance of the biological parents or informants who should accompany them. At the Home Affairs front offices, the informant will be required to verify with their biometrics to confirm their identity and the online verification printout will be attached to the birth registration record for future confirmation of birth registration in the presence of an adult brought in by the teenage mother as a next of kin.

END

 

Reply:

1. Total number of funded vacant post that have been filled from 01 April 2021 to 31 January 2022: 62

2. The high level of staff shortages have resulted from continuous budget cuts announced by National Treasury, and the Department needed to introduce cost-containment measures under its Compensation of Employees (COE) budgetary allocation, to taper its expenditure to fall within the directed budget ceilings. One of these measures, has been the periodic introduction of moratoriums on the filling of posts which have been necessitated, save for the filling of the most critical posts prioritized by the Department.

END

Reply:

The main reason for network downtime in Benoni was due to power issues within the local SITA switching centre (Bedfordview) which provides local connectivity for other offices such as Edenvale (which has a backup connection independent of Bedfordview switching centre), Alberton, and Germiston. The current priority is to upgrade 133 single data line front offices that are running on 1MB DIGINET to a 2MB Microwave/Fibre link (with LTE being used as an interim solution) from the limited funds – a reprioritisation of funds is being undertaken through consolidation of IT contracts.

END

 

Reply:

Currently, it is still members of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) who patrol our national borderline. Working with members of the South African Police Services (SAPS), the SANDF has put measures in place, to prevent either hijacked and/or stolen cars from crossing our borders. In this regard, the modus operandi and the escape routes of the car hijacking syndicates have been identified. They mostly include our eastern border between Kwazulu-Natal and Mozambique and the norther border between Limpopo and Zimbabwe. As a result, the military officers are statically deployed for 24 hours in those identified areas in order to intercept and thwart the activities of the syndicates.

As for the immediate future, it should be noted that the Border Management Authority issued a public advertisement to recruit 200 patriotic Border Guards who will be deployed in these vulnerable segments of the borderline to augment the work of the SANDF officers. In this regard, the Border Guards will be statically deployed for 24 hours in the identified vulnerable segments and this would allow members of the SANDF to freely apply their high mobility deployment strategy for countering any illegal syndicated activities, including the undue expatriation of our stolen vehicles. In addition, the BMA has started engagements with our immediate neighbours through the Joint Technical Committees to devise strategies to jointly address these inter-jurisdictional crimes.

END

Reply:

The contracted network service level agreement with SITA is for a bronze service level agreement that should provide 95% service availability, where by if the systems are down it must be resolved within 16 hours. Unfortunately, there are times when the resolutions of systems that are down takes SITA up to 3-5 days to resolve. This means that even under the low level of bronze we are not necessary getting what we signed for. It is true that SITA argued that we need to move to gold. Our question is if even the low bronze standard can’t be met at that low level, how will a gold standard at a higher level be met.

In order to answer this question, the Department and SITA undertook to conduct a proof of concept (POC) on the Gold Service Level Agreement in five selected offices in order to determine if the move to a higher SLA will lead to an improved network connectivity in those office. The outcome of the proof of concept is awaited and will determine if it was a success or not.

END

Reply:

1. Firstly, it should be clarified that the maintenance and infrastructure of the border fence has not yet been moved to the Border Management Authority (BMA). However, it should clearly be noted that the process to do so is underway as provided for in section 38 of the Border Management Authority Act, 2020. In this case, the vehicle to be used to achieve the objective is section 97 of the RSA Constitution, 1996 which empowers the State President to transfer certain functions from one Cabinet member to another. Therefore, the rationale for the transfer of border related assets, liabilities and funds from the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI) to the Border Management Authority (BMA) is embedded on the fact that BMA will be operating as a schedule 3(A) public entity outside the public service but within public administration. As such, the BMA has to assume the full responsibility in the management and administration of the relevant border management assets, particularly those located at land borders. To this end, the legal clarity on this matter is located within section 38 (2) of the BMA Act which provides that, “all assets, rights, obligations and liabilities, including the unexpected balance of appropriations, authorisations, allocations and other funds held in connection with the management and administration of border law enforcement, are transferred to the Authority”.

2. As clearly reflected in section 38 (1) of the BMA Act, the funds currently budgeted and used to maintain the border related infrastructure and the fences by the DPWI would be transferred to the BMA in accordance with the requirements of the Public Financial Management Act, 1999. Therefore, the conclusion of the section 97 proclamation processes would locate such maintenance responsibilities to the Authority. As such, the BMA would then resume the responsibility of updating the nation regarding the status of the border fence and all other related border infrastructure.

END

 

Reply:

The Inter-Ministerial committee has had regular engagements with the trucking industry, unions, interested organisations representing foreign drivers and senior officials in government. The resolutions taken so far are to increase inspections within the industry by the departments of Labour and Home Affairs, to work on policy changes within the respective departments legislation and to continue to build consensus and cohesion within the sector.

