Department Budget : discussion

Meeting report

HOME AFFAIRS PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE
28 May 2002
DEPARTMENT BUDGET : DISCUSSION

Chairperson: Mr. Scott (ANC)

Relevant Documents:
Director General's 21/5/02 Budget Briefing Document with Annexures (see Appendix)
Department of Home Affairs Budget Vote 4
Budget Allocation Per Programme (email [email protected] for document)
Immigration Bill as voted on by National Assembly

SUMMARY
The Chair opened the meeting by noting that today's agenda was further discussion of the Department's budget. However, the Committee clerk advised that Department officials had called yesterday to indicate that while they would not attend the meeting because of a lack of clarity as to whether they had been formally invited, they would be available should questions arise. The Chair expressed disappointment at their absence, asserting that the officials had been clearly invited during the May 21 Committee meeting with the Director General and his colleagues. Mr. Grobler (DP) characterised the absence as "unacceptable", and indicative of how the Committee is disregarded, and questioned how the meeting could proceed without the officials providing input on questions concerning HANIS and other matters.

The clerk indicated that he was responsible for not advising the officials that they were expected. However the Chair noted that there was no need for further confirmation in the wake of last week's meeting. He stated that the meeting would proceed, despite their absence, in order to begin discussion and identification of issues which need to be addressed at next week's June 4 Committee meeting. He emphasised that the officials must participate at that meeting, which will precede the June 11 vote on the Department's budget. The meeting continued, with members identifying issues of interest, as detailed below.

MINUTES
Mr. Pretorius (NNP) noted that there had been no specific response from the Department at the May 21 meeting to his question concerning devolution of civic services to municipalities as part of restructuring. He remarked that this is one of the most important departments for service delivery, but has one of the smallest budgets.

Mr. Grobler (DP) stated that the amount of money owed by other government departments to the Government Printing Works, for which the Department was responsible, should be scrutinised.

Prince Zulu (IFP) observed that last year the Department's budget straits appeared dire, but that while the situation seems to have improved, questions concerning the effectiveness of service delivery undermine the appearance of progress.

Another member raised questions about the situation at the Lindela repatriation centre, and whether alternative facilities were being considered.

Also questioned was whether adequate provision was being made for the capital upgrading, and computerisation, of rural offices. More specifically, Prince Zulu (IFP) questioned why the Nongoma office in northern KZN was omitted from the list of facilities targeted for improvement.

It was also noted that the IEC's impact on the budget should be considered, and that IEC officials might be invited to comment on their needs, and how the Department's lack of rural capacity affects voter registration efforts.

Mr. Skosana (ANC) questioned the budget's "professional services" allocation, requesting specificity on this item.

Regarding HANIS, Mr. Grobler expressed concern as to how much forex fluctuations will further increase the cost of HANIS beyond the currently identified R62.5M shortfall, and suggested that cost projections concerning the implementation of this project are necessary in order to avoid unpleasant future surprises.

In summation, the Chair noted that many issues need clarification, and that answers from the Department are necessary. This included its participation in formulation and implementation of systematic government plans for service delivery, as many of its currently planned measures such as the use of converted containers as rural offices, are interim steps. Moreover, the Committee needs to know how and why the Department is underfunded, particularly in the context of the new Immigration Bill. Thus it looks forward to meaningful and extensive discussions with the officials at next week's meeting.

The Chair concurred with the comment of Mr. Grobler (DP) that further consultations between the Committee and the Department on the coming amendments to the Immigration Bill might be helpful. The Chair also briefly made reference to the Committee's dispatch of observers to last week's Lesotho elections, as requested by the Deputy Speaker.

Meeting adjourned.

Appendix:
DEPARTMENT OF HOME AFFAIRS
VOTE 4
BUDGET 200212003 DISCUSSION
21 MAY 2002

By BL MASETLHA
Director-General
21 May 2002

1. INTRODUCTION
I am honoured today to address you, the Portfolio Committee of the Department of Home Affairs. First and foremost I wish to thank the former Chairperson, Mr Mokoena, for the leadership he has provided throughout in supporting the Department on the course set by governmental policy prerequisites and inspired by the President's vision of a better life on all South Africans. We are also truly honoured to welcome the new chairperson of the Committee, Mr Scott and look forward to the guidance and inspiration that he will be providing to the Department in order to attain our vision of rendering a world-class service. It is in fact, not without your active support, your informed advice and your policy directives that the Department will be enabled to meet societal expectations with regard to the provision of the services that have been allocated to it by Parliament. It is even with great enthusiasm that we congratulate the Committee for its sterling job with regard to the Immigration Bill already adopted by Parliament.

