Chairperson, hon members, colleagues, Ministers, Chairperson of the Independent Electoral Commission, Dr Brigalia Bam; Chairperson of the Film and Publication Board, Thoko Mpumlwana; Chief Executive Officer of the Film and Publication Board, Yoliswa Makhasi; Deputy Commissioner of the South African Revenue Service, Ivan Pillay; Mr Michael Katz, the Acting Chief Executive Officer of the Government Printing Works, Joe Engelbrecht, members of the stakeholder forums from across the country, members of the Department of Home Affairs and fellow South Africans, may I take this opportunity to inform the House that Deputy Minister Fatima Chohan is not present today because she represents the National Assembly on the Judicial Services Commission, which is in session at the moment.
This Budget Vote comes against the backdrop of the commemoration of the 18th anniversary of the assassination of one of the finest sons and heroes of our land, Chris Hani, and the forthcoming local government elections scheduled for 18 May, as well as the centenary celebrations of the birth of the ANC on 8 January 2012.
It is in this context that we must, as a nation, pause and reflect on how the South Africa of 1912 looked, in order for us to appreciate the progress achieved thus far. Then, power was exclusively in the hands of the white minority who regarded the black majority as units of cheap labour rather than as citizens. South Africa was fractured and divided by racial discrimination, class oppression, with black women suffering triple oppression: race, class and gender. There was no common sense of nationhood amongst all people at that time. Of course, in 1913, the Land Act brought massive land dispossession to the majority. Most of us did not have the right to vote until 1994.
Of course, the struggle for liberation went on for all those decades in various forms, including the armed struggle, until 1990, with the commencement of negotiations. Chris Hani, who had dedicated his entire life to the struggle for liberation, said upon his return to South Africa after three decades in exile, and I quote
I have lived with death most of my life. I want to live in a free South Africa, even if I have to lay down my life for it.
Unfortunately, he did indeed lay down his life at the hand of an assassin, as did young Solomon Mahlangu, who was executed by the apartheid regime in the same month, April.
We also recall President Nelson Mandela's speech on 13 April 1993, when he said, and I quote:
Tonight I am reaching out to every single South African, black and white, from the very depths of my being. A white man, full of prejudice and hate, came to our country and committed a deed so foul that the whole nation now teeters on the brink of disaster. A white woman, of Afrikaner origin, risked her life so that we may know, and bring to justice, this assassin. The cold-blooded murder of Chris Hani has sent shock waves throughout the country and the world. Our grief and anger is tearing us apart. What has happened is a national tragedy that has touched millions of people, across the political and colour divide. This tragedy was a watershed moment in the history of our country. A moment in which, as a nation, black and white, we could have succumbed to the objectives of those forces which sought to turn the clock of history backwards. Or, as Nelson Mandela said, a moment in which we could use our pain, our grief and outrage to move forward to what is the only lasting solution for our country: an elected government of the people, by the people and for the people.
In May 2011, South Africa will witness her fourth democratic local government elections, in which our people will exercise, once again, their right to vote. We carry the constitutional mandate to support the work of the Independent Electoral Commission to deliver credible, free and fair elections. In this regard, I am happy to announce that we have disbursed the required funds to the IEC to enable it to deliver on its mandate.
As we move towards the local government elections, we should remember that this was achieved because many South Africans were ready to lay down their lives for this freedom. Therefore, every citizen, including the youth, should go out and vote. Those elected and officials currently in government, including us in this House, should never forget that governments are elected by the people to serve the people honestly and in the best possible way.
The Constitution entrusts the department with a dual mandate. In this regard, we are the custodians of the identity of all South African citizens, critical to which is the issuing of birth, marriage and death certificates, identity documents and passports, citizenship, and naturalisation and permanent residence certificates. The full spectrum of identity management goes beyond the mere issuing of secure documents. It encompasses the safe maintenance and archiving of biometric and demographic records of citizens and persons who have been permitted to reside in South Africa.
Our second mandate deals with the effective, secure and humane management of immigration. It is important to recall that the South African nation is a product of many streams of history and culture, representing the origins, dispersal and reintegration of humanity over hundreds of thousands of years. Immigration will therefore continue to play a part in the foreseeable future.
We have dedicated ourselves to the ideals of the founders of the ANC. And, in the context of consolidating this common identity and citizenship, we have undertaken steps to ensure that every South African over the age of 16 has an ID, and that every baby born is issued with a birth certificate within 30 days of delivery. This we have done through the launch in March 2010 of the National Population Registration campaign.
The success of the campaign necessarily lies in the understanding that this is a government by the people, for the people, and that we had to forge partnerships between ourselves and the people to succeed. In pursuance thereof, we have mobilised our people in various communities into stakeholder forums, thus giving expression to the clause in the Freedom Charter: "The people shall govern." In this regard, we have formed 254 stakeholder forums representing 90% of the municipalities throughout the country. They comprise leaders and members of communities, councils, the Department of Home Affairs and other related government departments.
I am happy to welcome among us today representatives of these stakeholder forums. They serve in stakeholder forums across the country freely, without any expectation of financial and personal reward. For them, it is a national duty. We owe it to them to succeed. [Applause.]
We have not established these forums to add to the existing layers of bureaucracy in the department. The forums improve our quality of service delivery by identifying needs in the communities, by doing oversight of offices and by resolving problems innovatively. Where gaps and challenges have been identified, the department is responding positively by implementing the requisite measures. These measures include the deployment of more staff in existing offices - this is something that has also come from the stakeholder forums - and mobile offices, as well as opening new offices, especially in the rural areas.
In our campaign to ensure that all babies receive birth certificates and that those who are 16 years and older receive identity documents, the following progress has been registered: 499 957 births were registered within 30 days; 456 675 births were registered within 30 days to one year; only 130 284 births were registered after one year and only 190 091 births were registered after 16 years. Therefore we have surpassed our target of 70% of children being registered by their first birthday, and we have also reduced dramatically children being registered only after turning 16.
We have also issued 1 091 511 identity documents to 16-year-olds and above. These are the IDs issued for the first time, and this is 257 000 more than in the previous financial year.
In support of this campaign, 189 hospitals and health facilities nationally have been linked to the Department of Home Affairs so that mothers can get their birth certificates before they leave hospital. [Applause.]
We also have, in addition, 141 hospitals which are serviced by Home Affairs officials. They go there every day and collect the forms for the registration and processing of the children born in those hospitals. We would like to take this opportunity to reiterate our national call for parents to register their babies within 30 days of birth and to acquire IDs at 16 years old.
Realising that the objectives of this campaign had to be transmitted as widely as possible, in the past year we were also supported through innovative means of communication. These included the Premier Soccer League, PSL, in the match between Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates; Lotto; Motswako; Pampers; and Generations. We thank all of them for their support. [Applause.]
The government asked us to cost the production of all the services we render, including, amongst other things, IDs, passports and birth and death certificates, in preparation for the introduction of new tariffs, which were gazetted in January this year. We would like to emphasise that the government provides each South African citizen with the first ID, birth certificate and death certificate free of charge. But, of course, if you want a second or third copy, then you would have to pay for those documents.
This year, we processed 1 353 256 IDs for people who applied for second or third IDs. As we speak, we are sitting with almost half a million - that is, 494 367 - uncollected IDs in various offices, and at the head office we have 266 785 IDs. In total, we have more than 750 000, almost a million, uncollected IDs. These are the IDs of people who applied for second IDs and not for the first ID. The reissuing of these increases the possibility of duplicate IDs and identity theft by unscrupulous elements. We did a survey in Pretoria and we found that most people who had not collected their IDs, had applied for new IDs when they had merely misplaced their IDs. Once they found their IDs, they did not bother to go and collect the ID they had applied for. So I would like to ask the nation to make sure they take responsibility for and value and protect their IDs.
I must also emphasise that we implemented the tariff increases after running an ID campaign for more than a year. We also made sure that everyone who wanted to vote had the opportunity to register before the tariffs were increased. These tariffs are only the costs for the production of the documents.
However, I must say that in the event of natural disasters such as floods and fire, which may lead to the destruction of all these documents, whether IDs or birth, marriage or death certificates, the documents will be replaced free of charge. [Applause.] We also just want to apologise in that maybe our communication was not sufficient before the new tariffs came into being.
We have achieved what we set out to achieve during 2010. Since a lot has been said on 2010, I will not dwell on it; suffice to say that we were able to bring 2 387 524 visitors safely and expeditiously into our country. Of course, 828 841 of those came from our own continent.
Through the Advanced Passenger Processing system and the airline liaison officers, we were able to prevent undesirable elements from entering South Africa during that period. But that system did not cease after the World Cup. It remains in South Africa. We use it now, so it is of assistance to the country as we speak.
Although we have made great strides in achieving our objectives in terms of civic services, there is still a lot to be achieved, and we will continue to consolidate our work in this area. This financial year, 2011-12, we are prioritising immigration. Why are we doing this? We are doing this because it is important, again, to recall, as Oliver Tambo said when talking about our beautiful land, that South Africa is a,
Varied land of snowcapped mountain peaks, of deserts and subtropical greenery covering vast mineral resources. Its warm seas to the east and cold ones to the west contain also large animal and mineral resources.
