Questions and Replies

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.

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Reply:

The Births and Deaths Act 1992, (Act No 51 of 1992), makes provision for birth registration of all children born in the Republic of South Africa. Section 9 dealing with Notice of birth in subsection (1) states that in the case of any child born alive, any one of his or her parents, or if the parents are deceased, any of the prescribed persons, shall, within 30 days after the birth of such child, give notice thereof in the prescribed manner, and in compliance with the prescribed requirements, to any person contemplated in section 4. This legislative requirement make reference to any child born in the Republic without discriminating on the basis of the nationality of parents. Legislation provides for issuance of a notification certificate of birth to children born of foreign nationals.

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Reply:

The development of the eVisa phase 1 was completed in 2020/2021 financial year but the deployment of the system was delayed due to COVID19 lockdown and suspension of international travel. The eVisa system has been piloted in Kenya and India already. As at 29th September 2021, the eVisa system has been deployed in a phased approach and operational for the following countries, namely: Kenya, Cameroon, Philippines, DRC and Saudi Arabia.

It must be considered however, that the current eVisa module is designed for tourists only, and further modules of the solution for other categories of visas will be developed and deployed in line with the stabilization of the launched version of the eVisa module. As the system matures, the department will implement a more extensive deployment plan structured and sub-divided across African countries and the Rest of the World to be undertaken during the outer years of 2022-2025.

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Reply:

(1) The last Tender Bulletin was last published on 29 January 2021.

(2)(a) The delays on the publication of the tender bulletin was as a result of the power surge that hit the GPW data centre on 4 February 2021, which damaged critical servers, resulting in the crashing of the eGazette systems and disabling the publishing of all Government gazettes, including the Tender Bulletin.

(2)(b) GPW had to work on manual mode to publish the National and Provincial gazettes. However due to its format, sensitivity and complexity of its content the Tender Bulletin could not be processed manually.

GPW has appointed the service provider to rebuild and automate the eGazette system and also work on the back-up systems. The project milestones are expected to have been achieved by the 31st March 2022, and then publishing of the Tender Bulletin will resume.

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Reply:

1. The DHA Online Verification System (OVS) was initially deployed and accessed by the Citizens for the online verification of; marital status, passport and ID application status, among others. The OVS gained popularity to the point whereby insurance companies were not using proper processes. However, insurance companies opted to use the same free service designed for individual citizens. International users were identified trying to access our National Population Register (NPR) system via the unsecured OVS.

This imposed a risk to NPR and security of Citizen’s data. Department was then advised to temporally close the OVS and work on a solution to address all identified risks. Security of Citizen’s data is the priority of the DHA, that’s why the Department opted to temporarily close the system, until OVS is secured and is solely accessed by the authorised users. Thereafter, DHA separated OVS processes for insurance companies and Citizens, into two phases. The former is already in commission, while the latter is being planned to be released as a second phase.

Efforts are underway to provide such services in a more secure fashion. Some of the related developments are described below.

DHA continuously invests in ICT innovations that improve internal operational efficiencies and effectiveness, while also improving Citizen’s digital experiencing through deployment of innovative technologies. DHA acknowledges the adoption of digital transformation and the implementation of ICT technologies that enhance service delivery channels. That’s why there are current e-modernisation projects in place and e-home affairs digital channel. The first phase of eHome Affairs digital channel was developed to allow Citizens with access to the Internet, to apply for Smart IDs and Passports.

This first phase was further rolled-out to the participating banks to provide application of Smart ID’s and Passports. The same eHome Affairs digital channel will soon be used to allow clients to book appointments; not just with the participating bank branches, but with participating Home Affairs front offices as well, but for various services not just Smart ID and Passports. This is one of the initiatives contributing to the War on Queues, as communicated to Parliament.

(2) Emanating from the above background, DHA has embarked on the following initiatives to improve system availability and connectivity:

• • Go to Market Strategy for Access Link – The implementation of a strategy wherein DHA has access to a localised pool of pre-approved service providers wherein a procurement of a connectivity service can be expedited without the onerous procurement processes has long been awaited by DHA. SITA’s promise to implement this strategy in early 2022/23.
  • Partnership with Connectivity Equipment Manufacturers in order to improve turnaround times to replace connectivity hardware infrastructure is in progress.
  • Improve management of generators in term of maintenance together with Department of Public Works to minimise issue of power outages that affects ICT infrastructure.
  • Implemented 100 DHA Mobile trucks with VSAT connectivity and Live-Capture system that are deployed in Rural areas and also planning to procure additional 10 Mobile trucks within the current financial year.
  • Implement DHA Self-service kiosk system for collections, reprint (of birth, marriage and death certificates and re-issue applications for Smart ID’s and Passports by 2024/25 financial year in order to reduce long queues and ease access to DHA services.
  • Increase rollout of DHA services such as ID and Passports to more banks in all Provinces.
  • Implement LTE internet routers to the most of DHA branches in all Provinces to minimise service interruptions, due to cable theft.
  • Closer cooperation with other state and private entities on improving access to the internet to the areas that do not have internet connectivity.
  • Upgraded most of DHA branches across the Country to a minimum of 2MB line or higher bandwidth.

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Reply:

1. No Department officials have been identified as aiding and abetting the escape of the identified individual.

2. Under section 49 (5) of the Immigration Act, 2002, any public servant who provides false or intentionally inaccurate or unauthorised documentation or benefit to an illegal foreigner, or otherwise facilitates such illegal foreigner to disguise his or her identity or status, or accepts any undue financial or other consideration to perform an act or to exercise his or her discretion in terms of this Act, shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to imprisonment not exceeding eight years without the option of a fine: provided that if such public servant is employed by the department , such office shall be punishable by 15 years without the option of a fine.

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Reply:

(1)(a-b) 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.

Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) is the national statistics agency of South Africa established under the Statistics Act (Act No. 6 of 1999) with the aim to produce timely, accurate and accessible official statistics from the civil registration system. Within this system, the Department of Health is responsible for registration of births occurring in health facilities. The aim of government is to ensure that babies are registered and issued with birth certificates shortly after birth at health facilities, for collection of vital statistics which are important for planning and service delivery.

2. The Department operates within the legislative framework that prescribes registration of birth within thirty (30) days. The Department continues to conduct outreach programmes led by the Deputy Minister encouraging parents to register births of their children.

The Department of Home Affairs is in collaboration with International Social Services (ISS), which is a unit within the Department of Social Development that render inter-country social assistance, paying particular attention to destitute and vulnerable children who might have experienced social problems as a result of international migration.

The Department in its cooperation in ensuring the best interest of the child and safeguarding the smooth facilitation process during the child’s repatriation in collaboration with DSD. In the past three years the Department in co-operation with Department of Social Development facilitated repatriation of undocumented foreign children who are born to foreign nationals back to their countries of origin as follows;

Countries where foreign undocumented children repatriated to	2019	2020	2021	Total
Lesotho	1	8	6	15
Zimbabwe			28	28
Angola		1		1
Botswana	1		3	4
Nigeria			2	2
Mozambique			2	2
	2	9	41	52

3. Further modernisation and integration of systems mean the DHA will introduce the Automated Biometric identification system (ABIS) which will enable capturing of more biometrics. The current Home Affairs National Identity System (HANIS) only records two (2) biometrics; that is, photos and finger prints. The ABIS will record at least five (5) biometrics; that is, fingerprints, palm print, facial, iris and photo recognition.