The service imperative is foremost when considering prescribed Home Affairs functions. The total South African population are clients of the Department and this literally means a life-long association - from the issuing of the birth certificate to registering deaths. Likewise, the entry and the exit of all foreigners who, for whatever reason, visit the country are managed by Home Affairs. Few, if any, other public as well as other private organisations operate within the realm of such a vast client base. Therefore, apart from, in the democratic and constitutional sense, deriving our mandate from the citizenry and therefore being ultimately accountable to them, they are at the same time our clients with fair expectations regarding the content and quality of services we provide to them.

Our mandate as a Department will always remain a driving force behind our efforts to render a world-class service to the millions of South Africans, from the rural villages to the flashy suburbs, who depend on us as the Department, to make their dreams a reality.

The Department has already embarked ~n the process of operating in terms of the required planning framework, so much that its priorities already became cluster priorities and the allocation of funding for key projects that we have obtained is a tangible outcome of our intense participation in intergovernmental structures and processes. We have already undertaken our second strategic planning session and are constantly looking into strategic ways and means to optimise allocation of public resources and enhance the quality and accessibility of serving the President's State of the Nation Address as well as the activities through co-operative governance and the establishment of sustainable intergovernmental relations.

We have noted the agenda of this briefing and attempted to arrange our presentation accordingly.

The presentation addresses the four budget programmes administered by the Department namely administration, services to citizens, migration and auxiliary services. The main spending focus areas for the current year are highlighted as well. Underfunding will inevitably result in budget shortages. Despite a rigorous process of reprioritisation that was undertaken, key aspects of departmental
activity are adversely affected and the implications thereof should be pointed out to the Committee.

BUDGET ALLOCATION
The Department's budget allocation for the financial year 2002/2003 was Ri 251
188 000. Of this, the amount of R208 818 million was allocated to Programme:
Administration, R586 594 million to Programme 2: Services to Citizens, R236
049 million to Programme 3: Migration, and R219 727 to Programme 4: Auxiliary
Services including Transfer Payments. See Annexures A and B. Budgetary
trends are depicted in Annexures Bi, B2 and B 3.

The initial departmental budgeting process as well as the reprioritisation effort that was undertaken later to address funding deficits was directed by two key considerations. These are firstly the fundamental strategic priorities of the Department as set out in our Strategic Plan 2002-2003 and secondly the linkage thereof to the Government's National Programme of Action, derived from its electoral mandate and embodied inter a/ia in the President's State of the Nation Address as well as the activity priorities as determined by the various Cabinet and FOSAD Clusters of which the Department is a member. However, it should be pointed out that some critical priorities that have a direct bearing on the Department's ability to perform effective and efficiently and to underlie our serious striving towards rendering a world-class service, remain unfunded. These amount to Ri 19, 930m (see Annexure C). It is my duty to inform you of the implications hereof as well and the manner in which it is adversely impacting on overall governmental performance in many spheres.

The main spending focus areas and the budget shortages will now be discussed per programme. The final reprioritised budget allocation per programme, standard item is attached as Annexure D.

PROGRAMME 1: ADMINISTRATION
The aim of the Administration programme is to conduct the overall management and administration of the Department. The programme provides for policy formulation by the Minister, Deputy Minister, and the Department's senior management. Other functions include organising the Department, rendering centralised administrative, legal and office support services, managing departmental personnel and financial administration, determining working methods and procedures, and exercising control through head office and regional offices.

The reprioritised allocation for this Programme is R213 023m.