END

Reply:

(a) In 2019 the Department engaged with subject matter experts and the drafters of the Occupations in High Demand (OIHD) list published by the DHET. The purpose of the engagement was to request assistance with methodologies and best practice in drafting a credible critical skills list. The DHET officials agreed to the request and requested that a memorandum of agreement be concluded between DHET and DHA to that effect.

In August 2019 an official request to the Minister of DHET requesting authorization for the collaboration was concluded. The Minister of DHET responded positively and indicated that DHET welcomes and supports the collaboration between the two departments. An MOA was signed between the two departments. The agreement was that the DHET will use its subject matter experts and resources, at no cost to the DHA, to draft the Critical Skills List on behalf of the Department of Home Affairs.

(b) The details of the investigations and findings that were undertaken by the DHET researchers in the drafting of the Critical Skills List are captured in the Technical Report on the Critical Skills List available at the Department of Higher Education and Training.

END

 

Reply:

The department and entities responded as follows:

(i) Department of Home Affairs

Details	Quantity (a)	Amount (b)	Anticipated date of Payment (c)
(aa) 30 days,	1	R5 120.51	18 February 2022
(bb) 60 days,	0	R0.00
(cc) 90 days	0	R0.00
(dd) 120 days,	0	R0.00

The above report is for the Department of Home Affairs as at 15 February 2022.

(ii) Government Printing Works

(a&b) At the Government Printing Works (GPW), which is a Government Component, reporting directly to the Minister of Home Affairs there are 68 invoices still unpaid:

Details	Quantity (a)	Amount (b)	Anticipated date of Payment (c)
(aa) 30 days,	67	R38 150 550.17	Within 30 days
(bb) 60 days,	0	R0
(cc) 90 days	0	R0
(dd) 120 days,	1	R1 814 509.82	GPW envisages settling the amount at the end of March 2022, due the ongoing discussion between GPW and the Service Provider to resolve the disagreement

 

(ii) Electoral Commission

a) There are 358 supplier invoices that still need to be paid.

Details	Quantity (a)	Amount (b)
(aa) 30 days,	102	R6 982 726.00
(bb) 60 days,	20	R331 331.00
(cc) 90 days	31	R395 181.00
(dd) 120 days,	205	R1 325 335.00

(c) Most of the outstanding payments relate to service providers who are experiencing challenges with the National Treasury prescribed Central Supplier Database (CSD). Supplier registration and the updating of banking details on CSD appear to be the predominant challenges. The mandatory use of the CSD, inter alia, obviates fraudulent payments. Once the suppliers’ status on CSD is compliant, the Electoral Commission stands ready to immediately make payments.

 

END

Reply:

(1) The tender inviting bids for the appointment of transaction advisory services to conduct a feasibility study and public private partnership (PPP) procurement for visa and permit application centre services for a period of three years is currently on the Home Affairs website and will be closing on 25 February 2022.

The bid specifications for the appointment of a project officer for the management of the project for the procurement of visa and permit application centre services through a public private partnership (PPP) were approved by the Bid Specification Committee on 9 February 2022. The tender inviting bids for the Project Officer is expected to be published on the Department’s website on 18 February 2022.

(2) The Immigration Act and its Regulations stipulate that the Director-General may from time to time designate any place to receive applications. VFS is the appointed service provider to receive applications on behalf of the Department. Section 8(6) of The Immigration Act sates that “an applicant aggrieved by a decision of the Director-General contemplated in subsection (5) may, within 10 working days of receipt of that decision, make an application in the prescribed manner to the Minister for the review or appeal of that decision.

Appeals, similar to all visa and permit applications, must be submitted through an office designated by the Director-General. Visa Application Centres operated by VFS are such designated offices.

END

Reply:

During the period 22 December 2021 and 15 January 2022 the number of arrests for attempted unlawful entry at Beit bridge Border and its surrounding areas was 5124.

END

Reply:

All allegations of wrongdoing which includes information from whistle blowers are thoroughly investigated by department. This was evidenced by the arrests for corruption done at Beit bridge Port of Entry during the latter part of 2021. The department has a zero tolerance approach to corruption and bribery and is implementing plans to tackle this scourge.

END

Reply:

 

(1)(a) The total deportations conducted for the specified years: -

(i) 2017	-	14428
(ii) 2018	-	23525
(iii) 2019	-	26912
(iv) 2020	-	17743
(v) 2021	-	15148

(1)(b) Deportations were conducted via the following border posts as per table below:

PROVINCE	NAME OF PORT
EASTERN CAPE	QASHASNECK
FREE STATE	CALEDONSPOORT

	FICKSBURG BRIDGE
	MASERU BRIDGE
	VAN ROOYENSGATE
GAUTENG	OR TAMBO
	LANSERIA
KWAZULU NATAL	GOLELA
	KOSI BAY
	ONVERWACHT
LIMPOPO	BEITBRIDGE
	GROBLERSBRUG
	MAKHALEEN BRIDGE
	PAFURI
MPUMALANGA	BOTHASHOOP
	EMAHLATHINI
	JEPPE’S REEF
	JOSEFSDAL
	LEBOMBO
	MAHAMBA
	MANAGA
	NERSTON
	OSHOEK
NORTHERN CAPE	VIOOLSDRIFT

(2)(a) The Department only has one detention facility which is the Lindela Holding Facility in Krugersdorp, Gauteng.