4. The Department had requested the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) to look into a possible use/ introduction of biometrics associated with identity management for children. The DHA is still researching on the options such as foot/palm print, iris, DNA and fingerprint for children. However, the Official Identity Management policy which was approved by Cabinet for public consultation in the last financial year recommends that a combination of different biometric data for children should be considered with options such as the fingerprints, palm-prints and footprints. This will depend on the availability of proven technology. The policy will be submitted to Cabinet for approval by 31 March 2022. Once approved by Cabinet, the policy will be translated into a new Identification Act that will regulate capturing of personal information (biographic and biometric data) for all children born in South Africa.

5. The new legislation and ABIS will make it possible to capture biometrics of children born before the inception of the new approach to birth registration. It is envisaged that once the biometrics solution is in place, missing but found children could be easily identified through their fingerprints, and linked to their parents.

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Reply:

a) The Department has not been receiving Permanent Residence applications since March 2020. An extensive project plan to address the current Permanent Residence application backlog at all delegated approval levels was developed and implemented. Staff are currently working overtime until end of March 2022 in an attempt to address the backlog.

b) The Department is currently consulting the various Government clusters where after a Cabinet Memorandum will be presented to Cabinet for a final decision whether any further dispensation will be issued or not.

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Reply:

a) The Department has developed an ID distribution strategy and the following programs have been put in place to ensure that citizens receive their Identity documents on time before the commencement of the local government elections:

The Department has undertaken to prioritize its services to those who have applied for their identity documents ahead of the general elections by issuing election enabling documents, i.e. Identity Documents, and also to issue Temporary Identification Certificates (TIC’s) on the spot to those whose identity documents are lost.

• Targeted Communication intervention on uncollected Green Barcoded Identity Books and Smart Identity Cards.
• Provinces in collaboration with stakeholder forums will embark on public awareness campaigns for the distribution and collection of ID’s.
• Communities are encouraged to collect Identity documents already received at offices.
• Collections of ID smart cards are prioritised at all offices.
• Provinces to work with Stakeholders to deploy mobile units for people to collect their Green Barcoded Identity Books.
• Mobile Offices will be deployed to service a cluster of Voter Registration stations (Green Barcoded ID Books). Mobile trucks are also deployed in cooperation with the local government office of the premier to voter education programs throughout the provinces.
• Provincial managers to make announcement making use of local media.
• Rescan all Green Barcoded Identity Books on hand on track and trace to reactivate the Short Message System (SMS) to clients informing them to collect IDs.
• A contingency plan to provide back office support services, where its front offices are experiencing problems with issuance of ID’s and TIC’s enabling documents.
• Clients to contact the Call Centre using 0800 60 11 90 to establish the status of their Identity Documents.
• Lastly, the Department plans to extend its operational hours during the Voters Registration Weekend as well as on the scheduled Election day(s). It is against this backdrop that the Department has aligned its working hours with those announced by the Independent Electoral Commission(IEC). On the weekend of the 18th and 19th September 2021, all DHA offices will be opened in order to fast track the processing of identity document applications and to ensure that all persons who are legible to vote are not excluded from participating in the next upcoming local government elections.

b) There were no identity documents that got lost during the unrest of July 2021 in both KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) and Gauteng provinces. However, in KZN only three offices were accessed during the unrest namely Vulamehlo, Eshowe and Impendle. All three offices reported that no documents of value were lost during the unrest as the areas where the documents were stored were not accessed. In Gauteng province, at Bara Mall (Soweto) office only, death registers that were already recorded on the system and ready for dispatch for archival purposes were damaged during the unrest due to burst water pipes, however all citizens who were affected applied for death certificates, and received them the same day.

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Reply:

1. There were no identity documents lost in the Kwazulu-Natal and Gauteng Provinces during the unrests. However, there were death registers which were recorded on the system waiting for dispatch and archival process by Head Office which were destroyed at the Baragwanath Mall office during the unrest due to a burst water pipe which resulted in the office being flooded.

In tracing the documents, the Department has registers to record all face value documents from Government Printing Works (GPW), and in this particular case DHA-5 forms come with unique serial numbers which are recorded on a register DHA-812 form as proof of receipt. The same documents are then issued to the sections/service points/health facilities in a sequential format and those are also signed for by the supervisor acknowledging receipt.

Upon issuance to the applicant after information is printed (death certificate) there is also a register signed by the client indicating a unique serial number issued. In the event that there is an error on a certificate and the latter gets cancelled, the cancelled certificate is recorded as such and crossed as cancelled to ensure that every serial number is accounted for.

2. According to the Standard Operating Procedure of birth and death registration, the clients are issued with death certificates on the spot and if the client requires a vault copy it is upon the client to lodge a formal request. all those who made requests were issued with death certificates and if there is a need for a vault copy. In terms of section 3 of the Births and Deaths Registration Act 51 of 1992, the Director General may reproduce or cause to be reproduced any document submitted in terms of this Act, such as in this case.

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Reply:

1. The task of preventing persons who face criminal charges is overseen by the South African Police Services. They ensure that the relevant details are recorded in the various departmental systems that can detect whether a person travelling through borders is a fugitive from justice. Further departments are meeting daily over the matters relating to this incident. There are relevant resources deployed for this purpose.

2. The information mentioned is shared through daily security cluster meetings at NATJOINTS.

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Reply:

1. The draft Proclamation in terms of section 97 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (the “Constitution”), to transfer functions from relevant Organs of State, has been drafted and being consulted on with the said relevant Organs of State. Once there is concurrence on the contents of the Proclamation, the draft Proclamation will be forwarded to the Presidency for the President to approve same. Thereafter, the Department will cause the Proclamation to be gazetted.

2. The current draft Proclamation, in terms of section 97 of the Constitution has been revised to remove legislation that affects SARS-Custom and the SANDF. The Department is currently undergoing consultations with organs of state as required by the requisite processes and they have undertaken to provide such feedback by no later than 10 September 2021.

3. The establishment of the BMA in South Africa is an unprecedented “Whole-of-Government” endeavour led by the Presidency and guided by the Department of Public Service and Administration, and the National Treasury in terms of the Public Service Act, the Public Finance Management Act and the National Macro-Organization of Government (NMOG)principles.

The operationalization of the BMA Act involves multiple Organs of State, and complex regulatory, legislative, staffing, budgeting and funding processes; and as such, the BMA Act, 2020 will be operationalized in an incremental manner over a ten (10) year period ending in 2030.

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Reply:

1. The Department is in the process of evaluating its internal skills with a view to creating the necessary capacity for its work.