2.1.1 MAIN FOCUS AREAS
The main focus area in this programme is training and capacity building, an issue highlighted by the President in his State of the Nation Address. The President emphasised the importance of developing "our greatest resource, our people including the working people, the women, the youth and the disabled." Consequently the Department will increasingly spend funds on Adult Basic Education training, administrative and functional training. Training and capacity building in the Department focuses on two main areas namely the advancement of managerial and supervisory skills and line functional improvement. These priorities have been determined following an in depth analysis of departmental capacity shortfalls. Of particular note regarding the first category is our involvement in the Presidential Strategic Leadership Programme (PSLDP) in which all of senior management is engaged and a spectrum of appropriate courses that have been developed for supervisors at the intermediate and lower levels. In the field of functional training the thrust of our efforts is on equipping staff to enhance effectiveness and efficiency and also to prepare them for the implementation of new policy initiatives, notably the implementation of the new migration management system encompassed in the Immigration Bill as passed by the National Assembly on 17 May 2002. An array of training modules in other fields, particularly Civic Services as well as general skills development, i.e.

finance, customer care, computer literacy, code of conduct and the more are presented. Furthermore, Adult Basic Education Training (ABET) is presented with great success in the Department.

2.1.2 BUDGET SHORTFALLS
PERSONNEL ESTABLISHMENT
The Department has to date been functioning with a fixed establishment approved by the office of the Public Service Commission during 1995, which is comprised of 6 982 posts. Of this establishment 6 252 are filled and 730 are vacant. It will be noted that since the rationalisation of the Public Service in 1994, which culminated in the demise of the Transkei, Bophuthatswana, Venda and Ciskei (TBVC States) the demand for services rendered by the Department increased dramatically and therefore, this places a tremendous challenge for the Department to utilise as far as possible all available resources. See Annexure E

With the foregoing in mind not filling vacancies will result in long queues with concomitant dissatisfaction from customers, low staff morale with consequent frequent absenteeism, unnecessary backlogs which will necessitate remunerated overtime, and disruption of efficient and effective service delivery

The Department had a vacancy rate of 10.460/o on its establishment for almost the whole of 2001. Currently 730 posts are vacant of which 234 are funded and the Department is in the process of filling them. During the last operational year, the average labour turnover for the department was 137 and this figure forms part of the 234 posts, which will be filled during this current financial year. The remaining 496 posts are unfunded. To render a world-class service while operating with 89.54% staff establishment is almost impossible. However, the Department is busy with the compilation of a scientifically based staff establishment, which will be informed by the following processes namely Immigration Bill which will soon be promulgated into law, the rationalisation of the ports of entries and equitable distribution of offices.

TASK TEAM ELECTORAL ACT
On 20 March 2002, Cabinet adopted the Department's Cabinet Memorandum 3 of 2001, on the establishment of an electoral law task team. The Cabinet Memorandum made provision for financial implications for the work of the task team on the basis of a budget of R450 000. By reprioritisation of the Department this amount was provided for accordingly. However, in the meanwhile, the Chairperson of the Electoral Act Review Task Team drew up a budget for the activities of the task team, which amounts to R3,5 million. The Department will address this matter in its monthly Report on the State of Expenditure as an "Early Warning" to National Treasury, as well as in the Adjustments Estimate.

FOREIGN OFFICES
One of the areas of concern that the Department has is the opening of Missions abroad, as our requests to get funding for this purpose have always gone unnoticed. This has set the Department back and has had a negative impact on service delivery abroad. The Department has for too long depended on the Department of Foreign Affairs to handle its responsibilities. The fact of the matter is, tourism towards South Africa is growing at a tremendous pace and the Department's offices are not growing at the same pace, thus leaving our functions to be performed by other Departments. Only one mission, Beijing, was opened in the past six or more years, thus compromising our functions abroad. Of the 185 Missions abroad, Home Affairs is only represented in 19 Missions, and the rest are managed by the Department of Foreign Affairs.

COMPUTERISATION OF OFFICES
As part of the Department's move from manual processes to electronic systems as indicated earlier, it has also become essential to computerise offices of the Department.
For the current financial year, 30 offices for the 10 regions have been identified for computerisation. Regions like Eastern Cape, Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga will be given highest priority as they have less than 50% offices
computerised at present. The amount of R2, 779, 680 will be spent on equipment and software licenses required for offices. Sub-regional offices will be equipped with passport capturing machines, the aim being to allocate at least one passport capturing station per sub-region. The amount of R215, 000 will be spent on equipment for the passport system. The project is at planning stage.
The Passport system as well urgently needs to be re-evaluated and upgraded in line with modern technology taking into account security aspects. The current passport system was envisaged to be replaced or upgraded during the 2001. This could not be achieved due to a lack of funding.

