Election of Chairperson; Department Budget; Report by Acting Director General on problems uncovered in the Department: briefing

Meeting report

HOME AFFAIRS PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE
18 March 2003
ELECTION OF CHAIRPERSON; DEPARTMENT BUDGET: REPORT BY ACTING DIRECTOR GENERAL ON PROBLEMS UNCOVERED IN DEPARTMENT: BRIEFING

Chairperson: Mr H Chauke (ANC)

Documents handed out:
Briefing on Department Budget
Home Affairs Budget 2003: Vote 4 - programmes and allocations
Address by Ms N Mapisa-Nqakula, Deputy Minister (Appendix)
Department Strategic Plan [.pdf file] (link to Home Affairs website)

SUMMARY
The Committee elected Mr H Chauke (ANC) as Chairperson.

The Department briefed the Committee on the 2003/4 budget. The Committee discussed the cost of legal action against the Department, the filling of vacancies, the achievement of output measurement goals and the R88 million rollover. The IT efforts of the Department: HANIS, re-writing of the Population Register system, re-writing of the movement control system and their impact on the problem of fraudulent marriages were discussed as well as measures taken by the Department to aid people that find themselves fraudulently married.

The Deputy Minister asked that the Committee not consider the Acting Director General's report on problems in the Department. The letter to the Committee had been inappropriate since the Executive was not made aware of the problems prior to it being sent. The Department would report to the Committee when a proper investigation had been undertaken. The Committee accepted this.

MINUTES
Election of Chairperson
Chief K Morwamoche (ANC) proposed Mr H Chauke (ANC) as chairperson, Mr I Mfundisi (UCDP) seconded the nomination and the Committee accepted Mr Chauke as its chairperson.

Briefing by Department on Budget Vote
Ms N Mapisa-Nqakula, Deputy Minister, stated that the Department was alive to the responsibility of the approaching elections. They intend to reach out to South Africans still without the green bar coded identity document. This campaign is combined with the birth registration campaign to ensure that eligible children have social grants, a name and nationality.

The Department will report on the HANIS (Home Affairs National Identification System) project. They are faced with capacity challenges and have been conducting an examination of their staffing and administrative machinery. The filling of vacancies remains a priority. Despite current problems around the Immigration Act, there is a willingness to go beyond the blockages and prepare the Department to implement the new Act. Due to the nature of their differing responsibilities, things have not gone smoothly between the Department and the Committee. However, the Department views the Committee as crucial in its work.

Briefing by Acting Director General
Adv I Lambinon, Acting Director General, briefed the Committee on the Department's spending and proposed budget. The Department's budget, excluding special projects, has grown by between six and eleven percent per year since 1999/2000, with a twenty percent increase from 2001/2 to 2002/3 due to special circumstances. (Please see line graph "Growth in allocated funds" in briefing document). The Department could do with more funds because their staff was currently stretched. Actual expenditure by programme is given in table 3.2, with a 'saving' of R88 million that will be rolled-over as detailed in the notes below 3.2.

Expenditure by programme was as follows (figures in brackets are projected spending for the remainder of the financial year, from 1 March 2003 - the amounts are included in the total given for each programme):
-Administration: R206,59 million (R12,028 million), with R1 million rolled over.
-Services to Citizens: R705,667 million (R57,622 million), with R24 million rolled over.
-Migration: R238,016 million (R55,305 million), with R43 million rolled over.
-Auxiliary and associated services: R248,479 million (R28,255 million), with R20 million rolled over.

Structure of Department
The rolling out of services to rural areas is taken very seriously and was very much part of the 'establishment determination' the Department was conducting. The Department is structured into regional offices, district offices and service points according to population. Mobile units were currently budgets for under travel and subsistence but the Department should consider budgeting for them as offices. The Department was having a limited impact and the Minister had proposed that civic services be devolved to local authorities. Local Authorities are the point of first contact for citizens.