2. A review of its enterprise architecture is also underway. This will allow it to better plan its systems in line with the Government Wide Enterprise Architecture framework while pointing out areas where dependency on SITA can be managed

3. In addition, the Department has had an Executive Engagement with SITA, and the following interventions are currently in the pipeline:

• SITA’s proposal for an upgrade to Gold or Platinum will be tested through a proof of concept.
• Go to Market Strategy for Access Link – The implementation of a strategy wherein DHA has access to a localised pool of pre-approved service providers wherein a procurement of a connectivity service can be expedited without the onerous procurement processes has long been awaited by DHA. SITA’s promise to implement in early 2022/23 will be closely monitored and reported upon.
• SITA Strategy and Investment Plan for Uninterruptible Networks - SITA submitted a proposal to DHA that required a financial investment by DHA to the tune of R700m, whilst the Plan may not have been wholly accepted by DHA, the following critical parts of the Plan are being implemented by SITA and DHA:
  • Upgrade and maintenance of the dilapidated network equipment (routers and switches) - DHA.
  • Upgrade of SITA Switching Centres – SITA.
  • Expansion of SITA Core Network to reduce regional network outages – SITA.

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Reply:

The Department of Home Affairs in partnership with the Matatiele Local Municipality has identified space to temporarily accommodate Home Affairs. This will ease congestion at the current location which is within the Department of Justice. The current space does not suit the needs for clients and resultantly leads to complaints and poor services in the area.

The envisaged temporary relocation to the ESKOM Building makes way for the erection of the office structure on the offered land to the Department by the Matatiele Local Municipality Council, which is next to the Matatiele Police Station.

The Department took a decision to render certain services during adjusted lockdown level 3. This amongst others, includes the issuance of identity documents to first time issuance and temporary identity certificates for those who may have lost their IDs.

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Reply:

1(a) The R1 million is allocated for the awareness material, to be distributed to all our 412 offices based in all provinces, on the fight against Gender Based Violence. R800 000 of the budget will be used for promotional materials, namely posters, pamphlets, banners and booklets. R200 000 for transport by participants for awareness sessions/workshops, hiring of venues and accommodation for participants and facilitators.

b(i) For Kwazulu Natal seminar, the Department spent R12 700 (This excludes the transport cost to transport officials to the event since they were using DHA vehicles) and for Eastern Cape the Department spent R69 000 (excluding transport amount).

(ii) The virtual Disability Forum Workshop costs were those for data.

(iii) The intended interventions are going to be hosted on virtual platform and therefore the cost will only be for data, therefore the expected cost will be around R5000.

2. Yes, the agendas and copies of presentations.

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Reply:

Draft Reply

The Department of Home Affairs doesn’t have a counter strategic litigation unit and therefore we are unable to give responses on the question. We however have a Branch responsible for Counter Corruption and also a Litigation Directorate under Chief Directorate Legal Services.

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Reply:

1. The total number of illegal foreign nationals received at the Lindela Repatriation Centre for the period 1 January 2020 to 1 August 2021 is 17514.

2. 16 782 foreign nationals were successfully deported.

(3)(a-b) As per the table below:

Released to avoid 120 days in detention, due to closure of the borders	Released after claiming asylum	Released and handed over to the family as they were very sick to avoid death in detention	Released from the facility to arresting officer for further investigation. e.g. Claiming to be South African and Asylum permit holders
573	141	7	11

(4) The costing of the housing is not calculated on a daily basis according to the current Service Level Agreement. It is separated according to 3 categories and these are on an occupancy of 1 500 persons, including the items:

Fixed – R6,057,779.04

General Maintenance, Group support and shared services, Insurance, Kitchen Fees, Licence and Subscriptions, Medicines and Medical Services, Office Automation, Pest Control, Professional Services, Property Rental, Security, Staffing, VPN Connectivity, Cost of Sales General, Vehicle Expenses (lease payments and repairs, maintenance and other)

Head Count – R1,193,550.19

Food costs, Consumables, Laundry, Utilities (including Water, Electricity and Municipality rates)

The total per month is R7, 251,329.23 for an average occupancy of up to 1500 inmates per month.

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Reply:

(a) The application for gender marker was lodged on 07/10/2019 and was finalized on 27/11/2019. Subsequent to finalization of gender marker changes, the client applied for new identity document in October 2020. The system reflect that the client’s application was pending awaiting outstanding supporting documents, which were submitted on 25/05/2021 and the identity document was collected by the client on 07/07/2021.

b(i) Application for a Smart ID Card takes 13 days to be processed, unless there are outstanding documents.

(ii) The Department does not deliver documentations to its clients, clients are expected to visit front offices to collect the confirmation letter for finalised gender marker changes.

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Reply:

(1)(a)(i) In terms of the BMA Blueprint estimated expenditure on Compensation of Employees for the fully-fledged BMA Public Entity is R2,974,962,978.00. It is important to note that the estimates included in the cost model would reflect compensation budgets to be transferred by principal departments whose functions are to be transferred to the BMA. However, the realization of additional budgets would be based entirely on availability of funds from the National Treasury.

(a)(ii) As far as estimated expenditure for Systems Development is concerned, notable establishment costs considered to be incurred are as follows:

• Payroll ICT systems
• Integrated ICT systems development and installation at Ports of Entry
• Computer equipment for the NTC and Ports of Entry Surveillance and monitoring

The actual cost for ICT systems is still being determined and given the disparity in prices, an estimate has not been included in cost model.

(a)(iii) In terms of the BMA Blueprint, the estimated expenditure for Goods and Services for a fully operational BMA will be R5,281,133,622.00. It is important to note that the estimates included in the cost model would reflect budgets for goods and services to be transferred by principal departments whose functions are to be transferred to the BMA. However, the realization of additional budgets would be based entirely on availability of funds from the national fiscus.

(b) The BMA Roadmap outlines the following six (6) Phases for the full establishment and integration of the BMA:

Phase 1: Pre-establishment – 2018-2020

Phase 2: Planning, Establishment and Transitional – 2021-2023

Phase 3: Integration and Initial Roll-out – 2024-2025

Phase 4: Integration and Incremental Expansion – 2026-2027

Phase 5: Operate, Review and Full Integration – 2028-2029

Phase 6: Sustainment and Adaptability Phase – 2030

Each Phase will cover each of the following aspects:

• • Key activities and milestones;
  • Identified Ports of Entry and segments of the Land Borderline to transition into the BMA;
  • The proposed transition approach for the Ports of Entry;
  • The maximum timeframe for each Phase;
  • The capability/operating model functions;
  • The roles and structures to support and manage PoEs and Land Borders transitioned into the BMA; and
  • The role of the Implementation Protocols, Multi-Party Agreements, Service Level Agreements and Memoranda of Understanding.

(c) Noting the phases of the Roadmap above, I appointed an Acting BMA Commissioner in January 2021 to drive the process of the implementation of the Act and the incremental roll-out of the BMA. The Department of Home Affairs was, through a Cabinet decision, mandated to coordinate all operational activity at Ports of Entry. However, due to human resource constraints, the Department entered into a Multi-Party Agreement with all departments at the border to afford some of the departments to coordinate activities at Ports of Entry.