(2)(b) The maximum capacity of Lindela Holding capacity is 4000.

END

Reply:

 

The section 1 of the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (Act No. of 2013) (“POPI Act”) defines a “person” as meaning a natural or a juristic person. POPI Act, in this case, requires the Government Printing Works (GPW) to safeguard information in its possession. Further, section 36 of the Promotion of Access to Information Act, 2000 (Act No. 2 of 2000) (the “Access to Information Act”) also requires GPW to ensure protection of commercial information relating to third parties. In this instance, section 36 finds expression in protecting the commercial interest of the companies that GPW does work with.

The Access to Information Act, in terms of section 42, also provides mechanisms under which a public body may not disclose information relating to economic interests and financial welfare of the Republic and commercial activities of public bodies.

END

 

Reply:

(1)(a) The total number of inspectorate officials is 677.

Province	Total
Head Office	88
Eastern Cape	66
Free State	50
Gauteng	119
Head Office	88
Kwazulu Natal	42
Limpopo	89
Mpumalanga	69
Northern Cape	44

North West	64
Western Cape	46
TOTAL	677

(1)(b) The total number of vehicles the department has assigned to deportations is:

Province	Total
Eastern Cape	19
Free State	12
Gauteng	110
Head Office	9
Kwazulu Natal	19
Limpopo	23
Mpumalanga	8
Nothern Cape	13
North West	13
Western Cape	12
TOTAL	236

(2) The measures that are in place to curtail illegal foreign nationals into the Republic are border patrols conducted by the SANDF, immigration inspections done by Home Affairs and crime prevention and crime combatting operations conducted by the South African Police supported by other law enforcement agencies as well as Home Affairs.

END

Reply:

 

1. A total of R 11 504 666, 67 bonuses has been paid during the 2020-21 financial year for the 2019/20 Performance management cycle.
2. The following amounts were paid iro benefits to employees:
   1. R 1 109 654,60 paid to employees who were on suspension
   2. R 1 788 516,00 paid to employees who have resigned while under internal investigation.

END

2729. Mr A C Roos: (DA) to ask the Minister of Home Affairs: Written Reply 

Reply:

 

(a). Based on section 5 of the Border Management Authority Act, the Authority is required by law to ensure the effective management of the movement of people, goods and services across the country’s Ports of Entry (PoE). Therefore, the establishment of the Authority is intended to improve efficiencies in the facilitation of trade between South African and the rest of the African continent and the world. Further, the establishment of BMA seeks to ensure the integration of various functions (e.g. immigration, port health, agriculture, access control) which are currently implemented by individual government departments in a fragmented manner. Therefore, BMA’s establishment seeks to improve efficiencies in this regard by integrating all those functions into a single command and control. To this end, in executing its functions, the BMA will remain guided by the overall policy directives adopted by the respective parent departments and therefore will in no way work towards hindering any trade activities or market access between South Africa, African countries and the world.

(b). The BMA, in collaboration with relevant government stakeholders, has prepared an operational plan for the border environment for the 2021/22 festive season wherein mitigation strategies have been developed for identified challenges such as traffic congestion and crowd control. The plan has been endorsed by multiple stakeholders including the National Joint Operational Intelligence Structure (NATJOINTS), Provincial Joint Operational Intelligence Structures (PROVJOINTS) especially those of Limpopo, Mpumalanga and the Free State. Further, the Border Management Authority is leading discussions at the Joint Technical Committees with our respective neighbours to ensure the alignment of systems to ensure the smooth movement of cargo between our respective Ports of Entry. We have also finalised discussions to increase the operating hours and the deployment of additional human resources especially in the busiest ports such as Beit Bridge, Lebombo, and Maseru Bridge, amongst others.

​(c). Whilst the leadership of Border Management Authority is busy putting systems in place to operationalise the Authority and the ultimate deployment of the Border Guards, the Ports of Entry are currently secured by the South African Police Service (SAPS) in order to deter and intercept any illegal activities in the port environment. Regarding security at the private and public airports, the members of SAPS are working closely with the private security company to ensure that the port environment is fully secured and protected. These security arrangements also cover the Fire Blade private airport area as described in order to ensure that there is no smuggling taking place in the environment.

 

Reply:

 

• 1. The department is considering various options including the usage of third parties (e.g. courier companies) to facilitate the turnaround times for passport applications abroad in the interim, while the long-term include the deployment of e-Home Affairs and Live Capture abroad.
  2. The department is in the process to establish the viability of extending the online passport application systems abroad which will significantly shorten the time-frame for issuance of passports. The installation of the e-Home Affairs and Live Capture System in offices abroad is receiving attention.

END

Reply:

Submission of new South African permanent residency permit applications through Visa Facilitation Services Global will be opened for all foreign nationals who qualifies to apply for permanent residence on any of the categories of permanent residence. No foreign nationalities will be excluded.

END