The Deputy Minister intervened to instruct Adv Lambinon not to depart from the prepared presentation. Devolution was still being discussed in Cabinet.

Adv Lambinon responded that devolution was referred to in the presentation.

Vacant Posts
There are 1 915 vacant posts in the Department. Authority had been given to fill 349 of these in 2003/4 and the Department would do its utmost to fill these by 1 April or as soon as possible thereafter. Only R20,9 million had been allocated versus approximately R68 million requested.

EDMS (Electronic Document Management System)
EDMS is to replace current paper documents, which were too voluminous. The first step had been to transfer paper documents to microfilm, but microfilm was now redundant. An advantage of EDMS when implemented was that certificates issued by the Department would be available on-line at the point of application. Allocations for EDMS are: R52,5 million for 2003/4, R78 million for 2004/5, R82,68 million for 2005/6.

Re-writing of the Population Register
The current register was written with obsolete, 30 year old computer languages. It had been patched over the years to accommodate new systems, but this is expensive and the full effect of new patches was becoming increasingly difficult to predict. It is necessary to re-write the system. Allocations for this are: R32 million for 2003/4, R40 million for 2004/5, R42,4 million for 2005/6.

HANIS (Home Affairs National Identification System)
HANIS incorporates everything related to persons to be held by the Department. It has two legs:
-AFIS (Automated Fingerprint Identification System).
-SENIC (Secure Electronic National Identity Card). South Africa is envied for the security of its identity system, but the hardcopy records of fingerprints are too cumbersome to search. The system will be finalised in 2006 at a cost of R1,6 billion with R800 million having been spent so far. The Department hoped to reach finality on a framework to call for a tender for SENIC and then proceed as quickly as possible.

Re-writing of Movement Control System
The movement control system is to be re-written. The use of fingerprinting would help to expose applications by illegal immigrants for identity documents since fingerprints submitted could be compared with those on file. The allocations for this are: R45 million for 2002/3, R35,5 million for 2003/4, R32 million for 2004/5, R33,92 million for 2005/6.

Ports of Entry
These are very important since they are the point of first contact with South Africa by visitors, so ports should be showcases. There is a great deal to do to make buildings and keep staff 'user-friendly'. The first team that landed for the Cricket World Cup complimented South African Immigration as the best they had encountered. A 33% increase in tourist figures had been registered since the events on 11 September 2001. Immigration officials were thus very stretched.

Government Printing Works
The printing works were self-sufficient because costs were recovered.

IEC (Independent Electoral Commission) and FPB (Film & Publication Board)
The IEC would receive R641 million. The FPB is allocated R5,2 million for 2003/4. The FPB is currently engaged in educating the public regarding the dangers around child abuse on the internet. Amendments would be forthcoming to strengthen the hand of the Board and Police in dealing with child pornography and on-line child abuse.

Discussion
Chief K Morwamoche (ANC) asked why the Department was using private lawyers instead of its legal advisors. It is using money intended for computers in rural areas.

Adv Malatji (Acting Deputy Director General) replied that he was not aware of any use of private lawyers by the Department. When the Department had to appear in Court, the lawyers in legal services liased with the State Attorney. The Department goes through the State Attorney, as is standard practice. In matters before the High Court, an independent Advocate has to be briefed. This was conducted via the State Attorney, to whom the Advocate submits claims. The Department then pays the State Attorney.

The Chair asked how the Department was dealing with legal representation in the current case regarding the Immigration Regulations. Is the State Attorney involved? What are the costs, including those of appropriately hired private lawyers? The Department seemed to oppose cases it knew it could not win.

Adv Malatji replied that he did not have all the details available for the case and would have to brief the Committee separately if it wanted details.

The Chair responded that they would have to come back to this. No estimate of spending on legal matters was in the budget.

Adv Lambinon responded that R4 million had been spent in the past year and R6 million had been budgeted for the coming financial year. This would be a rising cost since the Department was involved in the 'whole extension' of human rights.