But more importantly, its people, their -
Varied cultures which are continuously mingling and interacting to their mutual enrichment, exhibit, despite their conditions, a great love for life and a sensitive joy in the creative and humane endeavours of the peoples of the world, without exception.
So, immigration will continue to provide us with this opportunity to ensure this continuous mingling and mutual enrichment in our nation.
As part of our government's new growth path, we will work with other departments over the next three years, but especially the departments in the economic sector, to proactively attract critical skills, whilst still producing our own, in addition to investors and tourists from abroad. These critically skilled people will include, among others, civil, chemical, electrical and mechanical engineers and agronomists. We will also be attracting a lot of suitably qualified artisans from different areas, as well as scientists, senior project managers, environmental experts, ICT specialists, economic planners and many others.
Immigration must, however, be effectively managed to protect our sovereignty and secure our nation against the threat of transnational crime and terrorism. In this regard, we will train our officials to be responsive and vigilant with respect to the needs of clients, as well as the security concerns of our country. We will also be rationalising our ports of entry to move resources to where they can be optimally used. We have also centralised the issuing of permits and cleared the backlog.
We remain committed to honouring our international obligations to protect those who legitimately seek respite from persecution in line with international and domestic laws. Ours is to determine and protect the status of asylum seekers by providing them with the relevant documents and permits. We are reviewing and overhauling our asylum seeker management process to ensure that there is adequate capacity and expertise at all levels of the process.
We will also enhance our National Immigration Information System, NIIS, which is used to register asylum seekers and refugees, while reducing the backlog at the adjudication and review/appeal levels.
We have adopted a regional approach to mixed migration with a view to curbing the abuse of the asylum-seeker process and ensuring that the issue receives the attention of the regional organisation SADC, the Southern African Development Community. We will therefore, amongst other things, strengthen controls at our borders and ports of entry in co-operation with our neighbours.
In the previous financial year, the department undertook a comprehensive review of the legislation governing its work so that we could ensure its relevance. We are pleased to report today that the South African Citizenship Amendment Bill and the Births and Deaths Registration Amendment Bill have been passed by both Houses of Parliament, and have been signed into law. The department is currently engaged in finalising the necessary regulations. Amendments to the Refugees Act and the Immigration Act are currently in the parliamentary process.
We are also pleased to report that progress has been made regarding the transformation of the department, including the financial management. In 2010 we received a qualified audit with one qualification relating to asset management, a marked improvement from previous years. We will continue to work towards an unqualified audit in 2011-12, moving towards a clean audit in 2012-13.
Now that the "Who Am I Online" contract issues have been resolved, we will, in collaboration with Sars, the Government Printing Works and the Department of Finance, make sure that we roll out the live capture for IDs and passports, which will greatly enhance efficiency, security and service delivery; develop and implement an integrated system of both the immigration and civic systems; and completely overhaul our National Population Register.
We have also introduced an operational model which aligns the department with the three tiers of government. We now have provincial, regional and local offices. In addition, and to ensure that citizens receive services wherever they may be, we are also using mobile offices and temporary service points.
As part of ensuring access and quality service delivery to our clients, we refurbished 30 offices last year in line with our new corporate model, as some of the members in this House have witnessed at our Barrack Street office this afternoon.
We have also implemented a queue management system in 13 of our offices. In addition, all our officials are now under the directive to wear their name tags during working hours. Similarly, we have increased accessibility for the public to the department's top management by placing their contact details, including mobile and office numbers and e-mail addresses, on posters in all our offices and on the departmental website. Please call any of these numbers should you not be satisfied with the service you receive at our offices. We are also now open to the public from 07:30 to 16:30 from Monday to Friday, and from 08:30 to 12:30 on Saturdays.
We have succeeded in meeting our target to fill all management posts, with a few exceptions. We have also increased the number of officials tasked, with servicing hospitals and mobile offices in particular. Going forward, we are prioritising the filling of frontline posts.
Last year, we committed to piloting the smart card. In this regard, we are pleased to inform the House that this has been done. The Government Printing Works, or GPW, has produced the Crew Member Certificate, which is used internationally by our pilots and crew members. This has laid a solid foundation for piloting the ID smart card - because it's a similar kind of concept - in this financial year, with the roll-out in the 2012-13 financial year.
The budget of the department includes funding for the Film and Publication Board, FPB. We are pleased that the FPB will finalise its turnaround strategy this year, aimed at delivering a more efficient and functional organisation with simpler and more convenient business processes for distributors and clients.
We also remain committed to uprooting fraud, working with all the other departments in our cluster and also with other agencies. At this time, I would like to express my appreciation to those hard-working and honest Home Affairs officials and managers for the sterling work they have done in the past year, led by their Director-General Mkuseli Apleni. [Applause.]
Before I conclude, I would like to remind all citizens that South Africa's third population count will take place from 10 October to 31 October. Government urges all citizens to stand up and be counted. There will be 120 000 enumerators from our communities. The results of the census, obviously, will guide the allocation of resources to improve access to basic services.
We must indeed recommit ourselves to achieving the ideals of freedom, democracy and justice and to delivering excellent services to our people. A sacrifice such as that of Chris Hani deserves no less.
In conclusion, we extend our appreciation to the chairperson of the Portfolio Committee, Ma'm Maggie - I see even my old chair is here - and to all the members of the portfolio committee for their assistance and support during the year, and, hopefully, during the coming year as well. We request this House to support the Budget Vote, with the support of my former Deputy Minister. I thank you. [Applause.]
Chairperson, Minister, hon Ministers, Deputy Ministers, comrades and hon members, constitutional principles I and VIII of schedule 5 of the 1993 interim Constitution state:
The Constitution of South Africa shall provide for the establishment of one sovereign state, a common South African citizenship and democratic system of government committed to achieving equality between men and women and people of all races. ... There shall be representative government embracing multiparty democracy, regular elections, universal adult suffrage, a common voters' roll and, in general, proportional representation.
In 1955, when the one and only Congress of the People, led by the ANC, defiantly ... [Applause.] ... declared against all odds and said, I quote ... [Laughter.]:
We, the people of South Africa, declare for all our country and the world to know that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white, and that no government can justly claim authority unless it is based on the will of the people ... that only a democratic state, based on the will of the people, can secure to all their birthright without distinction of colour, race, sex or belief.
As we near the centenary of the ANC, the organisation launched to unite our people and deliver services to all, irrespective of race, class or gender, departments of this democratic state should ask themselves what gift they are going to give the ANC on 8 January 2012. Home Affairs, in particular, needs to ask itself whether it will be able to give the gift of faultless and unblemished secure integrity of identity and status of citizenship.
Home Affairs will, on 8 January 2012, stand tall and without fear of contradiction declare, inter alia: All South Africans, 16 years and above, possess birth registration certificates; economic migrants have been separated from genuine asylum seekers; fraud and corruption have been curtailed; the National Population Register has integrity; our stewardship is beyond reproach; and our books bear testimony to this.
Today, our loyalty to the truth constrains us to celebrate the achievements of our government through the Department of Home Affairs. The department has demonstrated beyond a shadow of a doubt that its heart lies with the people. This department has refused to be an ivory tower which our people have to strive to reach, but has been the epitome of a caring developmental state that knows where people are.
At the foothills of the launch of the National Population Register on 23 March 2010 in Libode, the department achieved, inter alia, the following: There are health facilities connected for online registration in some health care facilities. We continue to campaign for babies to be registered within 30 days. An amount of 253 out of a total of 282 local government structures have established stakeholder forums. And, finally, provincial stakeholder forums were launched in the Eastern Cape, the Free State and KwaZulu-Natal.
Regarding immigration services, the following achievements were registered. A total of 2,3 million travellers entered the Republic during the 2010 Fifa World Cup. About 12 000 skills-related work permits were issued to foreigners. And, regarding the Zimbabwean documentation project, of the 275 760 applications received, over 70 000 have, to date, been finalised.
The South Africa state is one with several departments meant to facilitate services to the people. Departments should therefore co-operate in order to accelerate and expedite services. In this regard, the Department of Home Affairs has to strengthen its co-operation especially with other departments, such as Health. By law, every child who is born alive should be registered with the Director-General of the Department of Home Affairs and the same applies to every certified death.
Because women mostly give birth to children in health care centres, and deaths are certified by medical personnel, it is vital for the reliability of the National Population Register that the department co-operates with the Department of Health in the provision of birth and death statistics. In the main, this co-operation is a guarantor of birth registration within 30 days of birth as the only entry in the National Population Register.
Secondly, in terms of the Department of Basic Education, any person aged 16 years and above is eligible to be issued with an identity document, and most 16-year-olds are school-going children. Co-operation between the Department of Home Affairs and the Department of Basic Education should be strengthened to facilitate the security and integrity of the identity of South Africans from as early an age as is legally permissible.
In his 2011 state of the nation address, his Excellency President Jacob Zuma said, and I quote:
We are concerned that unemployment and poverty persist despite the economic growth experienced in the past 10 years. To address these concerns, we have declared 2011 a year of job creation through meaningful economic transformation and inclusive growth.
It is therefore incumbent upon each department of government to realise the foregoing imperative.