2.2 PROGRAMME 2: SERVICES TO CITIZENS
The services to citizens programme aims to identify members of the population and grant them specified rights and powers and is organised into three subprogrammes, namely:
· Travel and passport matters issue passports and other travel documents in terms of legislation, and provides for financial assistance to citizens abroad, and in some cases for their repatriation
· Citizenship provides for activities related to determining and granting citizenship, and its forfeiture, in terms of the South African Citizenship Act 1995 (Act No 88 of 1995);
· Population Register provides for the maintenance of a register of citizens, and aliens who have acquired the right to permanent residence, including births, marriages and deaths. The Government has targeted the registration of 3 million children eligible for a grant by 2005 and the State President has indicated in his State of the Nation address that as a result of better awareness and improved efforts by the public service, we are on course to meet this target. In line with the President's vision, the Department has to eliminate the concept of late registration of birth to avoid the abuse of the system by those who do not qualify to be in the population register.
n]_The reprioritised amount allocated to this programme is R580 799m.

2.2.1 MAIN FOCUS AREA
The main focus area is to improve on the Department's service delivery systems and processes. To this effect the following systems are being attended to:

ELECTRONIC DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (EDMS)
The objective of the EDMS is to implement an effective, real time, online solution that will cater for automated document management processes from capture to business transaction solution resulting in the overall improvement of business process efficiency. The system will make all Home Affairs records and archiving information, within the scope of the contract, immediately available for access to any authorised individual at any workstation in the entire system, both nationally and internationally.

Phase 1, is currently being implemented and comprises of:
· The implementation of a centralised core EDMS with an associated workflow component to cater for the management of the Department's business processes related to Births, Marriages and Deaths and an effective Management Information System (MIS) within the Civitas and New Cooperation buildings;
· High volume document capture modules in Civitas and New Cooperation buildings;
· Implementation of a centralised indexing environment to initiate the process of existing records back-capture pertaining to the Chief Directorate Civic Services
· The development and implementation of a query front-end with the flexibility to be decentralised;
· An effective volatile and non-volatile online storage environment which will cater for a strict legal process requirement;
A Disaster Recovery facility in the New Cooperation building to ensure full
redundancy and a 24 hour availability;
· Integration of the identified solution with the National Population Register

· Conversion of the existing microfilm records to online documentation
format and the integration of such documentation into the identified solution
The commissioning date for Phase 1 is 1 September 2002.
A tender for Phase 2, comprising the roll-out of the system to regional offices and the conversion of existing paper records (back-capture conversion), will be published during August 2002.
The budget allocated for Phase 2 is R35 million and it is envisaged that it will be utilised for:
· Hardware R8 million
· Workflow software R4 million
· Training R2.95 million
· System Integration R3.3 million
· Professional services R2.7 million
· Distributed infrastructure upgrades R5.5 million
· Hardware and software support R5.45 million
· Change Management R3.1 million

HANIS
The original HANIS Project Plan identified four phases: Requirement Definition, System Design, System Build and Basic System Commissioning. These phases were successfully completed by 18 February 2002. The total expenditure until March 2002 amounted to R495 122 478. The Department has introduced an additional phase of Roll-Out, which will be the expansion of HANIS to regional and sub-regional offices.

Sub-systems were identified, namely: Identification, Image Capture, Control and Infrastructure. The Identification Subsystem is being upgraded to cater for 42 000 forms per day. This should be completed by 31 August 2002. The process of populating the HANIS database will start in September 2002.
The Department has decided to render a very significant function known as Commercial Verification, by expanding the Remote Verification Service to cater for the needs of the Commercial Sector. This will enable all interested parties, from both the public and the private sector, to query the HANIS database and do reliable verification of those people approaching them for services. This facility will potentially generate income for National Treasury as users will pay per transaction for accessing the system. A call centre for this purpose will be established in the third quarter of 2002.