Ms A van Wyk (UDM) asked if legal costs were budgeted under professional services.

Adv Lambinon replied that they were.

The Chair said that the Department should brief the Committee on the Immigration Regulations and funding of legal services.

Chief Morwamoche asked if the budget included the appointment of two regional representatives in Limpopo Province.

Mr Du Plessis: Acting Director General, Corporate Services, replied that the appointment of regional heads would definitely receive attention in the coming year. The Department was currently revising its structure and would submit the revision to the Minister by June. The Department intended to strengthen management under the revision.

Chief Morwamoche asked the Department to address matters raised by the Auditor General, such as the Chief Financial Officer vacancy, shortcomings in internal controls, lack of reconciliation in finances, the 'financial year' not being submitted in time because of lack of skilled staff and the writing off of stock.

Mr Du Plessis responded that a Chief Financial Officer had been appointed and would assume duty on 1 April 2003. The Department had also succeeding in appointing a Director: Internal Audit, who would also assume duty from 1 April 2003.

Ms Van Wyk asked how the 349 critical vacant posts were determined and who, in general, they were.

The Chair asked at what point the various acting positions would be filled permanently. How would the filling of the 349 posts affect the restructuring of the Department?

Adv Lambinon replied that there had been an interactive determination with regional representatives to determine where they had the greatest problems and thus select the 349 posts. The restructuring was a serious consideration since the Department might fill a post only to find it changed under the new structure. The 349 were posts the Department could not do without. This affected the permanent filling of the top management of the Department too. It would be a problem to advertise these posts now and find in six months that the job description had changed. Again, only the critical posts were filled, such as the Director: Internal Audit.

Ms Van Wyk asked if the output measures given last year, such as providing 95% of passports within five weeks of application, had been achieved.

Adv Lambinon replied that he had a document on service standards and would circulate this. With limited resources, the Department was trying its best to meet the targets. There were some failures.

Adv Malatji responded that as far as he knew there is some achievement in most areas. There were some problems, with some complaints. Generally, standards are met and service is appreciated.

The Deputy Minister asked that the Department be given time so that it could return and brief the Committee on this. She did not know why officials were unable to reply since they receive weekly reports from the regions. Since the directive requiring weekly reports, there has been an increase in birth registration. The information is there and should be reported. Regional managers are doing a great deal of work.

Adv Lambinon added that he could cite certain targets that had been met: 95% of passport applications were correctly processed within five weeks, 95% of requests relating to the population register were fulfilled in one day.

A Member asked for clarity on the rollover of funds. Regarding the R1 million rolled over for the implementation of the Basic Accounting System, why was there a problem with accounting if the Department had money?

Mr Krige, Acting Chief Financial Officer, replied that the Department had started with implementation of the accounting system in June and had spent R3 million (of the R4 million budgeted) at head office. The system had to be rolled out to the regions and the Department was currently ordering computers and printers for this. Treasury had been asked to rollover the remaining million and this would be spent in April. The R88 million rolled over is out of a total budget of R1,48 billion. All these funds have been allocated to projects and the rollover is approved in principle. Projects were delayed unavoidably at times, some times because of the need to order items from overseas.

The Deputy Minister added that since the R88 million was already committed it may have been wrong to call it a 'saving'.

Mr M Kalako (ANC) noted that the Department did not budget for mobile units. This would lead to serious problems in registering people.

Adv Lambinon replied that the Department could look into funding mobile units as particular offices rather than their current status as part of the general office budget.

Mr Kalako noted that the Department had embarked on a process of using volunteers. In which areas are they used?

Adv Lambinon replied that a breakdown of volunteer information could be provided. They were paid about R40 per day; some volunteers were providing excellent service.

Mr Kalako asked how the Department was providing rural infrastructure.

Adv Lambinon replied that container offices had been considered but had turned out to be the most expensive option and so the idea was discarded. Local Authorities were offering free accommodation to Department officials.