While we do appreciate that 417 posts were identified and funded in the 2010-11 financial year, we are, however, concerned that 163 of them remain vacant. We are also concerned that in the financial year 2009-10 the department had acting positions beyond the legal limit of 12 months, and consequently disclosed R5,8 million expenditure as irregular. We urge expeditious attention to the aforementioned foibles that threaten to blemish the otherwise good image of the department. We certainly are not in doubt about the department's commitment to realising the creation of decent jobs and sustainable livelihoods.
The financial stewardship of the department needs jacking up, as the audit opinion suggested. The decrease in the budget from R5,8 billion to R5,5 billion this financial year is cause for concern in relation to the capacity of the department to meet its obligations.
According to the African Charter on Human Rights,
Every individual shall have the right to leave any country including his own ... This right may only be subject to restrictions, provided for by law for the protection of national security, law and order, public health or morality.
It should therefore follow that any legal limitation on people's movements should serve national interests and enhance national security.
The asylumseeker process poses a serious challenge to our national security and to the integrity of the immigration system. As a country we are committed to playing our part as host to those who have well-founded reasons to fear for their lives and who require refuge, as defined in various international instruments. In the same vein, we are determined to obviate any abuse, overt or covert, of the system and to strengthen the asylumseeker process.
In underscoring its declaration of 2010 as the year of working together to speed up effective service to the people, the 8 January Statement of the national executive committee of the ANC contends that:
Corruption poses a serious threat to our struggle to build a caring society and it erodes the moral fabric of our society. It is a threat that must be fought both inside and outside the state. The ANC will never tolerate corruption. Resolutely punishing and efficiently preventing corruption is therefore a major political task the ANC must attend to and at all times. All ANC members must be aware that combating corruption is a battle that can never be won.
[Interjections.]
This statement concludes this matter by categorically stating that:
The ANC is committed to transforming the state in a manner that benefits our people. There is no room for using the resources of the state for self-enrichment and acting from narrow self-interest. Selfishness is alien to the values of our movement.
We are encouraged by the department's commitment to combating fraud and corruption, as evidenced in its plan to effect, among other things, proactive performance of a detailed data analysis to identify and investigate corrupt activities; increased vetting capacity through an agreement with the State Security Agency to help with vetting investigations and possible evaluation and analysis; and close co-operation with law enforcement, state security and other pertinent agencies to ensure successful prosecution of corrupt officials.
Let the timeless words of our icon Tata Nelson Mandela ever be the lodestar before us, as we traverse the road to a national democratic society where neither race, nor gender, nor class shall stand as descriptors and prescripts of peoples' potential to access services and to attain development, and I quote:
... we are at last maturing to become a normal society, founded on mutual trust, bonded by mutual aspirations, and shaped by the reality of our existence rather than the fulmination of warped imagination. In our racial, language, religious and sectoral diversity, as the weak and the mighty, we are one people with one destiny.
Ka la 18 Motsheanong 2011 re ya dikgethong tsa bomasepala. IEC, e leng Komishene e Ikemetseng ya Dikgetho, e dutse e le malala-a-laotswe bakeng sa dikgetho tsena. Tsohle di motjheng. Re na le tshepo hore jwalo ka dikgetho tse ding tse fetileng, le tsena e tla ba dikgetho tse tla fetang ka kgotso, ntle le ditsitsipano kapa dikgohlano.
Re ntse re kgothalletsa Maafrikaborwa a matle hape hore ha e be boikgethelo ba rona kapa boitelo ba rona hore re thusane le Lefapha la Selehae kapa FPB, e leng Boto ya Difilimi le Dikgatiso bakeng sa ho lwantsha botlokotsebe bo hlahang diselefounung kapa dikomporong bakeng sa bana ba banyane ba fihlellang ditshwantsho tsa motabo ho na le hore ba fihlelle dintho tse ba tshwanetseng tsa sekolo. Ke boitseko ba rona re le batswadi hore re thusane le mmuso ho lwantshana le botlokotsebe bo jwalo. Modulasetulo, re le mokgatlo wa ANC re tshehetsa tekanyetso ena. Ke a leboha. [Mahofi.] (Translation of Sesotho paragraphs follows.)
[On 18 May 2011 we will be going for the municipal elections. The Independent Electoral Committee, IEC, is ready for this election. Everything is on track. We hope that just as with the previous elections, these will also be conducted peacefully, without any tensions or conflict.
We encourage South Africans that it should be our choice or commitment to help the Department of Home Affairs or the Film and Publication Board, FPB, in fighting against crimes committed through cellular phones or computers in relation to children accessing pornographic images instead of accessing relevant educational material. It is our right as parents to work together with government to fight against such crimes. Chairperson, as the ANC we support this Budget. I thank you. [Applause.]]
Hon Chair, hon Minister, hon members and guests, Minister, your department has unfortunately presented a strategic plan for the next three years that is seriously flawed. It displays what is an unintended consequence of what is a laudable initiative by the Auditor- General.
The Auditor-General will, from 2011-12, be auditing outcomes as well as financial records. Your officials do not wish to be found wanting, and they have set targets in the strategic plan for the department that are lower than the previous targets, or are simply indicated as "not applicable". Just a few examples will suffice to illustrate this point.
Firstly, regarding the reissue of ID books: The target in 2010 was 35 days; the target for 2011 is 47 days. Secondly, the issue of passports: The target in 2010 was 10 days; the target for 2011 is 13 days for live capture and 24 days for manual processing. Is it acceptable that a department should actually plan for declining service delivery levels? We think not.
Further, Minister, no targets have been set for critical focus areas. Just two examples are the following. A position paper will be developed on policy options for managing the migration of skilled and unskilled migrants during 2011-12. The targets for the following two years are shown as "not applicable". A baseline study is planned to inform the department's countercorruption project. Again, the targets for the following two years are indicated as "not applicable". How is it possible that issues as important as migration and countercorruption - two of the critical issues on the department's agenda - can have targets indicated as "not applicable"?
Minister, we have noted the strategic plan and we have noted that the DA believes that you should in fact have demanded a redraft of the plan to reflect improvements in service delivery and definitive targets for critical areas. This plan should never have been tabled in its current form. It is an insult to South African residents whose lives and livelihoods depend so intimately on your department's services.
Your much-publicised Turnaround Strategy, Minister, has indeed achieved some praiseworthy results, particularly in the field of civic affairs. One hundred and forty-two consultants were employed, at a cost of R899,2 million, to engineer the turnaround strategy.
The strategic plan now talks of "transformation initiatives". The director- general has told the portfolio committee that this is another building block in the Turnaround Strategy. There is no indication of just how much these transformation initiatives will cost, or exactly what they comprise. We, as the taxpayers, are funding these initiatives, and we deserve the assurance that the Turnaround Strategy and the transformation initiatives will actually result in improved results in every functional area of the department.
Over the past five years, five separate pieces of Home Affairs legislation have been considered by this House. The Refugees Amendment Bill was endorsed by both Houses of Parliament. The DA did not support the Bill in its entirety. We do not believe that, together with the 2008 Refugees Amendment Act, it will adequately serve to streamline refugee management systems and strategies.
Minister, we remind your department in your presence that they have made a commitment to tabling the refugee regulations before the committee before they are gazetted. And we will hold them to this.
The budgetary allocation for asylumseekers shows a 54% increase, to R69 million. The department has been granted an additional allocation of R79 million over the next three years for the management of asylumseekers and refugees. We trust that the proposed status determination committees and appeal authorities will be fully functional at all refugee centres by the end of the coming financial year.
The department has identified, as a risk in this regard, "no differentiation between asylumseekers and economic migrants", and, as a mitigating strategy, "the development of a new policy document to deal with the economic migrants". The strategic plan then contains a scaled-down version as a strategic objective: "to review the policy and regulatory framework to manage economic migration".
The annual target limits the scope of the measures to be taken even further to a "policy document ... with clear options for the processing of asylumseekers and refugees". Once again, the targets in this regard for the outer years are indicated as "not applicable".
Although the issue of economic migrants is constantly raised by the Minister as an abuse of the asylum process in South Africa, no measurable outputs have been framed to address the apparent problem. We can only assume that it has been subsumed in the 2011-12 target which reads: "Position paper developed on policy options for managing the migration of skilled and unskilled migrants" - again, "not applicable" in the outer years.
But, Minister, we are somewhat puzzled. We have a target for next year that proposes a position paper on policy options to manage migration. But the strategic plan's situational analysis says that, during last year, "significant progress was ... made with ... the development of a new immigration policy". We were also told last year that stakeholders would be consulted on an immigration policy and that the policy would actually be adopted this coming year, 2011-12.
Now, the urgent need for a comprehensive and sustainable policy has been emphasised by many, including the DA. Unfortunately, the National Assembly saw fit to endorse the Immigration Amendment Bill earlier this year in the absence of a migration policy and any clear way forward. We said then, and we repeat this now, that the Immigration Amendment Bill, with the changes that it proposes, will only hamper skills acquisition. It will not pave the way to growth, as the Minister has announced.
This is not withstanding the fact that the committee-deliberation process did result in some of the most offensive provisions of the Bill being removed. These include the compilation of a list of businesses considered to be "in the national interest" and a list of corporate sectors in which foreign investment might be allowed.
