Hon Chair, Deputy President, Ministers, Deputy Ministers, comrades, hon members, in undertaking the oversight visit to the North West province, the committee used as a touchstone the department's vision of "a safe, secure South Africa that all its people are proud of, and value, their identity and citizenship and mission", and its mission of "the efficient determination and safeguarding of the identity and status of citizens and the regulation of migration to ensure security, promote development and fulfil our internal obligations".
The committee therefore sought to assess the extent of the manifestation of the vision and mission of the department as per the constitutional mandate. Issues of capacity, security, integrity of identity and immigration management were the focus of the committee as it visited both ports of entry and other offices, which is generally inadequate in terms of the requisite equipment and poor infrastructure in order for service delivery to be expedited.
We recommend that transport be provided to offices and ports of entry to facilitate efficient access to people in remote areas. In collaboration with the SA Revenue Service, the department should install scanners at the said border posts and provide passport live-capturing machines in offices.
We recommend that the department comply with access specifications for people living with disabilities.
The lack of communication of the Home Affairs border offices' system with each other and other relevant departments resulted in a lack of constant in- immigration control.
The North West's borders were, at the time, virtually porous as they were manned by the police. We recommend that the SA National Defence Force be deployed to the North West's borders and that the communication network be enhanced. In the main in farm areas there were people with children without certificates, adults without identity documents and others carrying TBVC - Transkei, Bophuthatswana, Venda and Ciskei - identity documents. There were cases of duplicate IDs in some offices and the turnaround time in others was unacceptably low. We recommend that the matter of duplicate identity numbers and the backlog in farm areas be speedily addressed.
The committee is concerned about border security as it impacts directly on the quality of lives of citizens. We are concerned that those who need social services because they are the most vulnerable - those most affected by poverty - have no access to the socioeconomic rights assured them by our government. We are concerned that our people do not receive the same quality of service throughout the country.
We are also concerned when identity number duplications prevent legitimate beneficiaries from accessing insurance benefits. However, we pledge our support to the department as it endeavours to discharge its mandate and realise its vision and mission. We hope that the report will be endorsed by the Office of the Chief Whip.
There was no debate.
Hon House Chair, hon Deputy President, I move:
That the Report be adopted.
Motion agreed to.
Report accordingly adopted.