The Deputy Minister requested that the Committee call the Department to brief it on infrastructure. She had not been informed that the idea of container offices had been discarded. With the election approaching, people were asked to do things and they could not say that doing them was impossible. A way must be found to deliver services to rural areas. She raised the possibility of using constituency offices for Home Affairs services. The Department must come back to the Committee and brief it on civic affairs.

Mr Kalako asked about problems relating to linking with the Department's systems that had caused delays in the Department receiving information.

Mr I Mamonyane (Director of HANIS) responded that a number of areas were not properly connected. The Department was going round updating and upgrading systems. Funds had been allocated for this in the coming year. Something serious had to be done to upgrade systems.

Ms M Maunye (ANC) asked about the rollover for HANIS. Why did HANIS appear not to be going at the expected pace.

Mr Mamonyane responded that HANIS was to automate the existing system. The objective was to curb fraud and this has been realised. There were no longer cases of two people with the same ID number after the implementation of a database. It was now easy to track re-registration - for example of aliens previously deported. Although the fraud objective had been met, the most visible objective of an identity card had yet to be met. There was a perception that HANIS is not doing what it should and this needed to be addressed. He wanted an opportunity to give the Committee a full account of HANIS. The rollover was for the purchase of image capturing equipment for the database. The Department has had to look at other options.

Ms Maunye asked when the ID campaign would be launched.

Adv Lambinon replied that the campaign had a R15 million budget for 2003/4. The Department was trying to increase this. A programme was being drawn up to divide the funds by region and they should have the funds by 1 April 2003.

Ms Maunye asked about services rendered by the Government Printers for other countries. Did these countries pay for the services?

Adv Lambinon replied that printing for other countries was limited and all paid for.

The Chair asked that Adv Lambinon show where in the budget these amounts were reflected.

Prince N Zulu (IFP) noted that the Population Register had been lagging for 30 years and a team was now being appointed to re-write it. How far had the Department come in getting the register in order?

Mr Mamonyane replied that South Africa had one of the best systems in the world. The system worked, but the technology had to be updated. It was currently on a mainframe - a legacy system - not on a contemporary system.

The Deputy Minister added that the system was portrayed in the briefing as a disaster. If someone got the document, they would not know that South Africa has one of the best systems. There was too much emphasis on the negative.

The Chair responded that there should be wider consultation within the Department in drawing up these presentations. Adv Lambinon should have been informed that the system was one of the best.

Mr Mamonyane said that although the system is good; the re-writing of it is urgent. The technology it was using is bad.

Mr W Skhosana (ANC) asked how the Department determined the location of offices. He cited cases where offices had been moved to or built in areas where people had cars, leaving those without transport to walk long distances to get there.

Adv Lambinon replied that Mr Skhosana was right to suggest there was a problem with placement of offices - the current system was largely carried over from the late 1980s. There was a tremendous problem in that there was justification everywhere for more offices. The Department looked at population to determine where offices were needed. He had no easy answer to the problem.

The Chair asked what criteria were used. He cited Soweto with only two offices he knew of for five million people, Rustenburg with only one office and a population of one million.

Mr I Pretorius (NNP) asked about the Cabinet discussions on devolving Department services to local authorities. Is the Cabinet positive in general? When will we get the answer to this? Using municipal offices could enlarge and improve the quality of service.

The Deputy Minister replied that it was under discussion and therefore a political matter, which was why she stopped Adv Lambinon from motivating for the proposal earlier. It was something to be decided by policy makers. The Government was committed to bringing services to the people and this was a multi-pronged approach with other options such as using constituency offices, placing Department officials in hospitals to register births, and so on. She did not want to pre-empt the discussion. However, she saw no reason why the Department should not do things with the systems in place. It is a matter of getting things moving.

Chief Morwamoche asked what mechanisms there were in HANIS to deal with the problem of unknown marriages - where people applied for their ID and found that they were 'married'.