(2) No funding guarantees have been secured from the National Treasury yet. The current arrangement with the National Treasury is that the costing for each Implementation Phase and the MTEF Budget Submission. It should be noted that the total cost identified in the BMA blueprint will be incrementally implemented over the identified six (6) Phases in the roadmap. All expenditure incurred will be costed for each Phase against the various cost categories.

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Reply:

(1)(a) Engagements were conducted between myself, the Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure and Premier of the Western Cape in 2020 regarding the provision of shelter at two sites in Cape Town following the removal of the protesters from Greenfield and the Methodist Church in April 2020.

(b) The UNHCR initially provided funding for the tents and ablution facilities for the protestors at the two mentioned facilities, but indicated that they could no longer do so after February 2021. According to the UNHCR, it further provided assistance for persons willing to reintegrate back to the local communities or repatriate to their countries of origin as part of their mandate.

On local reintegration the UNHCR offered a reintegration package to cover basic rentals and necessities for three months, as well as counselling support for those choosing to reintegrate. The project which was originally intended to end on 30 April 2021 was then extended to 15 May 2021, following requests by some of the refugees. With many registering at the eleventh hour, UNHCR consulted with Department of Home Affairs to continue with the reintegration process for those for who registered by the deadline of May 15. UNHCR’s implementing partner, Adonis Musati, assisted with the implementation of the reintegration project that has now reached completion.

The status report of the reintegration indicated that 810 persons have reintegrated back into their communities. A total 761 persons were from Wingfield, and 49 persons were from Paint City. Of the 810 persons, the vast majority were from Democratic Republic of Congo, (739 persons), followed by 26 persons from Congo Brazzaville, Burundi (15 persons), Zimbabwe (8 persons), Angola (6 persons), Cameroon (5 persons), Zambia (4 persons), Somalia (2 persons), and a few single persons from Mozambique, Malawi, Cote d’Ivoire, Tanzania and Nigeria. In terms of gender breakdown, 427 persons are male and 383 persons are female. 334 persons under the age of 18 years and 43 persons have benefitted from a small livelihoods component in the programme.

An additional 50 persons have voluntarily returned to their country of origin, all but 2 are from Paint City, these are mostly women and children. Of this number, 48 persons returned to Burundi, 1 to Democratic Republic of Congo and 1 to Cote d’Ivoire.

In total, in Cape Town, UNHCR project has assisted 860 persons from two sites this year, either to reintegrate or voluntary return to their country of origin. The UNHCR’s voluntary repatriation programme remains active and all new persons at the two sites of Wingfield and Paint City who still wish to reintegrate back into their communities will now be referred back to UNHCR’s regular programme where the partner will conduct individual needs assessment to determine eligibility for assistance.

(c) No engagements with the SADC

(d) No Engagements with AU

(e) On 7 May 2021, a request was made to the IOM Chief of Mission for the organisation to assist in managing and evacuation process in the Western Cape. The total number of 43 families with a head count of 75 undocumented persons. The DHA had already been working with UNHCR to facilitate the dignified departure of those who had indicated an intention to repatriate from the Paint City location of protests.

A list of the names was provided by Asylum Seeker Management (ASM) for verification of status and documentation for effecting direct documentation which could not be conducted via Lindela Holding Facility. Initial engagements were embarked virtually with the Mission to discuss the required operations, phases, timeframes and logistics (including the issue of travel documents in Pretoria). The DHA therefore envisioned a direct deportation from Cape Town – probably through OR Tambo International Airport to their countries of origin.

On 28 May 2021, the IOM Mission advised that it was still coordinating with its head office in Vienna as to whether assistance could be extended to this group in Cape Town. There was also a request for the interviewing and filling of forms with the returnees at Lindela. However, this was not possible due to the space accommodated forcefully by refugees at Lindela since November 2019, though they are not deportees, but were brought in there on humanitarian basis while being documented and assisted with evacuation.

On 1 June 2021, the IOM proposed conducting telephonic interviews and for the completion of forms as the Mission does not have a presence in Cape Town. Thereafter, the documents would be forwarded to their headquarters to assess the cases and eligibility for funding. At the time, the mechanisms of operations of the Mission did not allow for the implementation of the evacuation requests, as there needs to be face to face interaction between the interviewer and the applicant requiring assistance, this includes the completion of documents.

(f) After the UNHCR stopped funding the Department of Home Affairs, on the basis of humanitarian grounds again approached National Treasury and asked for permission to utilise the department’s budget to pay for these facilities (marquee and ablution facilities) at Paint City. The DHA also approached National Treasury for approval to take over the responsibility of providing accommodation and ablution facilities at Wingfield. On 10 March 2021, DHA approached the Mayor of the City of Cape Town to provide ablution facilities for a period of 1 week while the DHA awaited approval from National Treasury. On 11 March 2021, after obtaining approval from National Treasury, the ablution facilities (20 toilets, 20 showers and 10 sanitary bins) were replaced at Paint City by the DHA. The payment for the tent at Paint City was also covered by DHA.

On 26 March 2021, DHA received a letter from the City of Cape Town indicating that they intend to remove the infrastructure (marquee tent and ablution facilities) at Wingfield on 15 April 2021. The City of Cape Town had obtained a negative audit finding by the Auditor-General regarding its continued expenditure at Wingfield. The City of Cape Town took a decision to end its continued payment for facilities by 15 April 2021.

This decision by the City of Cape Town would have disrupted the good work that the UNHCR and IOM were doing. On 15 April 2021, I held a meeting with the Premier of the Western Cape, as well as with the DG of DHA and DG of the Western Cape. This meeting resolved that the DHA and the Western Provincial Government would share the cost of the marquee tent and ablution facilities at Wingfield for a period not more than 2 weeks, ending on 30 April 2021. This decision was taken to avoid a humanitarian crisis. On 19 April 2021, the Minister of Home Affairs announced this joint decision (supported by the UNHCR Representative and Premier of the Western Cape) that the tents and ablution facilities at both Wingfield and Paint City temporary shelters will be removed 2 weeks from the 15 April 2021.

The deportations of the some of the protesters were effected by engaging with the respective governments of some of the protesters in order to obtain the necessary travel documents for their deportation. The governments concerned were Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The engagements with Burundi, Rwanda and DRC were in March 2021. The deportations that have taken place were 15 to Burundi in December 2020 and 17 to DRC in April 2021.

(2) Ms E L Powell can apply through the “Promotion of Access to Information Act” to the various stakeholders to have access to this information.

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Reply:

(a) The assistance provided includes tents, electricity and ablution facilities.

(b) Engagements with the occupants of the shelter have been done by government officials, the United High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), civil society and the Portfolio Committee. All engagements have encouraged the occupants to either re-integrate into communities or to voluntarily repatriate to their home countries.

(c) The option of voluntary repatriation has been offered to the occupants. Between 1 January and 21 March 2021, 305 individuals have voluntarily departed South Africa to their countries of origin.

According to the UNHCR, it has provided assistance for persons willing to reintegrate back to the local communities or repatriate to their countries of origin as part of their mandate.

