Chairperson, allow me, with your indulgence, to correct a typographical error made on page 3 374 of the Announcements, Tablings and Committee Reports dated Monday, 24 October 2011. In the first line of paragraph 4.2.3, under the heading "Transfers", there is an amount of R996 billion. It is a typographical error; it should be R996 million.
On 12 October 2011, the Department of Home Affairs presented its 2010-11 annual report. Having considered this and other oversight conducted by the committee, the budgetary review and recommendation report was debated, finalised and then adopted by members of the committee. On this, the second budget review and recommendation report, BRRR, done by Parliament, members of the committee made constructive inputs to ensure that the recommendations of the report were more specific and in line with the government's programme of action, the President's state of the nation address and observations made during oversight and legislative work. Chairperson, these are the observations that the committee made.
There is concern about the filling of vacancies. The committee observed that the assets register was still not up to date. There was insufficient training of staff in the basic accounting system. There was a shortage of vehicles and some were ageing. The department's systems of risk management, internal control and government processes were not continually monitored effectively and efficiently. We are concerned about the R1,2 billion contingent legal fees in the annual report. This is too high a fee.
There was concern about the problem of many unresolved queries and delays in duplicate identity numbers. The problem of uncollected identity documents that are still lying in Home Affairs offices was also a concern. The "Who Am I Online" project needs to be settled and concluded. It would be good if the department could get more funds to roll out the smartcard project to decrease corruption.
The introduction of the live capture of photos for passports and identity documents at all Home Affairs offices will be helpful in reducing corruption. Online verification of identity has still not been implemented.
The shortage of staff at ports of entry, the lack of offices and the lack of accommodation for officials are still problems. The backlog in outstanding asylum-seeker applications and appeals is still of concern, because there are appeals that haven't gone through to the Appeals Board. The process of appointing a chief executive officer for the Government Printing Works, GPW, needs to be speeded up.
We are indeed satisfied that the Minister and her department's leadership are systematically addressing the many challenges faced by the Department of Home Affairs and would like to encourage them to continue doing so. We move for the adoption of the Report with the amendment. Thank you, Chairperson. [Applause.]
There was no debate.
Modulasetulo, ke a leboha. [Thank you, Chairperson.]
I move:
That the Report of the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs, as presented with the amendment by the chair, be adopted.
Declarations of vote:
Mr Chairman, I would like to make a declaration. I think we all know that this BRRR is a new process and it is something we are all learning. It is a strange animal for this Parliament and I think our committee, which is a very happy portfolio committee and very ably chaired by our chairlady, is super.
But there are one or two things which I wish to declare. Firstly, although I am a member of the portfolio committee, I haven't had an opportunity to adopt the final report. Secondly, it does not mention the fact that at this moment there are 30 Cuban Spanish-speaking trainers in the Northern Cape who are training 300 immigration officials who had been transferred from the Department of Defence into the department.
I don't think there has been an adequate motivation for the necessity of this, as to why we need to bring in other trainers, why they need to be from Cuba, and why, in fact, the department needs to bring in Defence Force personnel. I just want to make that clear. Thank you.
Thank you, hon member. Although it was only Cope which requested a declaration, does any other party wish to make a declaration?
Chair, through you, to clarify the matter, I would like to state that the report was adopted in an appropriate manner by the committee and the hon McIntosh was not present. He had sent an apology that he would not be present that day, and the apology was accepted. The hon Kiki Rwexana was present on that day. Thank you, Chairperson.
Thank you for the explanation, but the party has a right to make a declaration. With that declaration, are there any objections to the report being adopted? There are no objections.
Motion agreed to.
Report accordingly adopted.