ATC140917: Report of the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs on an oversight visit to the Office of the Department of Home Affairs in Barrack Street, Cape Town, dated 16 September 2014
Home Affairs
Report of the
Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs on an oversight visit to the Office of the
Department of Home Affairs in Barrack Street, Cape Town, dated 16 September
2014
1.
Introduction
The Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs conducted an oversight visit to
the main office of the Department of Home Affairs in Barrack Street, Cape Town
on 26 August 2014. The Committee was accompanied by Mr
Mkuseli
Apleni
, Director-General of the Department of Home
Affairs, Mr
Thulani
Mavuso
,
the Chief Operations Officer and Adv. Tsietsi Sebelemetja, the Director for
Legal Drafting. At the office, the Committee was welcomed by Mr Ignatius
Mokgele
, the Office Manager and Mr Yusuf Simon, the Western
Cape Provincial Manager.
The objective of the visit was to assess:
·
The queue management system;
·
The Live Capture functionality for passports and
Smart ID Cards;
·
Clients satisfaction and
service delivery, and
·
Asylum seeker management.
-
Delegation
African National Congress
(ANC)
Mr DM
Gumede
Ms DD
Raphuti
Mr BA
Nesi
Ms NA Mnisi
Democratic Alliance (DA
)
Mr MH
Hoosen
Mr AM
Figlan
Parliamentary Staff
Mr Eddy Mathonsi
Committee Secretary
Mr Adam Salmon Committee
Researcher
Ms
Nandipha
Maxhengwana
Committee Assistant
Mr Evans
Malatswa
Molepo Communication Officer
-
Barrack Street Large Office
The Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs was welcomed by Mr Yusuf Simon,
the Western Cape Provincial Manager and Mr Ignatius
Mokgele
,
the Office Manager. Mr Ignatius
Mokgele
took the delegation
to the ground floor. He pointed out that the Committee visited on a day referred
to as Super Tuesday. It was called Super Tuesday because the elderly had
access to free transport by bus and train on a Tuesday so many senior citizens visit
the office on those days.
Mr
Mokgele
explained that the first issue of
the Smart ID Card to 16 year olds and persons who are 60 years or older was
free. He further explained the process of applying for the Smart ID Card which was
much simpler compared to the process that was used to apply for an ID Book. According
to Mr
Mokgele
, an applicant would first pay R140 at
the cashier and return to the entrance desk to be given a number which would
appear on the monitors. If the person was exempted from paying the R140, he or
she would get a number at the entrance. As soon as the person was called using
that number, that applicant would go to a booth for their photo and fingerprint
scans to be taken electronically. Thereafter, the applicant would wait to be
called for the application to be done electronically.
The application process required no paperwork as it was done
electronically. Mr
Mokgele
pointed out that if the
applicants could not be assisted on the day, they could return the following
day when they would be prioritized on the queue management system, so that they
could be served first. Once the application was completed, the applicant would
be sent an SMS informing him or her that the application had been received. As
soon as the completed ID card was delivered to the office from Pretoria, the
applicant was again notified via SMS that the card was ready for collection.
The old ID book was then cancelled by punching holes on the ID numbers. The
elderly and persons with disabilities were helped on the ground floor and therefore
there was no need for them to use a lift or stairs.
The process followed for the application of the passport was the same as
of that of the Smart ID Card. The department would therefore soon discontinue
the issuing of temporary passports. This would be done because it would be quick
to issue out the passport.
Mr
Mokgele
reported that the ground floor and
first floor would be renovated from 1 September 2014. The ground floor had
three booths which were used for the application of the Smart ID Card. He
reported that in addition to the three booths, there were eight counters for
the processing of Smart ID Cards. After the renovation, the department plans to
have 25 counters.
While the delegation was doing a walk-about, they realised that the
toilets were not working. Mr Ignatius
Mokgele
responded
that members of the public at times vandalised the toilets. He indicated that a
service provider had even once found a childs trousers blocking a toilet.
The delegation was taken to another floor where immigration services were
processed. It was reported that the office had 19 newly appointed inspectorate
staff. The office had 106 employees in total. It was reported that illegal
immigrants were detained at Pollsmoor Prison. The department had an agreement
with the Department of Correctional Services. This was done because the Barrack
Street Large Office did not have holding cells. People who had been detained at
Pollsmoor were transferred to
Lindela
Repatriation
Centre near Krugersdorp in Gauteng for the deportation. The office was unable
to provide the specific cost of keeping illegal immigrants in detention. The
immigrants were kept for a maximum of two weeks before being transferred to
Lindela
Repatriation Centre.
It was reported that on average 15 20 marriages between South Africans
and foreign nationals were investigated each month. It was further reported
that the processing of ID and passport applications for refugees was moved from
its temporary location at Custom House on the Foreshore in Cape Town to the Barrack
Street Large Office. This was a temporary arrangement and this function was in
the process of being moved to the Bellville Office. The majority of the people
applying for ID and passports were
Somalians
. The
advantage was that the Bellville office had more sufficient shelter as compared
to the Barrack Street Large Office. It was reported that approximately 20
passports and 30 refugee IDs were applied for every day. As of July 2014, there
were 2 085 uncollected refugee IDs and the province had approximately
200 000 asylum seekers. There was no track and trace functionality for
refugee IDs and passports.
The office indicated that it needed an additional 12 computers, five
symbol barcode scanners, five biometric capture devices for fingerprints, five
Gemalto
smart card readers, three signature pads and five
Cogent fingerprint scanners.
It was further reported that there were occasions when people could not
apply for the Smart ID Card because the internet service was down. The downtime
was mostly caused by the State Information Technology Agency (SITA). The other
challenge was the high volumes of people who visit the office on Tuesdays.
The Committee was impressed with the efficiency in the application of
the Smart ID Card and encouraged the office to keep improving.
The Committee would make a follow up visit within three months.
4.
Recommendations
Based on the findings of the oversight the Committee recommends the
following:
-
The Minister of Home
Affairs should ensure that the roll-out of the Live Capture functionality
at other offices of the department was done as soon as possible. This
would limit the number of people coming to Barrack Street Large Office,
especially on Tuesdays.
-
The Minister should
ensure that the main office in Barrack Street was sufficiently capacitated,
specifically for the roll-out of the Smart ID Card.
-
The Minister should
meet with the SITA to reduce internet downtimes, given that many clients
have to travel some long distances to come to the office to apply for the Smart
ID Cards.
-
The Minister should
ensure that during renovations at the Barrack Street Office, there should
be little or no disruptions to the services rendered to our people.
Report to be considered
Documents
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