On local reintegration the UNHCR offered a reintegration package to cover basic rentals and necessities for three months, as well as counselling support for those choosing to reintegrate. The project which was originally intended to end on 30 April 2021 was then extended to 15 May 2021, following requests by some of the refugees. With many registering at the eleventh hour. The UNHCR consulted with Department of Home Affairs to continue with the reintegration process for those who registered by the deadline of May 15. UNHCR’s implementing partner, Adonis Musati, assisted with the implementation of the reintegration project that has now reached completion.

The status report of the reintegration indicated that 810 persons have reintegrated back into their communities. A total 761 persons were from Wingfield, and 49 persons were from Paint City. Of the 810 persons, the vast majority were from Democratic republic of Congo, (739 persons), followed by 26 persons from Congo Brazzaville, Burundi (15 persons), Zimbabwe (8 persons), Angola (6 persons), Cameroon (5 persons), Zambia (4 persons), Somalia (2 persons), and a few single persons from Mozambique, Malawi, Cote d’Ivoire, Tanzania and Nigeria. In terms of gender breakdown, 427 persons are male and 383 persons are female. 334 persons under the age of 18 years and 43 persons have benefitted from a small livelihoods component in the programme.

An additional 50 persons have voluntarily returned to their country of origin, all but 2 are from Paint City and these are mostly women and children. Of this number, 48 persons returned to Burundi, 1 to Democratic Republic of Congo and 1 to Cote d’Ivoire.

In total, in Cape Town, UNHCR project has assisted 860 persons from two sites this year, either to reintegrate or voluntary return to their country of origin. The UNHCR’s voluntary repatriation programme remains active and all new persons at the two sites of Wingfield and Paint City who still wish to reintegrate back into their communities will now be referred back to UNHCR’s regular programme where the partner will conduct individual needs assessments to determine eligibility for assistance.

(d) Deportation remains an option for those who are found to be illegal or have failed in their asylum applications and have no further grounds to remain in South Africa. So far 32 people have been deported from these shelters.

(e) The department is finalising the asylum applications of the occupants in these facilities.

END

Reply:

An “evergreen contract” is defined as a contract that automatically renews itself on or after the expiry date. This means that the parties involved in the contract should agree that it rolls over automatically until one party gives a notice of termination. GPW’s business entails engagement with suppliers and service providers to acquire services and products that serve to facilitate the printing of critical print and media material for government departments and its entities. This relationship is formalised through entering into Service Level Agreements (SLA’s) with respective customers. Some customers are either a single source and or sole supplier/provider depending on the type of service rendered to GPW by these customers.

GPW observed that some companies on its database had been providing services for prolonged periods and therefore initiated a project to review the content of its contracts. Its objective is to identify and classify all contracts into different types and produce a report for implementation. The outcome of this project would enable GPW to determine the evergreen contracts and address them accordingly, including consideration to go out and test the market where necessary. GPW has been in consultation with National Treasury for advice on this project. In view of this, it would at this stage be legally inappropriate to provide full details of the current evergreen contracts for the Government Printing whilst the project is still underway. The project should be concluded by the end of this financial year.

GPW intends to address all the undesirable evergreen contracts found within the organisation to ensure compliance with the supply chain management principles of equity, ethical and fair dealing, open and effective competition, accountability and reporting, value for money, and transparent procurement.

END

Reply:

1. (a) It takes a minimum of 15 days to respond to appointments requests. The father (Dr Dare) received a response from this office via email.

(b) The office operating hours has been reduced due to covid-pandemic. Due to lack of personnel in this office, phone calls may only be attended to when counter duties to public members are completed for the day

2. The office was informed.

3. The office is not flouting the law. The children must be registered in the country of birth and submit proof of birth (foreign birth certificate) when applying for SA birth certificates.

4. (a) The current operational hours are from 9H00 to 15H00.

(b) Dr Dare was responded to on (i) 11 June 2021 (ii) his appointment date was 29 June 2021 @ 10H00. He attended his appointment on 29 June 2021 and the department is still awaiting the application from DIRCO’ s diplomatic bag.

• END -

Reply:

1. The Department of Home Affairs has not signed any Work Exchange and/or Employment related Agreement with the Republic of Cuba at any time. As the skills required in this case was for the Department of Water Affairs and Sanitation, the Department of Water and Sanitation is best placed to provide the required information.

a) The Department of Home Affairs has not employed any Cuban Nationals in any financial year.

(i-ii) The Department of Home Affairs has not taken any decision as yet to employ any Cuban national in the 2021-23 Medium Expenditure Framework period.

b) DHA has not yet develop any plans to recruit Cuban Nationals.

2. Not Applicable as per our answer (1) above.

END

 

Reply:

1. The total number of passport applications received at the South African High Commission in London since January 2019 is recorded as 11343

2. The total number of birth registration applications (Notice of birth) received at the South African High Commission in London since January 2019 is recorded as 1037

3. The Appointment system allows for an appointment to be scheduled within 90 days from the request or on where possible on the day in accordance with the convenience of the client.

4. In accordance with the appointment record the Mission is able to schedule 28 appointments per day.

5. (a) The total number of outstanding (i) birth registrations stands at 104 and (ii) passport applications stands at 873 currently.

(b) Delays are mainly due to late receipt of Diplomatic Bags. The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) and DIRCO prepared a communique to Missions abroad to forward all long outstanding applications to DIRCO and DHA has created an e-mail address to deal with long outstanding applications. Both departments agreed on the automation of the application process which will be done in the medium to long term with the aim of ultimately reducing turnaround times.

END

Reply:

a) Honourable member, the questions on events in other countries is a DIRCO matter and not a Home Affairs one.

b) (i) The Electoral Commission and government are co-ordinating the COVID response within the electoral arena through bilateral consultations with the Department of Health as well as through the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Elections. Lessons learnt from electoral events and COVID protocols for electoral processes are discussed in these engagements.

(ii) These events have confirmed the soundness of protocols that the Electoral Commission implemented in 133 by-elections since November 2020.

(aa) Voters are required to observe a distance of at least 1, 5 meters from other persons within boundaries of voting stations. Additionally, voters are required to wear face coverings or masks. Voters without masks are not allowed entry within the boundary of the voting station. Sanitising facilities are provided for voters at the entrance and exit of the voting station. The use of a shared indelible ink marking pen (to mark the thumb of the voter to indicate that they have voted) has been jettisoned in favour of a disposable single use cotton bud applicator. This is intended to deal with the real and or perceived risk that the use of a single pen to mark multiple voters may be a source of contagion. All voting stations are provided with the requisite stationery packs including pens that are sanitised routinely. However, voters are encouraged to bring their own pens to voting stations.

(bb) Electoral staff are equally subject to the protocol on social distancing, mask wearing and hand sanitizing. Furthermore, electoral staff are provided with Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for use in the voter registration process, voting process at the voting station and during home visits during special voting. The provided PPE includes disposable gloves, disposable masks, hand sanitisers, sanitising hand wipes, face shields, disposable theatre gowns and aprons. The disposable theatre gowns are used during home visits during special votes.

(c) The Electoral Commission has not attended any of the elections in the referenced period.