The Minister is quoted as saying that she is unhappy with the portfolio committee changes to the Bill, and will seek to have these changes reversed during the National Council of Provinces' deliberations. The executive and the legislative functions are becoming blurred. Parliament is the national legislature. We now call on the NCOP to deliberate on the Bill in good faith and to make decisions it considers to be in South Africa's best interests, without being unduly influenced by the Minister's pronouncements.
Minister, I would very quickly like to applaud the Independent Electoral Commission. It is indeed refreshing to interact with an entity which functions close to optimally. Our focus is currently on the 2011 local government elections. The IEC appears well prepared for the task.
Not so refreshing is the strategic plan of the Film and Publication Board. This board plans to spend R24 million on paying the salaries of its management staff, and R4,2 million on the salaries of its classifiers. We are funding a board that has nine board members, no less than 15 managers, with only 52 semiskilled employees. And it is no wonder, Minister, that this board continues to run at a deficit. It must identify areas in which it could make savings, or cut back on nonpriority areas. We appreciate its work, but it is simply not sustainable with its current structure.
Minister, as I close I will use this opportunity to call on you publicly ...
Order! Hon member, you have one minute left. Could you please start wrapping up your statement.
I said "as I close". Thank you, Chairperson. I will use this opportunity, Minister, to call on you publicly to respect our oversight role. Of the 60-odd questions - it is in excess of 60 - that I have submitted for your written reply since I became part of the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs in September last year, not a single one has been answered. [Interjections.] That is unacceptable. [Interjections.] It is an affront to the people we represent. Not one, Minister. Thank you, Chairperson. [Applause.]
Chairperson, Madam Minister, President Zuma stated in 2010 that government officials "must do things differently". This is both a realisation and an outcry that public service in South Africa needs an urgent overhaul. It is 2011, and we are still a long way from attaining this excellent public service culture.
With the allocated budget for the 2011-12 financial year, the Department of Home Affairs will have to cover all bases, including among other things, job creation, improving service delivery, continuing the fight against corruption, the upcoming local government elections, and international assistance in the democracy and elections in various countries. This is a tall order for a department faced with many internal and external challenges with a limited budget.
Firstly, South Africa's skilled migration regime is poorly conceived and ineffective. The range on skills that are needed in South Africa are greatly underestimated. Until October 2010, the department had 350 000 Zimbabweans on record who were legally in South Africa, but the International Organisation for Migration estimates that there were between 1,5 million and 2 million Zimbabweans living in South Africa. The department is, in effect, faced with a paralysing dilemma. On the one hand, it wants to attract skills and act humanely, but, on the other hand, it does not trust business to identify its own needs for imported talent. It is desperate to control the influx of poor foreigners that it sees as threatening social stability and alienating the support base of the governing party. This can best be described as one of the effects of lacking a coherent migration policy.
The Immigration Amendment Bill that was passed in the House is yet another illustrious demonstration of the lack of clear policy in the area of migration. Cope maintained that this Bill was in fact ...
Which one?
The one and only Congress of the People. [Laughter.] [Interjections.] And the ANC knows that we would wallop them in court if they were to raise this issue and debate it negatively. We maintain that the Bill was, in fact, unconstitutional. We, however, trust that the new scarce skills list will address the issues of skilled migration.
The Department of Home Affairs has the mandate to ensure that the skills shortages in the six priority areas mentioned by President Zuma can be filled with foreign expertise in order to stimulate investment, enterprise and skilled labour. The United States of America is an excellent example of the value of skilled immigrants. In 1990 more than a third of engineers and other ICT professionals working there had been born elsewhere. Foreigners were responsible for more than 30% of biotechnology inventions, generated a quarter of all global patent applications originating in the USA in 2006, founded more than a quarter of American companies, including Intel, Yahoo and Google.
Secondly, there is the issue of service delivery. Apart from the Department of International Relations and Co-operation, the Department of Home Affairs is the face of South Africa. This department deals with tourists, immigrants, asylumseekers, refugees and South Africans alike on a daily basis. Therefore, the frontline staff in these areas must be on top form, well trained and equipped.
We live in the most unequal society in the world. Hence, the unequal access to services, especially in rural areas, remains a prominent issue. In addition, fraud and corruption, outdated IT infrastructure and systems and a legacy of contractual issues within the department, still need to be attended to properly.
The perceptions of the Department of Home Affairs, both internally and externally, are negative. This lack of confidence was reflected in the fact that only 24% of employees indicated knowledge of the positive changes in the department at the end of 2010.
The poor performance of the Department of Home Affairs in recent years is well known. It is profound that in precisely this department, where service delivery is so poor, 70% of workers had received an above-average evaluation mark in the past financial year, and therefore were eligible for bonuses. We, however, wish to commend the director-general for stepping up and questioning this. Those who abuse this system of hard work with reward must be made an example of.
Furthermore, the department suffers from a shortage of adequate staff capacity. A study by the African Centre for Migration and Society found that the process of documenting Zimbabweans is dogged by administrative challenges and poor communication within the department. Many Zimbabweans have simply been unable to navigate the documentation process because of its administrative challenges and the lack of effective communication, as well as misinformation from the regional offices. As a result, many are excluded and will remain undocumented.
The study found that the short time period for the project was the greatest obstacle to its success. While we commend the department for these efforts, the department did not set a realistic timeframe for implementing the process. The deadline has now been extended to July 2011. We trust that this deadline will be met without further extensions.
Inasmuch as our country must provide for its own citizens, it must also address the plight of refugees and effectively provide for their safety, health and general wellbeing. In this regard, it is vital to strengthen co- operation within the Southern African Development Community region.
South Africa receives the largest number of asylum requests in the world. Well over 400 000 individual asylum claims have been received since 2008. On top of this are the applications by migrant workers seeking to regularise their stay and access the employment market. Most of these applicants settle in urban areas. This fuels xenophobia, as they compete with host communities for scarce resources.
We are, however, refreshed to hear that the Minister indicated that this year particular attention will be given to the immigration personnel because this has been of serious concern. And, indeed, Madam Minister, we will monitor developments in this regard.
In 2009, the Department of Home Affairs was named the most corrupt department in South Africa. This is slowly changing. However, corruption remains a cancer. We can no longer be sure whether the person in possession of a South African passport is 100% South African or whether his documents were obtained fraudulently. In addition to this, the National Population Register must be cleaned up. Cope will, however, support the Budget Vote. [Time expired.] [Applause.]
Hon Chairperson, Home Affairs is a portfolio very close to the heart of the IFP because of Prince Buthelezi's very successful tenure thereof as Minister from 1994 to 2004. We still contend that Buthelezi's vision of placing the civic administration of Home Affairs under municipal jurisdiction, and thereby leaving existing Home Affairs offices to deal solely with migratory issues, would solve most, if not all, of the problems currently plaguing Home Affairs in terms of its service delivery, without negatively impacting upon the department's Budget allocation.
The recent increase in the cost of identity documents by an incredible 700% from R20 to R140, and in passports by 100% from R190 to R400 is ludicrous. These price increases are way beyond the means of our poor and unemployed people. The fact that the department will issue every citizen with their first identity book free of charge does not assist those who are getting married, divorced or who have lost of had their ID books stolen. The IFP proposes that these exorbitant price increases in ID documents and passports be looked into in order to find a more favourable and more affordable price.
Service delivery backlogs, as well as crime and corruption within the department, remain one of the biggest concerns, and the department must adopt measures and strategies to effectively nullify these during the coming year. We are pleased to see that the department has caught up with the backlog of permits for foreign nationals. This is a great step forward.
The "Who Am I" integrated information technology system is a step in the right direction in terms of our outdated and obsolete legacy systems. This system should provide the department with the necessary tools with which to expedite, track and control all applications, which should result in greater efficiency and service delivery to both citizens and foreigners alike.
Corruptions remains and will continue to remain a major problem within the department, and the proposed scrapping of section 49 of the immigration Bill will only encourage corruption within the department. The IFP therefore urges the Ministry to rethink the scrapping of "immigration practitioner" by the department in this regard.
Our refugee reception offices and, in particular, the Lindela holding facility requires infrastructural building work such as additional toilet facilities at the medical clinic, which has only one existing toilet for both male and female persons. This clinic saw 14 568 persons during the period April to June 2010. These are small building spends but are very necessary.
The department should engage in a countrywide investigation as to the infrastructural capabilities and readiness of all departmental buildings, in particular the refugee offices, in order to ascertain whether or not they are sufficiently resourced to deal with the large number of people they currently have to service.
Huge backlogs in case appeals, as well as critical posts within the refugee offices being left vacant, are some of the challenges facing the department, and we trust these problems will be resolved during the course of the year.
Overall, a corporate culture of transparency, accountability and responsibility by the department's employees must be fostered by the Ministry, and a tough-line approach must be adopted in cases where employees transgress these obligations. The recent arrest at the Umgeni Road offices of corrupt officials will send a clear message that corruption will not be tolerated and this in itself is another big step forward.
The challenges are these, but there are not insurmountable, Madam Minister, and the IFP wishes you every success in the coming year. The IFP supports the Vote. [Applause.]