The budget allocated for the 2002/2003 financial year will be spent as follows:
· Personnel expenditure R7,593,042 million
· Administrative expenses R1,131,600 million
· Inventories R1,124,000 million
· Equipment Professional Services R148,622,899 million
Professiional service R59,458,459 million

2.2.2 BUDGET SHORTFALLS
HANIS FOREX
The amount of money paid by the HANIS Project in respect of the Forex adjustments is R62,5 million. This shortfall, which can be ascribed to the deteriorating Rand in comparison to other currencies has put serious stress on the HANIS budget. However, the National Treasury was informed of this Forex payments and that the matter will be addressed in the Department's monthly Reporting on the State of Expenditure as well as in the Adjustments Estimate.
2.3 PROGRAMME 3: MIGRATION
The aim of the Migration programme is to handle matters in foreign countries, control visas and the admission of travellers at ports of entry, deports illegal aliens, and considers and processes refugee cases in terms of the Aliens Control Act and the Refugee Act. Its has six sub-programmes:
· Select immigrants according to South Africa's person-power and investment needs with due regard to the country's economic, social and cultural interests
· Control the entry and departure of all international travellers, as well as the sojourn of aliens who enter the Republic of South Africa on a temporary basis
· The Migration programme handles migration matters in foreign countries controls visas and admission of travellers at ports of entry; deports illegal aliens; and considers and processes refugee cases in terms of the Aliens Control Act of 1991 and the Refugee Act of 1998. The programme has the following six sub-programmes:
· Permanent and temporary residence provides for the processing of applications for permanent residence, and the administrative work attached to the Immigrants Selection Board. It provides for arrangements for the repatriation of applicants, and incidental assistance in certain cases. It also includes the processing of applications for work, study and temporary residence permits.
· Immigrants Selection Board and Regional Committees sub-programme provides for the remuneration and allowances to members of the Board and regional committees.
· Aliens control provides for the deportation of illegal aliens.
· Refugee Affairs funds the processing of applications and granting of asylum.
· Refugee Affairs Appeal Board sub-programme funds the Refugee Affairs Appeal Board, which adjudicates appeals for cases rejected by the Refugee Affairs Standing Committee.
The reprioritised amount allocated to this programme is R230 139m.
2.3.1 THE MAIN FOCUS AREA

The main focus area addressed in this programme is the redesigning of the Movement Control System to a real-time online system.

Movement Control System (MCS)

The high-level objectives of the Movement Control Project are as follows:
· Implement a centrally driven and managed system, which will function on a real-time online basis.
Permit immediate and simultaneous access to movement data by all Ports
of Entry.
· Ensure information integrity and validity pertaining to the movements of
aliens and South African residence across our borders.
· Improve and enhance service to all persons utilising the services of the
Chief Directorate Migration.
· Enable integration between all systems and databases utilised by the
Chief Directorate Migration.
· Remove backlogs and current inconsistencies in the Movement Control
environment.
· Introduce electronic workflow to the Movement Control environment to
ensure reduction in fraud and corruption opportunities.
The budget allocated for MCS is R45 million and it is envisaged that it will be utilised for:
· Hardware R15 million
· MCS Software R5 million
· Workflow Software R2 million
Training R1.5 million
System Integration R2.5 million
· Professional Services R6 million
· Core infrastructure upgrades R3 million
· Change Management R3 million
Hardware and Software support R7 million
A Request for Information (RFI) has been distributed to a number of vendors to test the high-level concept viability and to gather detailed information. Responses are expected on 29 May 2002.

2.3.2 BUDGET SHORTFALLS
IMPLEMENTATION OF THE NEW IMMIGRATION SYSTEM
The Immigration Bill was approved by the National Assembly on Friday 17 May 2002. When the Department submitted the Medium Term Expenditure Framework for 2001/2002 - 2003/2004 financial years, it included an estimated amount for the Immigration Bill. However, your attention is drawn thereto that the information was not included in the Department's options regarding the Medium Term Expenditure Framework for 2002/2003 - 2004/2005 financial years. The financial implication of the implementation of the Immigration Bill is estimated at Ri 3,698 million, for the 2002/2003 financial year . The implications of the Bill as it was finally approved will have definite financial implications for the Department. Detailed calculations in this regard are however not yet possible at this early stage.