(d) The additional costs imposed by Covid-19 on the budget of the Electoral Commission could not have been foreseen when the Medium Term Expenditure Framework allocations were made. Discussions are under way with National Treasury to fund the critical Covid-19 induced shortfall.

END

Reply:

a) GPW acknowledges that professional fees have quadrupled on the ENE to R152 million. This is due to fact that is the previous financial year i.e. 2020/21, there was a reduction in the budget because during the total lock-down, there was no maintenance of machinery and equipment. Further, there was no production of ID and Passport during the same period. The budgeted professional fees pertain to payments made to the consultants for the maintenance and support on machinery GPW.

For this current financial year (2021/22), GPW will be procuring and assembling new machinery from Europe mainly Germany and France, as per the procurement plan. The budgeted professional fees will be for assembly and installation of these machines.

Professional services are budgeted for the refurbishment of the new headquarters building which is planned to be finalised by end of 2021/22 financial year, whereas the Masterplan’s completions spans over the MTSF period, hence the increase of 7% and 5% in the 2022/23 and 2023/24 ENE budgets respectively.

b) GPW has two key strategic projects that are provided for in its current Strategic Plan, namely the new Headquarters building and the Masterplan, which are both located in the Visagie Street precinct in Pretoria.

END

Reply:

a) All Citizens and Non-Citizens interact with the Department in order to access services rendered by the Department, which contributes to long queues in our Front Offices. There are several reasons that are found to be the cause of long queues at our Front Offices. These reasons include among other things:

• High client volumes and unpredictable walk-ins
• limited staff capacity to meet service demands
• inadequate office space
• concurrent of the manual and automated process
• system instability
• discontinuation of Saturday working hours

b) As part of the strategy to deal with long queues the Department has moved some of its services out of the front offices. These services are:

• Registration of Births and Deaths has been moved to Health Facilities.
• Mobile Trucks has been deployed to schools in order to capture First Time Applications in nine (9) Provinces.
• In collaboration with Banks through PPP, the Department has installed Live Capture System to twenty-six (26) bank branches in the Republic which has the capacity to capture Smart ID Card and Passport applications.

c) The Department has introduced queue marshalls / floor walkers in order to ensure that people visiting our offices adhere to the Disaster Management Act by keeping social distancing, wearing of masks and sanitizing as and when they enter our Front Offices.

• When the Front Office reports a Covid-19 positive case, the Department closes the office temporarily and arrangements for the office be sanitized are done.
• Provision and distribution of PPEs to our officials.
• Staff capacity is deployed in line with the determined Covid-19 alert levels.
• Temperature scanning and keeping of register containing clients details in case we receive positive Covid-19 case, we will be in the position to inform / contact the clients.

END

Reply:

The matter was referred to the Electoral Commission which responds as follows:

1. (a) The terms of reference of the review are as follows:

To inquire into, make findings, report on and make recommendations concerning the likelihood the Commission will be able to ensure that the forthcoming 2021 general local government elections will be free and fair in view of the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and the measures promulgated by the government to curb the continued spread of the COVID-19 pandemic as contemplated in section 14(4) of the Act.

The report may indicate additional measures that the Commission may have to implement in order to realize free and fair elections within the context of the COVID 19 pandemic.

(b) See attached Annexure A for the timeframes driving the Moseneke Inquiry.

(2) The current estimated budget for this project is approximately R 2 million.

END

Reply:

The Department agrees that there are service challenges with the Municipality of Matatiele. This has informed a recent intervention wherein a senior management team led by the Director General undertook a visit to Mataiele on 2 June 2021 and engaged with municipal officials in finding a solution. The parties have agreed to a set of interventions addressing immediate, short and long term requirements to assist the district in its economic upliftment and transformation. The immediate constraint of DHA not having access to a suitable premise to conduct its business was addressed, and agreement with the municipality has been reached for the lease of a municipal building which will be refurbished to the standards of the department. It is envisaged that a full service live capture Medium Office affording the people of Matatiele and its surrounds with a modernised system to accept and process Smart ID Card applications should be operational by January 2022. For the interim the department is considering deployment of one of its Mobile Trucks for a week at a time to address the immediate demand for services.

The long-term solution entails the building of a fit for purpose DHA office in Matatiele and to this end a building has been identified by both the Municipality and DHA for the relocation of the offices.

END

Reply:

Visas are administered in terms of the Immigration Act, 2002 (Act 13 of 2002) as amended read in conjunction with the Regulations promulgated under the Act. The Department is not in the process of amending the Immigration legislation to authorise the issuance of Remote working visas that would enable travellers to work remotely in the Republic

END

Reply:

1. The government does not have a precise number of the number of undocumented immigrants in 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 have figures. The number of undocumented migrants that were deported in 2019/20 was 29376 with the nationality breakdown as follows:

Mozambique	13834	Pakistan	32	Burundi	15	Bolivia	6
Zimbabwe	5790	Zambia	31	Ethiopia	13	Algeria	3
Malawi	4277	China	29	Botswana	11	Cape Verde	3
Lesotho	3963	India	29	Cameroon	11	Senegal	3
Tanzania	517	Bangladesh	26	Thailand	11	Bulgaria	2
Eswatini	314	Ghana	25	Brazil	10	Guyana	2
Nigeria	176	Angola	22	Congo-Brazzaville	10	Iraq	2
DRC	87	Kenya	21	Somalia	8	Sri Lanka	2
Uganda	50	Namibia	19	Egypt	7	UK	2
Spain	1	Saudi Arabia	1	Saint Vincent	1	Peru	1
Venezuela	2	Cuba	1	Gabon	1	Morocco	1
Cote d’Voire	1	Ecuador	1	Israel	1	Palestine	1

and in 2020/21 deportations dropped with the onset of the Covid pandemic and stood at 14859 the breakdown as follows:

Lesotho	5769	Kenya	5
Zimbabwe	3226	UK	4
Mozambique	2714	Botswana	3
Malawi	2019	China	3
Eswatini	622	Thailand	3
Tanzania	236	Cameroon	2
Nigeria	59	Guinea	2
DRC	51	Paraguay	2
Namibia	24	Philippines	2
Angola	23	Argentina	1
Burundi	19	Bolivia	1
Brazil	13	Bulgaria	1
Uganda	9	Germany	1
Zambia	8	Guyana	1
		Pakistan	1
		Seychelles	1
		Sierra Leone	1
		USA	1

2. The department is mandated by legislation to enforce immigration act and deport illegal immigrants. This activity continues unabated as reflected in response to question 1 above.

END

Reply:

1.

Year	Asylum Seeker	Refugee	Total
2019	1746	52	1798
2020	210	4	214
Total	1956	56	2012

 

2. (a) A total of 1561 have received a first instance rejection.

(b) The application form mostly states political grounds and atmosphere between ruling party and opposition parties. However, through interrogation and adjudication they concede on economic grounds, which do not exist under the 1951 UN Convention and the 1998 Refugee Act.