Hon Chairperson, hon Ministers and Deputy Ministers, hon Members of Parliament, guests, ladies and gentlemen, to realise the benefits of immigration while minimising its risk, requires that South Africa puts in place the laws, systems, processes and people that are needed to manage immigration effectively. Such an approach requires the active and co-ordinated participation of many departments and civil-society partners.
In this regard, the department has begun robust engagement within government. The department, in line with the mandate from the ANC and the masses of this country, undertook a process to completely transform and stabilise the issuing of birth certificates, identity documents, death certificates, marriage certificates and permits, which included the process of documenting Zimbabwean nationals. The South African government understands the value of immigration and acknowledges the contribution of immigrants to the development of South Africa's economy.
We have to put some checks and balances in place to combat the spread of organised crime, cybercrime, money-laundering, human trafficking and corruption. We must discourage the abuse of our open immigration policy. Our legislation states clearly that foreign nationals who have been issued with visitor and medical treatment visas will not be able to change the status of these visas while in South Africa.
The issuing of identity documents and birth registration certificates is linked to the facilitation of access to social grants, a means to alleviate poverty and hunger. Thus this core duty of the Department of Home Affairs contributes directly to the realisation of Millennium Development Goal 1, which deals with the eradication of poverty and hunger.
Securing the integrity of the National Population Registration is linked to empowering women, as it facilitates their participation in socioeconomic affairs and strengthens the legitimacy of compensation and inheritance claims of, in the main, women beneficiaries. In that regard, it contributes to the achievement of Millennium Development Goal 3, which deals with the promotion of gender equality and women empowerment.
The department is doing very well in assisting the Independent Electoral Commission to hold free, fair and credible elections that truly represent the will of the electorate. The Department of Home Affairs is ensuring that South Africans who want to participate in the forthcoming local government elections are in possession of valid identity documents that will allow them to register as voters.
The Department of Home Affairs is appealing to South Africans who have previously applied but have not yet collected their IDs, to do so as soon as possible at their office of application. The department will make every effort to ensure that South Africans exercise their democratic right to vote.
Whilst we acknowledge that there is a backlog, we also want to highlight that there is a steady improvement in service delivery, which is recognised and recorded in the 43 regional offices across the country. Last month the department announced that measures to clear backlogs relating to permit applications have been successful. What quality service delivery! This is in line with the department's commitment to ensuring that these backlogs are resolved.
The department is processing all outstanding applications, and we believe that with the new Budget that is tabled today most of the said work will be addressed accordingly. It is our expectation that in due course the outcome of the process will be communicated to the applicants.
This comes within the context of the department's commitment to ensuring that foreign nationals who add value to South Africa are able to receive the relevant permits expeditiously, while those undesirable elements who want to exploit our country and its people are prevented from doing so.
All permits for applications up to the end of January 2011 have been dispatched to their respective offices. Applicants are notified through an SMS generated through Track and Trace informing them of the outcome of their application. Those in the category of special cases are contacted by an official from the customer service centre. Only applicants who have not received communication from the department as aforementioned should contact the department's customer service centre on 0800 601190. We should, however, emphasise that applications for documents from Zimbabwean nationals are still being finalised and are therefore not included amongst those in the backlog that has now been processed.
In paying attention to safe citizenship and identity, let's look at the issue of the passport application fee that has increased. The British government imposed visas on South Africa because our passports could be copied by organised criminals, syndicates, money launderers - by anybody. South Africa has since seen the above as a wake-up call for the department to come up with a passport that will secure South African citizens and that has to be enhanced with security features. The new passport is printed with much more secure features, hence the expense. This was done so that the passport could be secure and our people could travel freely to any part of the world. Prior to the implementation of safety measures, research was conducted in the region.
The Department of Home Affairs' vision is a safe, secure South Africa where all of its people are proud of and value their identity and citizenship. Its mission is the efficient determination and safeguarding of the identity of the status of citizens and the regulation of immigration to ensure security, promote development and fulfil our international obligations. Subsequently, the Department of Home Affairs' value statement commits it to being people-centred and caring; patriotic; professional; having integrity; corruption-free and ethical; and efficient and innovative.
The department seeks to enforce the implementation of the Film and Publication Act, a single classification system for the country, and the establishment of strategic partnerships with industry, government and the nongovernmental organisation sector in South Africa, regionally and internationally. The Film and Publication Board mission is to ensure efficient and effective consumer protection through the regulation of media content, whilst empowering the public, especially children, through robust information sharing - a content regulator that classifies submittable materials and monitors compliance by distributors in order to protect children from exposure to undesirable content and that combats child pornography. This cannot be attained without a Budget. More funds are needed for further research and policy development.
The Government Printing Works implements sound financial management, while cultivating a commercial-oriented culture. It is the vision of the Government Printing Works to provide cost-effective, reliable and quality services to all tiers of government in security printing and to provide the public with equitable information. The Government Printing Works disseminates government information through technology, innovation and service excellence. Key values, such as reliability, integrity, accuracy, stakeholder satisfaction, are belief systems that motivate our people to provide excellent service to all our stakeholders.
In summing up, I would like to emphasise the fact that it is important to understand the context with regard to birth registration. Under apartheid the births of Africans in particular were often not registered and this has continued in communities that are remote. A process of late registration of birth was established to provide an opportunity for these citizens to be registered and acquire enabling documents. We cannot turn a blind eye to national and international syndicates who work with corrupt officials, seriously compromising the National Population Register and national security by selling and duplicating identities. The impact of the National Population Register campaign has been significant and illustrates the power of the combination of stakeholder activism and co-operation between departments and spheres of government. The ANC supports the Budget Vote. Re a leboga. [Thank you.] [Applause.]
Hon Chairperson, hon Minister, colleagues, officials of the department, I would like to start by first congratulating our new chairperson, Maggie Maunye, on her election. I think she is doing very well as chairperson. I know our previous chairperson also did very well.
I would like to express a word of thanks to the hon Minister, the director- general and all the honest officials of the Department of the Home Affairs, those who are trying their utmost to turn things around and to deliver good services to the public.
In my limited time, I will only deal with two issues. Hon Minister, during your speech today you spent one sentence on the Gijima issue. You said that this issue had been resolved. I am not too sure that that is the case. Hon Minister, would you agree with me that R2 billion is a lot of money? That is the extent to which this contract escalated within two years. I smell a rat. Something is very wrong. How is it possible that a project can allegedly escalate from R2,1 billion to R4,5 billion in two years? On 31 March this year, in a media release, Minister, you said: "Gijima was also not willing to go to court." It makes one think: Why not? Why won't they go to court if they are in the clear? If you look at the specific contract itself: Part B of that contract deals with the real hardware, the real stuff: computers, monitors, screens - those kinds of things. That escalated from R1,2 billion to R1,4 billion, an increase of 16,67%.
But then we come to Part A: the software, the smoke and mirrors part, which escalated by more than 100%. Part C: the so-called middleware and software - more smoke and mirrors - escalated from R200 million to R1,6 billion, an increase of 700%. No way! I smell a rat. We should feel very uncomfortable dealing further with a company while a forensic audit is still in progress with regard to this whole process. Taxpayers deserve way better - something here is wrong.
The second issue I would like to deal with is our passport and immigration issue. During a recent visit to the United Kingdom I was told by the British authorities that they have identified O R Tambo International Airport as one of the six sources worldwide of immigration offences to the UK. Their Home Office believes that South African passports in particular are being targeted for abuse by nationals of third countries. A particularly acute problem for the UK is the flow of Zimbabwean asylumseekers through O R Tambo, mostly using genuine South African passports that have been fraudulently obtained.
It is estimated that there are 30 to 40 cases of this per week, every week. What is the result? We now have a very much more secure passport, which will cost the taxpayer R400 - which is an increase of 100% - but this does not mean that we no longer need very expensive visas to visit most of the countries that still do not recognise and accept what we are basically putting forward.
I know good work has been done, hon Minister, but these are only two issues that are still, as far as I am concerned, not resolved and we will have to take them further. Thank you.
Hon Chairperson, hon Ministers, Deputy Ministers present and guests in the gallery, to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others. The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of our Constitution. Does anybody really think that they didn't get what they have because they didn't have the talent or the strength, or the endurance or the commitment?
The Department of Home Affairs is like a child's life. A child's life is like a piece of paper on which every person leaves a mark. One does not need a scientific instrument to measure the speed and quality service rendered by the department.
In May 2008, South Africa witnessed horrendous violence directed at foreigners - some of whom had lived in the country for decades. Lives and properties were destroyed and thousands were displaced. Against this background, it is important to be vigilant about any evidence of a resurgence of xenophobia against African immigrants.
Regrettably, after the 2010 Fifa World Cup there were disturbing signs that the sordid events of 2008 may happen again. In February 2009, seven Zimbabweans, four men and three women, were found dead in a shack in an informal settlement in De Doorns near Worcester, Western Cape. It was clear that the shack had been set alight while the occupants were inside.
This heartbreaking incident laid bare the ethnic tension within the small De Doorns community, with the Xhosa-speaking residents and Sotho-speaking residents accusing each other of being responsible for the murder. The Zimbabweans attributed it to xenophobia.
Reports of people given open toilets in Khayelitsha, harassed, assaulted and even killed in other parts of the Western Cape are again on the increase. [Interjections.] The Western Cape provincial government must admit it has forced the nation to look at the open toilet system through racial lenses. [Interjections.]