Mr Mamonyane replied that marriages were not on HANIS. The systems would have to be linked and then such irregularities would be easier to trace with an automated system like HANIS.

Ms Van Wyk asked if R2,4 billion was being spent on HANIS, why would we not have a system to deal with all these things - marriages, drivers licences, and so on.

Mr Mamonyane replied that the ideal system would have all systems linked. Presently they were separate but links would be built.

Adv Malatji added that fraudulent marriages were a very serious problem. These people were innocent and should not be put through the ordinary, expensive legal process of annulment. The Department intervenes and assists people to have these marriages expunged.

The Chair responded that this was good. Is there an educational process around this? He was concerned especially about rural women that do not know what to do when they find themselves in this situation.

The Deputy Minister added that although a system was in place to assist people it was clear that people were not aware of this - an awareness programme is needed. There is a problem with lack of support from officials that remain silent instead of explaining how people can deal with the problem.

Chief Morwamoche asked how much had been budgeted for the transport of illegal aliens out of the country.

The Chair asked if there was anything in place to prevent their return.

Adv Lambinon replied that R31 million was budgeted for 2003/4. Preventing the entry and return of illegal aliens was a major problem for all countries. It was a question of how to safeguard South Africa's long border. People not only entered illegally but also entered legally and then over-stayed. It had proved impossible to establish figures on illegal aliens.

The Deputy Minister added that an interdepartmental task team had been set up to look into reinforcing the borders.

Prince Zulu asked if there was any amendment to the Marriage Act proposed.

Adv Malatji replied that an amendment was on its way.

Ms M Buthelezi-Oliphant (ANC) asked about the R20 million rolled over for infrastructure. The note on this was confusing.

Mr Krige replied that the R20 million was committed between the Department and the Public Works Department. The amount will be added to the 2003/4 budget and will be spent.

The Chair stated that the Department had to address the situation that the top echelon of management was all acting. This meant that no one took responsibility. A fixed person was needed.

Mr Skhosana stated that the Department had not shown signs of transformation - it remains male dominated. He appealed that gender be taken into account in the appointment to the 349 critical posts.

Chief Morwamoche asked if the Department kept records of transit passengers. If so, how much did this cost?

Adv Lambinon replied that the Department did not record transit passengers since they did not go through movement control.

The Chair closed the discussion on the budget, which would continue at the following meeting.

Report by Acting Director General on problems uncovered in the Department
The Chair noted that it had been agreed that the letter sent by Adv Lambinon to the Committee would not be discussed in closed session.

The Deputy Minister stated that she had discussed the matter with Adv Lambinon and appealed to the Committee that it not be discussed now. Any irregularities should be internally investigated before being tabled before the Committee. She had not been made aware of the irregularities and it was an error for Adv Lambinon to have sent the letter. The time would come for the Department to make a presentation on the matter but it was not ready now. She was not even sure if the allegations had been properly checked.

If the issue was unauthorised expenditure, then the Committee should refer this to SCOPA. It would be good for the Committee and SCOPA to have a bilateral meeting on this.

The letter was unfortunate and the Deputy Minister pleaded that the matter be put on hold.

Discussion
Ms Van Wyk stated that while she understood that there was a problem with the Executive not having been briefed on the issues in the letter, they had to be considered. The Committee had an oversight role and Adv Lambinon had referred to irregularities. The Committee must guard against the perception that it was engaged in a cover-up. It wanted a full briefing on the matter once the Department had gone through the necessary process. It was important to meet with SCOPA on this. The media was present and the Committee could not afford to send out the wrong perception.

An ANC member stated that the Committee could not deal with allegations that had not been investigated.

Mr G Grobler (DP) agreed that the Committee should work with SCOPA and that there should be a proper investigation before the matter was discussed. Any discussion must be open.

Ms Van Wyk asked who would investigate the matter since the Department currently had no Chief Financial Officer.

The Chair closed discussion. The Committee would deal with the matter when the Department was ready to report to it.