END

Reply:

The Service Level Agreement with the VFS global company to provide visa front desk services has been extended until 31 December 2022. (a) The eVisa pilot process has been concluded and rollout is envisaged to commence in the second quarter of this financial year 2021/22 for short-term visitor’s visa applications. The eVisa adjudication hub has been identified and the staff for the eVisa adjudication hub are currently in their final stages of training. (b) the Public-Private Partnership process is underway. The Department consulted with the National Treasury and the Department was advised to recruit a Transactional Advisor and Project Manager to lead the process and ensure that activities and timelines are adhered to. The Department is currently busy with the Supply Chain processes for the appointment of the Transactional Advisor and Project Manager.

END

Reply:

The annual tariff escalation will be done strictly on the basis of what was negotiated and agreed to between the DHA and the private concessionaire. The agreed principle will then be provided for in the concession agreement as the sole basis of escalating the tariffs.  

For example, the concession agreement may stipulate that the annual tariff escalation will be linked to inflation, as calculated by StatsSA. Once this is agreed to, it becomes the only way that the concessionaire can escalate the tariffs.

END

Reply:

(a)(i) 117 determination applications

(ii) 407 retention applications

(aa) 68 determination applications processed

(bb) 76 retention applications processed

(b) While awaiting review of the Regulations, clients are advised not to assume citizenship of another country.

(c) Original documents are critical for authentication purposes.

(d) The proposal will be considered in the review process.

END

Reply:

1. (a)(i)(b)(i),(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)

The above-mentioned far flung areas are visited on a monthly basis by the Office to provide Services-on-wheels. There is a Monthly Program in place. More, recently, Jansenville and Klipplaat were visited by the Mobile Solution Unit on 17 and 18 May 2021, respectively, to provide services to the community and the learners.

2. The above-mentioned areas will be visited on a monthly basis to provide services leading to the local government elections in October 2021.

3. There is a Monthly Program in place, and it is communicated to the Local Municipal leader / active members in the Home Affairs / Municipal Stakeholder Forum that are assisting the communities, and Community Development Workers (CDWs) when the Department visits the areas

4. The programmes and visits are communicated, timeously, to all role players.

END

Reply:

The question was referred to the Electoral Commission which has responded as follows:

The Electoral Commission in consultation with the National Party Liaison Committee (NPLC) has agreed on a voting station COVID protocol which, inter alia, provides the following measures:

a) The mandatory wearing of masks within the perimeter of the voting stations

b) Enforcement of social distancing on queues at the voting stations

c) Mandatory sanitizing of hands at entrance and exit of voting station

d) Encouraging voters to bring own pens to the voting stations even though pens will be provided and sanitised.

e) Where the size of the voting station is small, allowing a single party agent per party

f) Providing Personal Protection Equipment for voting officials at all voting stations and during home visit special votes.

Additional measures are currently being discussed within the auspices of the NPLC. Once a common view emerges and budget permitting these measures will be presented to the Commission for consideration and possible approval.

END

Reply:

a) The unaudited closing balance for contingent liabilities as at 31 March 2021 for the Department of Home Affairs is R1 930 321 440.36 (compared to R2 189, 283 as at 31 March 2020). Please note the 2020/21 figure is unaudited and subject to change, which change may not be that significant.

b) The total amount of legal fees paid by the Department of Home Affairs during the 2020/21 financial year is R38, 512 million (compared to R75, 162 million as at 31 March 2020). Please note the 2020/21 figure is unaudited and subject to change.

c) As indicated above, the Department paid R38, 512 million in legal fees, however, this amount includes fees for both matters that the Department succeeded (costs of Department’s Counsels to represent the Department) as well as unsuccessful matters.

It must be noted that the State Attorney pays legal fees on behalf of the Department and the Department in turn reimburses the State Attorneys. Invoices received from the State Attorney’s office are received in bulk and the State Attorneys do separate costs for successful and unsuccessful matters when sending invoices.

END

Reply:

(a)(i)(ii) The department maintains and reports its performance per financial year. The total number of children that were registered within 30 days of birth and issued with birth certificates for the period of 2011/2012 to 2020/2021 financial years is 7 133 885. However, the total number of all births i.e. inclusive of late registration of birth (births registered for persons 31 days and above) is 10 862 086.

b) Provincial breakdown of children that were registered within 30 days of birth and issued with birth certificates for the period of 2011/2012 to 2020/2021 financial years

PROVINCE	2011/2012	2012/2013	2013/2014	2014/2015	2015/2016	2016/2017	2017/2018	2018/2019	2019/2020	2020/2021	Grand total
EASTERN CAPE	70123	68633	81634	88334	83959	86206	89695	95925	97704	78340	840553
FREE STATE	37712	38290	43749	42990	41902	42342	43706	45856	45432	40666	422645
GAUTENG	142502	146856	160228	164002	163236	173736	177687	188921	191363	170075	1678606
KWAZULU-NATAL	98170	101423	106049	119233	119961	128358	132174	141553	156588	136490	1239999
LIMPOPO	58134	67399	79658	88351	92514	100987	106295	113217	120636	118007	945198
MPUMALANGA	29703	38973	44839	53659	55712	60338	63700	66842	69534	69866	553166
NORTH WEST	32515	35598	38129	45404	21136	50104	52613	53841	54443	48139	431922
NORTHERN CAPE	15582	17484	20010	21578	45179	21146	21348	22494	21906	19736	226463
WESTERN CAPE	66964	73190	76383	80976	79887	81973	84817	88049	87647	69768	789654
HEAD OFFICE	5357	26	3	0	279	14	0	0	0	0	5679
TOTAL	556762	587872	650682	704527	703765	745204	772035	816698	845253	751087	7133885

END

Reply:

(1) The Department has appointed ICAS as a Health and Wellness Services Supplier to provide emotional support to employees and their immediate family members.

(2)(a) Telephone and face-to-face counselling services (trauma, loss, sexual harassment, etc.), e-Care services (Online services by qualified professionals).

(b) It is a national programme accessible throughout all Provinces. Affected employees are serviced at their preferred venue nearer the workplace or home.

(c) Professional psychologists, social workers and registered counsellors.

(d) Personal and work related health and wellness issues affecting employees and their immediate family members (Stress, GBV, abuse, financial wellness, trauma debriefing, marital problems, parenting).

(3)(a) Awareness campaigns conducted through life management services through webinars to empower employees with coping mechanisms.

(b) (i) To date, the Department has hosted 6 webinars across the country.

(b) (ii) Webinars were held in Northern Cape, (1); Western Cape (1); Gauteng (1); and Head Office (3). Topics were: Sexual Offences; Implementation of National Strategic Plan on Gender Based Violence & Femicide.

END

Reply:

The Department has undertaken to prioritize its services to those who have applied for their identity documents ahead of the general elections by issuing election enabling documents, i.e. Identity Documents, and also to issue Temporary Identification Certificates (TIC’s) on the spot to those whose identity documents are lost.