The Department of Home Affairs is committed to fighting and eradicating xenophobia. The Department of Home Affairs has often stated that xenophobia is a serious human rights issue. It is rife, and needs to be condemned and combated.
Recent events in the Western Cape underscore the need for government to do more to protect the migrant community living in South Africa. The phenomenon of migration should also be seen in its broader context. Human migration: the movement of people from their usual places of residence to another has been with societies for as long as they have existed. Migration may be between districts, provinces or countries.
Meanwhile, xenophobia is generally understood to be an irrational fear or hatred of foreigners or strangers, manifesting itself in the form of prejudice, discrimination or racism. South Africa has a long experience with human migrants. Over the years, significant numbers of fellow Africans have moved to the country and settled in South Africa. Indications are that this trend will continue.
Many immigrants bring with them important skills that South Africa needs. They are often creative people who are full of initiative, who are driven by an enterprising spirit and who tend also to impart these skills, enriching local communities. This is not always appreciated by some elements within society, and the temptation to give in to prejudice and discrimination often prevails. It has been observed in the past ...
... ukuthi abanye bethu eNingizimu Afrika bayakhohlwa imfudumalo nokuvikeleka esakuthola kwamanye amazwe ngezikhathi ezinzima nezibuhlungu zobandlululo. [... that some of us in South Africa forget the warmth and safety we received from other countries during the painful and hard times of the apartheid era.]
We have identified xenophobia as a major source of concern to human rights and democracy in the country.
A solution has been identified that combines legislation, education programmes and partnerships to deal with this scourge, to mention but a few aspects that create opportunities for integration. According to research, people who have never gone beyond South Africa's borders tend to be more xenophobic owing to a lack of integration.
The history of South African immigration policy shows a number of recurrent themes. The various immigration Acts passed between 1913 and 1991 were, in essence, products of racism, anti-Semitism and segregation. The case of De Doorns is indeed an early warning of recurring xenophobia in South Africa and should serve as a wake-up call.
Service delivery is improving in the Department of Home Affairs. [Applause.] The Department of Home Affairs is responsible and ensures service delivery, access and quality in order to achieve, amongst other things, the following: the registration of every child birth within 30 days; the issuing of identity documents to every South African 16 years and older; integrated key systems and upgraded IT infrastructure for improved security and data integrity; improved turnaround times for all services, queuing times and unit costs per service; and reduced maximum distance for a citizen to travel to access Home Affairs' services.
The department is determined to facilitate the registration of the birth of every citizen in the National Population Register, and to ensure the reliability of the register. According integrity to the Department of Home Affairs and the National Population Register is a means ensuring the following ends: citizens' access to rights and services and active participation in the formal economy; effectively fighting poverty and underdevelopment through, inter alia, grants and improved planning; effectively managing immigration and enhanced security; and efficient, cost- effective and secure service delivery if the National Population Register is linked to biometrics like photographs and fingerprints.
The top priority is ensuring that every South African is given secure identity and citizenship that is his or her birthright, won through bitter struggles and great sacrifices - so further allocation to the aforementioned programme is more than justified. However, the budget contraction cannot, in the context of the aforementioned, be justified.
But it is next to impossible to justify the 55% contraction of the immigration services budget, given the current objective reality. Push and pull factors favour the rise of immigration to the Republic. Immigration has inherent opportunities and threats, which need to be attended to.
It is indeed trite to mention that having elected to execute the new economic growth path, South Africa needs skilled personnel to drive such growth. Whilst it is impossible to produce such skills internally, an external injection of skills into the economy is more than desirable.
I would like to conclude by stating that the Department of Home Affairs is both humbled and elevated by the honour and privilege that you, the people of South Africa, have bestowed on us as the democratic, nonracial and nonsexist government. We understand that there is still no easy road to freedom. The department is working very closely with other government departments, such as the South African Police Service, the South African National Defence Force, etc, because we well know that none of us acting alone can achieve success. As we head towards the ANC centenary, we must all say: "Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another and suffer the indignity of being the skunk of the world." [Applause.]
Ngokubambisana singenza izwe lakithi libe elivikelekile neliphephile. [Together we can make our country safe and secure.]
The ANC supports the Budget Vote. I thank you. [Applause.]
Chairperson, hon Minister and Deputy Minister, hon members, guests, government entities, the Independent Electoral Commission, the Film and Publication Board, the Government Printing Works, the Department of Home Affairs is one of those departments that had it had measles, it would have passed away a while ago. Two years ago, I said that this department was challenged by kwashiorkor, and that really shows that the challenges are big.
The narrow definition of the increase in identity documents,IDs,that the Minister attributes to people applying for IDs for the second time is really misleading. I see that the ANC has nothing else to say about their own campaign, but are simply talking about the narrow, chauvinistic, racial agenda of toilets in Khayelitsha. It is nonsense! [Interjections.] How do you define a 700% increase for an ID
Xa ubiza imali engange-R140 ebantwini, esuka kuma-R20 uthi mabayithathephi imali engaka? [When you ask people to pay an amount of R140, increased from R20, where do you think they will get it?]
There is also the increase for passport costs of more than 100%, to R400. How do you explain that to South Africans? [Interjections.]
The people of South Africa are not happy with the services of this department. The registration of new births is in a shambles. Last week I received an e-mail from the principal of the Chris Hani High School in Khayelitsha. [Interjections.] He wrote that he had applied for a birth certificate for his child in February, and had tried everything possible, but until now nothing has been forthcoming. [Interjections.] Now, tell me, where is the success in that department?
Hon Minister, I want to state that a department that cares is never like this. If you say that the Department of Home Affairs cares for the poor, then I can tell you that many South Africans disagree with you. [Interjections.]
uMakhulu omdala ohlala ngaphaya ezilalini - uyabona kulaa ndawo ndihlala kuyo eMatyeba, kuTsolo - oza kusuka elalini aye kufaka isicelo sesazisi eMthatha, xa efika phaya kuthiwe makahlawule i-R140, kodwa uhambe iiyure ezimbini ukuya kufika phaya kwiSebe lezeMicimbi yeKhaya, noko ngamanyala aluhlaza lawo. (Translation of isiXhosa paragraph follows.)
[An old lady who lives in a village - you see, in the village where I come from, Matyeba, in Tsolo - will travel to Mthatha to apply for an ID, and on arrival is asked to pay R140, where she has travelled for two hours to get to the Department of Home Affairs; that is a serious disgrace.]
The price increases for IDs and passports is a violation of human rights and an assault on the Constitution. It further undermines the dignity of our people. [Interjections.]
Hon member, would you kindly sit down, please. Yes, what is your point of order, sir?
Chairperson, this microphone is not working, but I am sure everybody can hear me. There is no way that this debate can continue under the circumstances in which it is proceeding. [Interjections.] Give the speaker a chance, Chairperson.
Hon Farrow, we will make sure that the speaker will be heard. I am asking the people on the right and on the left please to make sure that the speaker can be heard. Thank you. [Interjections.]
Chairperson, is it parliamentary to use the word "amanyala" in the House - "amanyala aluhlaza"? [Interjections.]
What does it mean?
What is the translation? [Interjections.] "Amanyala" would be "faeces" or "sh*t". [Interjections.]
I think ... [Interjections.] What does it mean?
It's a very serious disgrace, therefore it's not unparliamentary.
Oh, okay. What the hon member has said is not unparliamentary, and please accept that. [Applause.] Can we continue with the debate, please.
Madam Chair, I would appreciate it if the member is given the time that was allocated to him, because the timer continued while all the points of order were given. [Interjections.]
Listen, hon members! Would you like to all come to this Chair and officiate, or shall I do it? So will you please be quiet. Carry on with your speech, please. [Interjections.]
Hon Chairperson, the Department of Home Affairs must reverse these hefty price increases. Under the current circumstances in which the unemployment rate is high and in which we all understand that we are here claiming to represent the poor, this is not representing the poor. Unemployment is sitting at a rate of 24%, as we speak. In fact, it has increased because the reality is that when surveys are done there are people who are not counted. [Interjections.]
Hon member, excuse me, could you continue with your speech, but address the issues of Home Affairs. [Interjections.]
What is the problem? You need to take the economic conditions of our people into account when making such decisions. [Interjections.]
Order!
Madam Chair, with due respect, I do ask you to instil some sort of order in this House. Your request for him to address the issues is, quite frankly, out of order, because he was addressing the issues. [Interjections.] I think that is an indication of the partiality of the Chair. [Interjections.]
Mr Davidson, that may be your take on this, but it is not mine. Could we please ... Please take your seat, hon member.
Madam Chair, with due respect, he was talking about the prices, and that's purely ... [Interjections.]
I have not recognised you. Okay, let us have some decorum in the House. Could the speaker carry on with the debate. Let us finish this debate on Home Affairs.
Chairperson, we need to put the people first. The DA this year elected to use Freedom Square in Kliptown as a point of assembly for our manifesto, for the second time since 2009, and as a symbol it is precisely the DA that is the only party that represents the poor. [Interjections.] This was a reminder to all South Africans that our history and democracy are embedded in the voices of men and women of our revolution, who gathered there some 56 years ago. I am sure if they were to come to this House today they would collapse as a result of this shameful debate. [Interjections.]