PORTS OF ENTRY (PoE)
The advent of democracy in the RSA has opened up the country to the rest of the world, something for which the country's antiquated land border posts were neither prepared nor originally designed to cope with. The Department, being the main role player at PoE, has attempted in vain over the years that followed, to secure an increased budget to respond to the mounting pressure on our staff and infrastructure at these posts. The number of persons cleared on entry and departure at our ports of entry has grown from 19.8 million per annum in 1994 to
Á_28.3m per annum in 2001, an increase of 42.9%, while the staff establishment at the majority of these ports has not been reviewed since 1995 and no significant increase in funding of accommodation requirements has realized.
In 1997, Cabinet approved an amount of R1Olm for the upgrading of these ports of entry in terms of the erstwhile National Crime Prevention Strategy (NCPS). However, divided between 53 ports, the improvements, although marked, could still not clearly address the needs satisfactorily.

Initiatives driven by other departments such as the Departments of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEAT) and Trade and Industry (DTI) often further impact on the DHA, the latter being a service delivery Department in essence. For example, the creation of 7 Transfrontier Conservation Areas (TFCAs) in conjunction with our neighbouring countries is aimed at increasing tourism figures not only for the country but for the region as a whole and involves on the one hand, the upgrading of the staff establishments and facilities at existing PoE in the proposed boundaries of these TFCAs and on the other, the erection of new border posts. The Department simply cannot cope with the increased pressure on its budget by means of re-prioritising of existing funds, which is the expectation raised by the DEAT in its memorandum to Cabinet on the matter.

A further example is the creation of the Trans-Kalahari corridor, which is aimed at easing the flow of commercial traffic through Botswana to Namibia and which runs through the Skilpadshek border post in the North West Province. Apart from the fact that the facility is totally inadequate for the volumes of traffic envisaged, in terms of a trilateral memorandum of understanding between the three countries concerned, the border post must increase its hours of service from the current two-shift operation to a 24 hour operation, which would require 3 shifts. Apart from the additional personnel expenditure, additional housing accommodation has to be provided, which has not been factored into the Department's 3 year financial planning cycle.
A further source of concern is a request received from the SAPS during the 1999/2000 fiscal year, to take over the immigration function at 4 of the 1 5 border posts where they currently perform this function on our behalf, but where traffic volumes have increased to the extent that full time immigration officers are now required. To date the Department has failed to do so due to the budgetary constraints related to the appointment of additional staff and the erection of office and housing accommodation.
The events of 11 September 2001 have been a wake up call to security authorities worldwide and underline the tremendous responsibility, which rests on the Department of Home Affairs to ensure that persons seeking entry into this country are subjected to the proper screening procedures before being admitted. Poor facilities, where the infrastructure is not conducive to the correct, swift and separate channelling of incoming and outgoing traffic, create loopholes for persons to be able to enter the country without reporting to an immigration officer at the counter where he or she would have been subjected to the necessary checks and controls.

Annexure F endeavours to give an overview, per province of the state of infrastructure and human resources at each Port of Entry. The report concentrates on land border posts only and excludes air and seaports. Annexure o depicts in photos the conditions at some of our Ports of Entry. These can be regarded as a fair reflection of the average Port of Entry.

The Department of Public Works, in conjunction with the various role players at ports of entry, has developed a Repair and Maintenance Project (RAMP). This is a specialised approach for the repair and maintenance of facilities under their control, which provides for repairs of facilities and a three-year maintenance contract. The estimated cost to implement RAMP, based on an investigation by a consultant appointed by Department of Public Works, is R94,6 million, spread over 4 years in the following manner:

· 2002/2003 - R25,6m, of which SARS will provide Rl2m, the remainder to come from other role players;
· 2003/2004 - R45,6m
· 2004/2005 - R16,9m
· 2005/2006-R6,5m

This implies that to bring the infrastructure at our land border posts up to an acceptable level to cope with the increased flow of travellers through these border posts, to create a favourable impression at visitors' first contact with the RSA and to ensure an acceptable level of security at these ports of entry, an amount of R94,6 million will be needed over the next four financial years.