Furthermore, the Department has developed an ID distribution strategy that entails the following measures:

• Provinces in collaboration with stakeholder forums will embark on public awareness campaigns for the distribution and collection of ID’s.
• Provinces to work with Stakeholders to deploy mobile units for people to collect their Green Barcoded Identity Books.
• Targeted Communication intervention on uncollected Green Barcoded Identity Books and Smart Identity Cards.
• Provincial managers to make announcement making use of local media.
• Rescan all Green Barcoded Identity Books on hand on track and trace to reactivate the Short Message System (SMS) to clients informing them to collect IDs.
• Mobile Offices will be deployed to service a cluster of Voter Registration stations (Green Barcoded ID Books).
• A contingency plan to provide back office support services, where its front offices are experiencing problems with issuance of ID’s and TIC’s enabling documents.
• Clients to contact the Call Centre using 0800 60 11 90 to establish the status of their Identity Documents.

Lastly, the Department plans to extend its operational hours during the Voters Registration Weekend as well as on the scheduled Election day(s). It is against this backdrop that the Department has aligned its working hours with those announced by the Independent Electoral Commission(IEC). On the weekend of the 17th and 18th July 2021, all DHA offices will be opened from 8am until 5pm in order to fast track the processing of identity document applications and to ensure that all persons who are legible to vote are not excluded from participating in the next upcoming local government elections.

END

Reply:

The Department is currently in the process of engaging various stakeholders on the possible way forward on dealing with the Zimbabwean Exemption Permits (ZEP) holders before their current ZEP permit expires. A final decision will be made within the next 2 months.

END

Reply:

The total amount paid in legal fees by Government Printing Works for

(a) 2020/21 financial year = R90 123.13

(b) Since 01 April 2021 = R558 782.00

END

Reply:

a) The Department has allocated R1 million for the implementation of the National Strategic Plan on Gender Based Violence and Femicide.

b) (i) 2019/20: Two (2) Seminars on Men Against GBV in KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape

(ii) 2020/21: Convened a virtual Disability Forum Workshop

(iii) 2021/22: There are two (2) planned interventions in August and December 2021.

END

Reply:

(1) The total number of officials deployed by the Department of Home Affairs is three (3). There is support staff (locally recruited) employed by Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) and placed in the Civic Services =six (6), Immigration Services =two (2) and Administration =two (2). The names and designations of the officials deployed by the Department of Home Affairs are as follows:

• Ms Elizabeth Nkone Aphane Counsellor: Immigration and Civic Services (Salary level 11)
• Mr Ramoshoane Adam Sethosa as Second Secretary: Immigration and Civic Services (Salary level 8)
• Ms Tshepiso Emma Kube as Second Secretary: Immigration and Civic Services (Salary level 8)

2. The office is currently fully operational, Ms E.N Aphane is currently on leave as of 24 May to 30 June 2021

3. Applications for Permanent Residence are suspended on a National level and will commence once the Department of Home Affairs declares the services open.

4. Operations are from 9h00 to 15H00. All appointments are from 9h00 to 13h00 and the office serve`s 10 clients per hour operating from 15 Whitehall, London sw1a 2DD. The High Commission do not occupy a property at the above post code.

END

Reply:

a) The department will never know the total number of unregistered children in the country, in each Province whether born to nationals or non-nationals. This is because the Department plays no role in the birth of children. Children are born in hospitals and at home and the Department does not conduct any censors in that regard.

The Department depends on individual parents, guardians or authorised person bringing their children for registration. Even with Home Affairs offices being opened in hospitals, it is still the responsibility of a parent to submit their child for registration.

bThe department registers birth within 30 days in terms of Birth and Death Registration Act. There are 412 frontline line offices, and 391 health facilities wherein parents, guardians or any authorised person can register birth and collect certificates on the spots. There is a plan to connect 1 445 by 2023/2024 financial year.

END

Reply:

1. The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) and the South African Law Reform Commission (SALRC) are engaged in two separate processes, albeit related. In the first instance, the Minister of Home Affairs approached the SALRC in 2013 to investigate the possible adoption of a single marriage statute for South Africa. This was prompted by the realisation that Marriages in South Africa are regulated through different pieces of legislation, namely:

a) The Marriage Act, 25 of 1961 (monogamous marriage for opposite sex couples);

b) The Recognition of Customary Marriages Act, 120 of 1998 (polygamous marriages for opposite sex couples who are black South Africans); and

c) The Civil Union Act, 17 of 2006 (monogamous partnerships for both same and opposite sex couples).

However, the current marriage legislation doesn’t enable all South Africans of different religious and cultural persuasions to conclude legal marriages that accords with the Constitutional values of equality, non-discrimination and human dignity. The SALRC's brief or focal area is therefore, to investigate the possibility of having a single statute dealing with all marriages in South Africa. The SALRC conducted a pre-investigation. In April 2019 the Commission of the SALRC approved the first paper of its investigation, namely Issue Paper 35, which was published in April 2019 for general information and comment. Comments were received from respondents which enabled the development of a discussion paper on the matter. In December 2020, the Commission approved the draft discussion paper 152 on the possible adoption of a single marriage statute which was subsequently published for general information and comment in January 2021.

Notwithstanding the mandate assigned to the SALRC, it then transpired that the legislation that regulates marriages in South Africa is not informed by a primary policy, which prompted the DHA to initiate the development of a marriage policy, which policy can then lead to legislation. However, the department is working closely with the SALRC to ensure harmony and synergy between the two processes to inform policy positions and proposals that are aligned and compatible with one another.

2. During the 2019/2020 financial year, the DHA hosted country-wide Ministerial dialogues with various interest groups with the purpose of stimulating discussions and soliciting inputs on the key issues that should be addressed by the Marriage Policy. Following government processes that guides the development of a public policy, the Department produced a Policy Paper (Green Paper) which was taken through the relevant Clusters for approval by Cabinet. The Green Paper on Marriage Policy was approved by Cabinet on 21 April 2021 for public comments, and published in the government gazette on 04 May 2021. The roadmap towards the implementation of the Marriage Policy is as follows:

a) Gazetting of the draft Marriage Policy for public comments by 30 April 2021

b) Submission of the Marriage Policy to Cabinet for approval by 31 March 2022

c) Submission of the Marriage Bill to Cabinet for approval by 31 March 2023

d) Submission of the Marriage Bill to Parliament for approval by 31 March 2024

END

Reply:

a) The application for a temporary residence visa, Ref: TRR3123279 is currently finalised, captured and dispatched on 18 May 2021.

b) The application was delayed due to the backlog that the office is faced with in the processing of temporal residence visas. The unintended consequences of the provisions of the Disaster Management Act and regulations in respect of quarantine by persons infected by Covid, isolation by the contacts thereof and the numerous evacuations of the building has also impacted on the operating capacity of the office.

c) The application was adjudicated on the 11 May 2021, Printed on 12 May 2021 captured on relevant systems and dispatched on 18 May 2021.

END

Reply:

a. After looking at the sectors mentioned by the honourable member, it was agreed that there needs to be an act that provide for quotas for nationals v/s non-nationals in those sectors. The officials have been tasked with a job to develop a bill to that effect.

b. For now they are being renewed until such time that the asylum seeker backlog has been cleared. Then a decision will be made. Remember that these permits were a results of the backlog which DHA could not handle.

c. The aim of the inter-ministerial committee is to advise Cabinet on what to do with the issue of migration seeing that most of the people asking for asylum are in fact just economic migrants.

END