Therefore, the DA says no to human rights abuse. All people shall enjoy freedom and just treatment from the government. Remove these tariff increases. You must remove them. [Interjections.] We demand freedom for all, justice for all, equality for all, and peace for all.
The Budget of R5,4 billion lacks detail, and we are not convinced that the department knows what it intends to do. [Interjections.] In fact, earlier this year, Minister, you announced that you have reinstated Gijima on the "Who Am I Online" project. Is it because some ANC comrades have benefited from Gijima? Or is it because Gijima funded the ANC campaign in 2009? [Interjections.]
We need answers to all of these questions. This cannot be left at that level. We need a commissioned report - a report that we are waiting for as the committee - to be tabled before the committee. We cannot allow the Minister to make those decisions alone. [Interjections.]
The Department of Home Affairs came ninth in a survey that was conducted on companies in terms of humanities, and it was the least sought after of entities that people wish to work for. Now the Minister comes here and tells us that her department is the best. That is totally unacceptable. [Interjections.]
In conclusion, we are saying this is very serious. Thank you. [Time expired.] [Interjections.] [Applause.]
Order! Your time has expired, hon member.
Chairperson, we are saying that this is very serious! Thank you. [Time expired.] [Applause.]
Chair, the strategy and tactics of the ANC identify the following capacities as critical for the achievement of a developmental state: one, strategic capacity; two, capacity to lead in the definition of a common national agenda and the mobilising all of society behind it; three, organisational capacity; and, four, technical capacity.
A developmental state, though biased towards the poor and the working class, strives for excellence in corporate governance and accountability. In that regard, state departments are tools in the hands of the people to ensure a better life for all. It is therefore imperative that such tools are not only appropriate for the purpose, but are infused with the strength and capacity to ensure developmental sustainability. The developmental state is thus the hope our people have for the promotion, protection and fulfilment of their rights, especially the socioeconomic rights enshrined in the Constitution.
Better public services require a culture of efficiency and effectiveness in the administration of public resources. This obliges our government to become more responsive to the needs of the people. As the official provider of requisite documentation, the Department of Home Affairs is the gateway to all public services for both citizens and migrants in the country. It is, thus, also the first point of contact between government and the majority of persons in South Africa. It is therefore critical that the department increasingly becomes a torchbearer of service delivery and the face of efficiency.
The outcomes-based approach was adopted by government and has specified 12 broad measurable outcome targets for public services. The Minister of Home Affairs has signed a ministerial performance agreement with the President, followed by interdepartmental and interagency delivery agreements. We commend the Minister that these tangible measures are reflected, both in the strategic plans and the budgets of Home Affairs. [Interjections.] I will deal with the nonapplicable matter just now.
One of the ways this functional approach has impacted on the Department of Home Affairs is that the previous four major programmes of the department have been consolidated into three programmes. This sees the transfer to the three entities falling under Programme 4 in previous years, being absorbed into Programme 2. Citizen Affairs now includes the Independent Electoral Commission, the Film and Publication Board and the Government Printing Works. This makes functional sense since these independent entities certainly provide related services aimed at citizens.
National Treasury groups the Department of Home Affairs within the general public service departmental allocations. There are three priority outcomes for these departments in the government programme of action. These are Outcome 9: a responsive, accountable, effective and efficient local government system; Outcome 11: creating a better South Africa and contributing to a better and safer Africa and world; and Outcome 12: an efficient, effective and development-orientated Public Service. In terms of Outcome 9, it is hoped that the consolidation of immigration and civic services at the provincial level will, in fact, improve efficiency and accountability through more direct lines of reporting.
Outcome 12 has implications for an efficient, effective and development- orientated focus for all programmes of the department, from administration through to citizen and immigration affairs. In the administration programme, for instance, the current and continuing upgrading and refurbishing of Home Affairs front offices is aimed at improving both client and staff experiences of Home Affairs services.
Earlier today we visited the new Barrack Street office with the Minister. The office is really a very good example of improved service delivery on the part of the department. More and more of these new offices are being rolled out across the country. What interests me is that people like the hon Lovemore - I saw her there, not too many of the other opposition members were present - also saw this new office today.
It is an office in terms of which the department can now monitor exactly what is going on in each of these offices across the country: How many people are still queuing; how many have been helped; how many still have to be helped? But today here we hear not a single word from her in that respect. [Interjections.] We hear not a single word of the great service delivery and the improved service delivery that some of the other members, including the hon Mulder, at least referred to. But we hear nothing from her in that regard.
While on the point of service delivery, we heard from the hon Mnqasela just now that we cannot justify the increase in the costs of - and hear what I say - identity documents and passports. But he is clearly misleading this House as well as the people of South Africa, because as the Minister alluded to earlier, this is about second IDs and second passports, not the first IDs and the first passports, that are at stake here.
So to come here and say that the Minister and the department are guilty of a violation of human rights is absolute nonsense. [Injections.] Then he goes on and he singles out one example of no reply following an e-mail that had been sent to him, and chooses to ignore the general very positive statistics relating to service delivery, service delivery statistics that the DA has not disputed. Stop misleading the House, hon members.
All three budget programmes also benefit from increased expenditure on an ongoing basis in information technology and computer system upgrades. These include expanding upgrades to identification-capturing technology and SMS notification of progress on documentation to clients.
As Outcomes 9 and 11 do not seem to form specific components of the delivery agreements signed by the Minister, we will have to ensure, together with the Minister and the department, that these important outcomes, relating to efficient local government and a safer Africa and world, nonetheless receive the attention they deserve.
The department states in the 2011-12 estimates of national expenditure and the performance agreement signed by the Minister that it also contributes to the following two national outcomes. Outcome 3 is that all people in South Africa are and feel safe. In this regard, security of documentation and of personal information is a key responsibility of the department. Outcome 5 is a skilled and capable workforce to support an inclusive growth path. This requires reliable provision of documents by the department to student and workers entering the job market, as well as facilitating foreign skills and investment through readily providing the necessary permits and visas.
In a related vision, the following five broad priorities have specific relevance for the department flowing from the state of the nation address: firstly, job creation through meaningful economic transformation and inclusive growth in six priority areas; secondly, the acceleration of improved service delivery and public service performance: as mentioned this relates to Outcome 12 of efficient and effective development orientation across all the directorates of the department; thirdly, the continued fight against corruption: this is to be manifested by the department in the coming year through the establishment of a centralised database of corruption for more effective monitoring and finalisation of misconduct and fraud cases, and I would like to say to all the members who are very concerned about corruption that this is what is being done; fourthly, an inclusive ... [Interjections.] ... me too, yes - and efficient fourth local government election; and, fifthly, international assistance in democracy and elections, particularly on the African continent. We are encouraged by the preparation for the local government elections. I thank the IEC as well in that regard. We are confident that additional allocations made available in relation to special votes for persons with disabilities are being put to good use.
Parliament and the ANC will be monitoring job creation across government more closely in the coming years. Home Affairs has a dual responsibility in this regard of both more actively filling vacant funded posts and ensuring that changes to the Immigration Act do, in fact, bring in the requisite foreign skills and investment we need for our country's growth. The three strategic outcomes that the department has committed to, as far as government programme is concerned, are: one, a secured South African citizenship and identity; two, immigration managed effectively and securely in the national interest, including economic, social and cultural development; and, three, a service that is efficient, accessible and corruption free.
Strategic objectives 1 and 2 relate specifically to the citizens and immigration affairs programmes of the department's Budget, whereas strategic objective 3 concerning efficient corruption-free service has allocations and implications across the department's three programmes, as will be seen in the following expenditure trends. The implementation of performance outcome targets has resulted in a considerable adjustment of the reporting figures for the department when comparing the 2010-11 figures in the current estimates of national expenditure with the numbers indicated in the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement.
It is understood that these changes are largely due to a change in the department's programme structure, where the total expenditure for provincial offices falls under civilian affairs, as opposed to being separated into immigration and citizen programme budgets. However, in order to ensure continuity of service delivery at the front-office level, it is of great importance that these changes are managed effectively by the department.
Programme 1 has received an increase of R370 million from the R1,4 billion allocated in 2010-11. This is largely due to a 15% real increase in the transversal information technology management subprogramme. The office accommodation subprogramme receives a 35% real increase of R99 million, and it is hoped that this will contribute towards improved service delivery.
The 19,5% real decline in the citizen affairs programme is accounted for by increased expenditure between 2007-08 and 2010-11 in the status services and Independent Electoral Commission subprogrammes owing to electoral operations. Status services declines by 55% and the IEC by 47%, totalling R784 million less in real terms in 2011-12.
Since preparations for the elections are at an advanced stage, such expenditure is clearly no longer needed in the current financial year. The budget allocation for the Immigration Affairs Programme declines significantly by 20% in 2011-12, largely owing to declines in the immigration management and admissions subprogrammes. This amounts nominally to R127,5 million less for admission services. It is understood that these reductions are due to additional expenditure allocated in 2010-11 for more staff during the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup.