The Deputy Minister stated that there might be an inquiry. She was objecting to the manner in which the issue was brought to the Committee. It had to be discussed openly, but the Department wanted to prepare properly to discuss the matter, with a comprehensive report.

The Chair stated that he was looking into the resources available to capacitate the Committee on questions it had to deal with, such as the Immigration Regulations. He wanted specifics on the content of the budget at the next meeting. The Committee would communicate with the Department on this.

The meeting was adjourned.

Appendix:
Opening remarks by Hon. NN Mapisa Nqakula, Deputy Minister of Home Affairs at the Portfolio Committee Briefing on the Home Affairs Budget Vote in Parliament, 18 March 2003, Cape Town

We are once again thankful for an opportunity to interact with the portfolio committee to share with you some of the aspects of the work we are doing in carrying out the mandate given to us by the South African people through you as their representatives in this august institution of Parliament.

Before I introduce our team, most of whom are regular guests of yours in this committee, I should enjoin my voice of congratulation to the new Chairperson, cde Patrick Chauke and to mention that we feel honoured to be his first guests. I know that while the tasks facing him as the new Chair are understandably daunting, he is by every measurement equal to the responsibility and he would not have been entrusted the responsibility and confidence were he not suitable. We are all going to depend on your leadership as we deal with these difficult challenges facing our Department, your guidance, your understanding, but most importantly, your support to both the Ministry and the many officials who work very hard to realize the goals of the Department. So, best wishes to you, Honourable Chairperson.

Chairperson, honourable members let me introduce to you our team, and between the six of us I am certain that we will be able to cover most of the areas that the committee expects us to deal with in preparation for the coming budget vote.

(Introductions)
As honourable members are aware, next year our country will hold the third democratic general elections for national and provincial governance. We as a department are fully alive to the responsibility that these elections bestow on us. In the first instance, we have to ensure that every bona fide citizen of this country has the necessary means to exercise their democratic right to vote in the 2004 elections. Additional to the work already done during the preceding campaigns, we intend to reach out to more South Africans who still do not possess the green bar coded South African IDs. A greater focus of this programme will be the rural parts our country, first time voters between the ages of 16 and 18 as well as a considerable number of people in the former homeland territories.

Chairperson, during the past year, we have combined this campaign which falls under our civic services with the Birth Registration campaign. In conjunction with the Department of Social Development, we have managed to ensure that all South African children who deserve child support grants are registered for such and in the process we have also fulfilled our constitutional obligation to provide every child with a name and nationality, an identity with which they can identify and be proud of.

We will report here today on progress made with regard to the HANIS project as well as to give the committee some indication in so far as our plans to implement cabinet decisions on the project. It is our view that Members need a report of this nature if we are to receive their support in addressing of the complexities and difficult issues surrounding the project.

The department continues to be faced with challenges of capacity and there has been a need for us to conduct an introspection into our staffing and administrative machinery in order to properly deploy our resources to best provide the service that our public expects. Part of the budget for the coming financial year will be used to address this crucial matter. The filling of existing vacancies in the department remains a major priority and once we have completed our establishment assessment, this should be finalized.

Of course this year also sees the implementation of the new Immigration Act and despite the current problems, we are confident that there is a willingness to go beyond the blockages and to prepare the department for the implementation of the new Act as passed by yourselves and others of your colleagues here in Parliament. This process of preparing the Department will include the ongoing training and capacity building for officials as well as putting in place the necessary instruments.

We are aware that, owing to the nature of our different responsibilities, things have not always been smooth between the Department and the portfolio committee. I must stress here today that all of us view the role of this committee as crucial in the work that we do. We welcome your robust and uncompromising interventions that have assisted us and reminded us of the important tasks we are about. Most important, though, we will continue to come to you for support and this can only be possible if we interact openly, honestly and frankly about the issues. This interaction which encourages genuine dialogue and integrity in our work, can only benefit the public about whom we are all here.

Thank you