2.4 PROGRAMME 4: AUXILIARY AND ASSOCIATED SERVICES
The aim of this programme is to render auxiliary services and services associated with the Department's aims. The programme is organised into the following sub-programmes:
· FILM AND PUBLICATION BOARD -: funds the classification work of the Film and Publication Board and a Film and Publication Review Board.
· GOVERNMENT PRINTING WORKS - provides for the augmentation of the Government Printing Works Trading Account for supplying printing and stationery to government.
· GOVERNMENT MOTOR TRANSPORT - funds the purchase of vehicles for departmental use, as well as for allocations under the subsidised motor transport scheme.
· ELECTORAL COMMISSION - provides for the establishment and composition of an Independent Electoral Commission to manage elections and referendums, and makes provision for the establishment and qomposition of an Electoral Court and its powers, duties, and functions, in terms of the Independent Electoral Commission Act (51 of 1996).

· CAPITALWORKS
The reprioritised amount allocated to this programme is R227 227m.

2.4.1 BUDGET SHORTFALLS ACCOMMODATION
In tandem with the theme of Government as outlined by the President in his State
of the Nation address, "Pushing Back The Frontiers Of Poverty" the Department has sought alternative accommodation to provide services to the rural and marginalized communities of our country.
(a) Container Project
A private company has undertaken to provide the Department of Home Affairs with 100 freight containers in order to provide suitable office accommodation especially in remote areas of the country where access to services is difficult due to geographical and logistical reasons. These offices are tangible and fundamental examples of how serious the Department is on reaching out to our people and fulfilling the Government's electoral mandate of delivering services to rural and marginalised areas. The container project is also an example of the Department's attempt to expand into public/private partnerships. See Annexure H

The following advantages are envisaged:
· The rendering of a more efficient and effective service to communities;
· Greater access to the Department of Home Affairs' offices
· Adherence to the priorities identified by Cabinet;
· Expansion of partnership between public and private institutions;
· Easily distributable; and
Can be moved from one area to another.

(b) Repatriation Centres
The existing contract for holding facilities for undocumented foreigners expires at the end of September 2002, and in consultation with the Department of Public
Works alternative premises and accommodation are sought. It is foreseen that the Department would acquire either State-owned premises/buildings or have to lease such and would have to outsource the provision of meals, etc but then would have to manage the facility and maintain such buildings from the budgeted amount as from 1 October 2002.

Should State-owned premises not be found to suit the requirements for holding facilities for undocumented foreigners such would have to be procured/leased by Public Works on behalf of the Department. An additional amount of R18 million has been requested from National Treasury for this purpose.

(c) Upgrading/Renovation Of Existing Accommodation
Urgent renovations/upgrading of a number of office buildings of the Department has now become essential and additional funding will be required for this purpose.

GOVERNMENT PRINTING WORKS
The Government Printing Works operates for accounting purposes on a trading account, which effectively means that for practical purposes, as well as accounting practices it is runs as a business, with no profit margin and recovery of labour and material costs being the objective.

After having completed a feasibility study on the possibility to privatise the Government Printing Works, and having submitted to Cabinet a numbers of alternatives, Cabinet approved that a public enterprise be established, with a small private equity shareholding.

The second phase towards implementation of the Cabinet directive has now commenced. One of the first tasks of the consulting team will be the establishment of a business plan toward establishing the enterprise. This will be in close cooperation with the Government Printing Works, Department of Public Enterprises and the Department.
y_Legislation will be submitted to Parliament enabling the change and the objective is to complete the process within this financial year.

4. CONCLUDING REMARKS
The Department recognizes that a number of challenges remain. We will need improved reporting systems, data validation efforts, and programme monitoring and evaluation to achieve the vision of rendering world-class service.

The Department is committed to a continuing process of improving performance by maintaining a consistent focus on our mandates, defining the definition and measurement of the outcomes of our work and improving the communication of the results of our efforts to the public.

As indicated the remaining unfunded priorities of the Department have a serious adverse impact on our capacity to provide the quality of services that our citizenry deserve, as well as our ability to plan for an ideal type future. Consequently assistance of the Portfolio Committee to address the ongoing inadequate funding of Home Affairs will be highly appreciated.

It is in this context that I view my departmental responsibility, as well as our mutual interaction. It is also the basis upon which I ask for your co-operation and support. Only as a closely-knit team, and with a consorted effort, can we together begin to confront the mammoth task that lies ahead,