The budget also sets out additional allocations for infrastructure projects, municipal and accommodation charges, improved conditions of service in the department, the Independent Electoral Commission and the Film and Publication Board, the issuing of work permits and the deployment of mobile offices. These increased allocations are in line with the government outcomes and priorities set by the President for the year.
Additional infrastructure spending is seen mostly on the reinstated "Who Am I Online" project, which is estimated at R2,2 billion over five years. To date, R390,4 million has been spent since 2008-09, and around R300 million has been allocated over the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework period. Although only partial funding has been allocated for this project, National Treasury has approved the business case for the total cost of R2,2 billion beyond the MTEF period. This leaves a shortfall of around R900 million for the last two years of the project. We trust that the Treasury will make available these funds to ensure the full implementation of this important service delivery improvement programme that is long overdue.
We believe that this budget will play a key role in enabling the department to continue on its road towards much improved service delivery. It clearly supports the department's objectives, and in particular, the outcomes identified by the President and the ANC. We therefore support the budget.
In closing, I just want to deal with one matter that the hon Lovemore referred to. [Interjections.] Most of the other opposition members did not really raise these kinds of concerns, but she comes to this House and says that the strategic plan is flawed. Now, the first question is obviously how it is flawed. What she says is that there are targets that are set, and then in subsequent years, later on, the words "not applicable" are used. Then she refers to examples, for instance, she says there is a study for countercorruption that has to be done, and then in the outer year the words "not applicable" appear.
I want to really know from hon Lovemore, if a study is done and has been concluded, then in subsequent years do you really want to do that study again or not? [Laughter.]
Hon Gaum ... Hon Gaum, your time has expired. [Interjections.]
She goes on! [Laughter.] She says her second important example to this House is ... [Interjections.]
Hon Gaum ... Adv Gaum, your time has expired. [Interjections.]
... that there is a policy document for refugees that needs to be developed. And in the outer year the words "not applicable" appear. [Interjections.] Now if a policy document is developed, do you really ...
Adv Gaum ...
... hon Lovemore, you want to do it all over again? Thank you. [Applause.]
Chairperson and hon members, thank you to all of you for participating in this debate - those who have participated constructively and unconstructively. I just want to say to the ANC that I will not single you out, but we have heard the concerns, especially regarding filling some of the vacancies. I just want to assure you that for some of the vacancies we have done the interviews and short listing, so they will be filled as soon as possible.
In terms of xenophobia, I just want to say that yes, the cluster is looking into that. There is an interministerial committee, and, in fact, our Chairperson is Minister Mthethwa. He is continually looking into that issue. All the other issues that have been raised, those that need to be taken care of, have been noted and will be taken care of.
To the hon Mulder, firstly, I just want to say, yes, just like you I can't understand why something from two comma something billion rand escalated to R4,5 billion. That is why we had to deal with it, and that is why now we have saved the government two billion rand because we are only going to do this for R2,5 billion, not for R4,5 billion. So, we agree with you there. [Applause.]
Secondly, you also asked why they didn't go to court. Unfortunately, I cannot speak for them, but I can say that if you smell a rat, just wait ...
Wear Je Taime. [Laughter.]
Order, please!
... because Prof Wainer is busy with the forensic audit. We have agreed with him that the deadline should be the end of May. It is hoped that by the end of May he will be finished. We will submit the report in June if he has given it to us. Then you will know whether there was a rat or not. [Laughter.] So let us wait. Otherwise, thank you for everything else you said.
To the hon Mbhele I just want to say that it is always good for hon members to talk facts, because this House and the nation does not expect you to speak fiction. It is fiction that we have extended the deadline on the Zimbabwean registration. We have not extended the deadline. But it is common sense that if you say, come and register and bring your forms by 31 December, that obviously on 1 January you would not have processed those forms - you would have received them, but not processed them. That is just common sense. I know it is not very common. [Laughter.] You then have to process them. All that we have said is that from our side, we will be finished with processing and then everything will go back to normal by August.
In fact, we are going to finish very soon, although we will still be waiting for those that have to submit their passports. However, if they have not submitted their passports by then, tough luck, because the project will come to a close. I just want to say: Please, fact not fiction in the House.
I also want to thank the hon Mbhele. We heard what he said but we want to stress that immigration practitioners have nothing to do with us. They can do their business, as I have said before, but people who want our services must come to Home Affairs. If you want a passport or an ID you come to Home Affairs. Why should foreigners never set foot in a Home Affairs office? We don't even know if these people that we are processing forms for exist or not. We don't even know whether they have left their countries or whether they are still in their countries. So we cannot do things that are detrimental to our country. Let them do whatever they want to do in terms of their business, but at Home Affairs, if you want a service, you come to us - that is all we are saying - like any South African.
Regarding the hon Mnqasela's speech, I actually think, Chair, that "amanyala" ["sh*t"] should not be allowed in the House. But since you have allowed it, I think "ulinyala yena" ["you are disgusting"]. [Laughter.] I say that because he distorts ...
Ulalela obasi bemthuma njengesimakwana, uyazi ukuthi sinomahambanendlwana, ugogo akasuki eMqanduli noma kuphi ahambe ngezinyawo aye eMtata, bakhona omahambanendlwana. [He obeys his bosses, who send him around like a puppy. He knows that we have mobile offices; an elderly person does not travel from Mqanduli or from somewhere else to Mtata; there are mobile offices.]
But he is choosing to be not too honest ... ... inyala-ke lelo. [Uhleko.] Okwesibili, uyazi ukuthi khona manje ... [... that is a disgrace. [Laughter.] Secondly, he knows that right now ...]
... we have not received any money from the National Treasury for printing passports. They have asked us to establish a trade account. People pay for every passport that is applied for and we pay the Government Printing Works. That is why we had to cost it like that.
In fact, we have undercosted it. It's just that we have not included, for instance, the amounts that we pay officials at the front office and all that. We have to pay GPW directly. We don't have the budget for it. Last year, as you yourself know, GPW said we owed them money because we were paying them what we had and not what they were costing.
Let me also say that I am very disappointed with you, hon Lovemore. If you were not an hon member, I would say you are a liar, but because we are not allowed to use that word in the House ... [Interjections.] ... I will not say it. I will not say it. Let me say why I said "if you were not an hon member". Let me explain. You said that I have not answered 60 questions ...
Minister, could you take your seat so that I may take the point of order please.
Madam Chair, I rise on a point of order. The Minister was trying to be very clever by saying in an obtuse way that the member is a liar.
She is clever.
No, but I don't think that's real. I would ask you ... [Interjections.] ... to reconsider that and ask her to withdraw. [Interjections.]
Madam Minister, the implication is there and I would ask you to withdraw.
I withdraw having said that if she wasn't an hon member, I would have said that she was lying. I withdraw that. Let me explain why I said what I have withdrawn. [Interjections.] She said she asked 60 questions, none of which were answered. Now, 17 December last year was the deadline we were given by the Leader of Government Business to clear all questions. I cleared all questions. I never got a letter from the Leader of Government Business saying that I had not cleared my questions. [Interjections.]
Secondly, every Cabinet tells us how many questions we owe. Last week, I owed in total - not only from her - 34 questions from the National Assembly and 5 from the National Council of Provinces. So where does the 60 come from? [Interjections.] She either cannot count or she decided to say something that is not true. [Interjections.]
Could the Minister, continue please.
The other issue is about targets. Some of them have already been dealt with by the hon Gaum. I was sitting here thinking: Now, if something has been achieved, how do you continue with the same target the following year? [Interjections.] I could not answer that.
Let me also speak about corruption. We are dealing with corruption as much as we can. People get arrested, people get disciplined - and we will continue with this. We are committed in that regard. I also just want to say to the hon Lovemore that it is right to admit if something is good, so that we can take you seriously when you say that something is not good. [Applause.]
Also, I never went to the NCOP regarding the Bill you referred to. The journalist said to me, "This Bill has been changed dramatically. What do you have to say and what do you think?" I told him that Parliament has a right to make changes. He then asked me what area I did not agree with. I mentioned one area, because the Minister of Trade and Industry had written a letter to me stating that he did not agree with the idea that we should put unwanted and undesirable companies rather than priorities, and I referred to that. I was then asked if I was going to change that in the NCOP. I said that I could not change it and that if the NCOP wants to change it, fine. But I know I can't change it. I know I don't have that power. I am not foolish. I don't know what you mean when you say I must take your oversight seriously because I do. But you must also take your oversight seriously and say exactly what is happening, and not come here and say things that are not true.
Lastly, if the hon Mnqasela is so concerned about people getting their services, why didn't he give us that e-mail so that we could solve the problem, instead of bringing it up here? [Interjections.] Why? [Interjections.] He must send it to me and let us sort out the problem. [Interjections.] Don't come here and ...
Order, please! Can we hear the Minister.
He mustn't come here and use that instead of solving the problem. If he really cared, he would not carry it around and wait until the Budget Vote debate. He would solve the problem. He would be saying to us: "That problem has been solved. I gave it to X, and it was solved." He wouldn't be saying that that one e-mail proves that Home Affairs is not caring. [Interjections.] I am just trying to say ubuntu, and as a Member of Parliament, that is what you do. Otherwise, if you don't do that "ulinyalanyala" [you are a disgrace]. Thank you. [Laughter.] [Applause.]
Debate concluded.