(a) What role did his department play in the extradition and/or deportation of Mr Thabo Bester and Ms Nandipha Magudumana to the Republic and (b) on what legal authority did his department rely during the whole process of returning the fugitives to the Republic?
Honourable member this matter was fully ventilated in a court of law. Judgement has been passed but Dr Magudumana is appealing. Hence I am not able to answer your question for now.
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What are the details of the concrete steps that his department has taken to address the technological challenges hampering the roll-out of the e-visa system, which is understood to be a pivotal factor in bolstering the tourism sector in the Republic and facilitating international travel?
Honourable member, we initially experienced technological challenges with the roll out of the e-visa system during 2021. However, towards the end of 2022, we successfully completed a series of 34 enhancements to the e-visa system. Currently, there are no technological challenges with the e-visa system. Honourable member, I also wish to inform the house that we have added 20 more countries on the e-visa ...
(1) Whether, given that Mr Krasimir Kamenov, wanted under an Interpol Red Notice for crimes in Bulgaria, was shot dead in Cape Town and Mr Fulgence Kayishema, accused of participating in the Rwandan genocide and responsible for thousands of deaths, was arrested last week on a farm in Paarl, near Cape Town and noting that the two wanted international fugitives were located within our borders within the space of one week, his department had been informed that the specified criminals were within our borders; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what are the relevant details;
(2) what are the relevant details of the kind of visas that were issued to the two criminals, which enabled them to be within the borders of the Republic?
(1)&(2) Mr. Krasimir Kamenov was issued with a relatives’ visa to join his spouse and subsequently obtained permanent residence in the Republic of South Africa in 2004. He was a naturalised citizen at the time of his death.
With regards to Mr. Fulgence Kayishema, upon him entering the Republic of South Africa in December 1999, he was issued with a Temporary Permit to Prohibited ...
(a) What total number of retirement visa applications were (i) received and (ii) issued, (b) from what countries were applications received, (c) what is the average time taken between an application received and visa issued, (d) what total number of applications were rejected, (e) what were the reasons for rejection, (f) from what countries were applications rejected and (g) what is the average time taken between an application received and rejected in each month in the (i) past three financial years and (ii) since 1 April 2023 in each case?
(a)(i) The total number of retirement visa applications received 3645 from 2020 to 2022 FYs is 3645 and applications received from 1 April 2023 are 79.
(a)(ii) The total number of applications issued during 2020 to 2022 are 1645 while there is no application issued from 1 April 2023 and there are 1449 applications still pending.
(b) The applications were received from 112 countries ...
With reference to the contingent liabilities of his department that were R2,189 billion as at 31 March 2020 and the 13 extra lawyers who were employed later in 2020 to deal with the specified cases, what (a) were the total contingent liabilities at (i) 31 March 2021, (ii) 31 March 2022 and (iii) 31 March 2023 and (b) was the total cost of the lawyers hired to deal with contingent liabilities in the period 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2023?
(a)(i) 31 March 2021: As per the Departmental Annual Report 2021/22, the total contingent liabilities reported was: R2,358,451,000.00 of which R2,152,423,000.00 was for legal claims;
(a)(ii) 31 March 2022: As per the Departmental Annual Report 2022/23, the total contingent liabilities reported was: R2, 338,966,000.00 of which R2,107,068,000.00 was for legal claims;
(a)(iii) 31 March 2023: As per unaudited Annual Financial Statements ...
What are the details of the (a) timelines for the comprehensive roll-out of e-visas in the Republic and (b) interim measures that his department has implemented to alleviate the burden on travelers whilst the technological challenges associated with the roll-out are being resolved?
a) The Department has increased the rollout of the e-visa system to 34 countries. All countries that the Republic has diplomatic relations with, can now apply for a tourist visa on the e-visa system or are exempted from visa requirements for short-term visits.
b) All technological challenges associated with the rollout of the e-visa system have been resolved. The e-visa system has been successfully ...
(1)Whether, considering that children without birth certificates are at an increased risk of exclusion from government grants and therefore being more likely to suffer from multiple dimensions of poverty, and given the Republic’s high child stunting and poverty levels, his department will pro-actively prioritise the registration of the unregistered children (details furnished); if not, why not; if so,
(2) what are the statistics on late registrations of birth for the periods (a) after 31 days, (b) after 31 days but before 1 year, (c) after 1 year but before age 15 and (d) age 15 upwards for the (i) number of applications for late registration of birth received in each year and month at Home Affairs front offices, (ii) number of such applications that have been finalised in the specified period, disaggregated by the year and month they were received by the front offices and (iii) year and month they were finalised, to provide data on the average time it takes the Department to finalise a late registration of birth in the period 1 January 2018 to 31 December 2022;
(3) (a) what is the backlog that remains for the processing of applications that were submitted since 2018, disaggregated by the year and month they were submitted by applicants, (b) where are the bottlenecks and (c) what plans are in place to address the bottlenecks to enable the children to become registered?
1. The department has a birth registration campaign which requires parents to register new born babies within 30 days and it has set up birth registration offices in health facilities that have maternity wards. For those who have missed that period, we register them through the Late Registration of Birth (LRB) process. Provinces proactively run the Late Registration of Birth (LRB) initiatives in communities ...
What (a) were the total office hours lost due to (i) load shedding, (ii) office closures, (iii) water outages, (iv) system downtime and (v) no online verification scanners at health facilities in Quarter 4 of the 2022-23 financial year, (b) was the total percentage of uptime of the Home Affairs civic services system hosted by the State Information Technology Agency and (c) number of the 48 142 late registrations of birth as a result of this downtime have been finalised?
(a) The total office hours lost in Quarter 4 (Q4) due to:
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(i)
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Load shedding as collated by Provinces is 6 268.
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(ii)
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Closure of offices: 1319.
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(iii)
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Water outages: 278.
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(iv)
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System downtime: 13 416.
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(v)
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Health facilities: 202.
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(b) The total percentage uptime of the systems was 95%.
(c) The provincial screening committees are going to provide the details of the finalised LRB’s ...
(1) Whether, regarding the judgment of Khoza v Minister of Home Affairs & One Other in the Pretoria High Court, Case No. 6700/2022, (a) he has found his department to be in contempt of court for not making the regulations to the SA Citizenship Act, Act 88 of 1995, available on registration of potentially stateless children of undocumented migrants; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what are the relevant details;
(2) What (a) are the remaining steps and processes that must be undertaken to finalise the required regulations and (b) current process is in place to accept and adjudicate applications for citizenship made on affidavit on behalf of stateless children under section 2(2) of the specified Act?
1. The Minister is not in contempt of court. The High court ordered as follows:
1. Directing the First Respondent to register the Applicant’s birth in terms of the Births and Deaths Registration Act, 51 of 1992, as amended, within 30 (thirty) days of this order.
2. Declaring the Applicant to be a South African citizen by birth in terms of section 2(2) of ...
With reference to nomad visa applications (a) in the past three financial years and (b) from 1 April 2023 to date, (i) what total number of applications were (aa) received and/or (bb) issued in each month, (ii) from which countries were applications received in each month and (iii) what is the average time taken between an application received and a visa being issued in each month?
(a)(b)(i)(ii)(aa)(bb)(iii) The Immigration Act, No. 13 of 2002 does not make provision for a nomad visa. As a result, there were no nomad visas issued by the Department for the periods mentioned above.
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