Chairperson, I know the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs is not here, but I am greeting the committee as a whole. Members of the National Assembly, Ministers and Deputy Ministers present, Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, Fatima Chohan, the Chairperson of the Independent Electoral Commission, Adv Pansy Tlakula, the representative of the Chairperson of the Film and Publication Board, Thoko Mpulwana, the CEO of the Government Printing Works, Dr Tony Mbewu, hon guests, members of the stakeholder forums, I greet you all.
I arrived from Egypt yesterday, and amongst some of the things I did there was to participate in a seminar to celebrate the centenary of the African National Congress. This centenary was cohosted by the Foreign Ministry of Egypt and the African Society of Egypt. I think we must ask ourselves a question: Why is the world interested in celebrating this history? We think it is because of the lessons and values that are embodied in that struggle or centenary.
As the Department of Home Affairs, we asked ourselves: How can we be part of this celebration? We decided that the best way of being part of this celebration is to draw the same values and lessons and see how they relate to our day-to-day work. We agreed that, through the century, the struggle was conducted with humility, discipline, honesty, integrity, loyalty, unwavering patriotism and unity.
It was also both men and women of all races who participated in the struggle. We had discussions within the management about how we will embody these values in our department. We had a big meeting with about a thousand people from Home Affairs, where we discussed our strategic plan as well as what values must inform the work of Home Affairs, and we agreed on them. We, as Home Affairs, then decided to sign a pledge, that we will serve our people using those values, in our front offices, in the back offices and in everything that we do. The pledge is there at the back and people can see it afterwards. We think that it is not just a pledge by name or word but by deed as well because, indeed, our frontline offices are working very well at internalising those values. Of course, there is always room for improvement.
We have been talking about getting people to register their babies within 30 days of birth, and when people turn sixteen, they must ensure that they apply for their identity documents. We are happy to report that, judging from the figures of the past year, 51% of all babies born were registered within 30 days. [Applause.] We should be happy about this, although we should remember that 49% of the population has broken the law by not registering their babies within 30 days. We must work at educating people that failing to register a child's birth within 30 days is breaking the law; it is not just a nicety, it is the law.
The department is trying to meet people half way; we have more than 250 hospitals that are connected to Home Affairs so that, when people deliver their babies, they can register them. We also have many of our employees in a number of hospitals assisting with the collections of forms and so on. We have mobile offices, therefore there is no reason why people should not be registering their babies within 30 days, as required by law.
We also visit schools to ensure that when children turn 16 years of age they apply for identity documents, IDs. A few years ago - those who were part of Home Affairs will recall that - we were complaining that, every year, we produced more reissue IDs than new applications. We are happy to report that that trend has been reversed, because now we produce more new IDs than reissues. This means that people are beginning to look after their IDs and, therefore, we would like to thank the public for heeding that call.
We must also remember that one of the most hated and prominent apartheid features was the pass law. In fact, the book that came from the pass law - for us, who are a bit darker - was called a dompas. The theme of my talk today is: From a dompas to a smart card. [Applause.]
As part of restoring dignity to our people and ensuring that we are all united as one nation with one identity and one citizenship, as we promised last year in our strategic plan, we will be piloting the smart card, and we are doing that. After the proceedings, those who have not seen it can go and view the demonstration. The smart card that we are piloting has now been produced; you can even see how to read and verify it because it is smart. It is not just about what you see on it, but what you do not see. It has a microchip containing one's information and other security features.
When this smart card is rolled out, it will have to be rolled out with machines that can read it to ensure that what you see on it is the same as what is written on it. We know that those who will try to forge it might be able to forge what is displayed there, but they will be unable to forge what is embedded in it. That is very important and that is why it is called a smart card. [Applause.]
Outside is a demonstration showing how we read and verify a smart card. Later we will discuss at length how it is going to be rolled out but today, because you only gave me 20 minutes, I cannot go into that.
We should also remember some of the people who led the struggle against the dompas, starting from the Women's March in 1913 in the Free State ... [Interjections.] ... right to the one in Zeerust and all the other places. We want to honour all those women; although we will not mention all of them by name, we honour them. We want to honour everyone who participated, because it was not just the women who were in this struggle, it was everybody as the dompas was used to oppress, control, humiliate, and all sorts of things. Going to those offices to apply for the dompas was equally humiliating. That is why we are going from the dompas to the smart card and from a humiliating service to a smart and compassionate service. [Applause.]
With this smart card we are also changing our systems; some of you will know that we have a population register, a refugees system that is standing on its own and an immigration system also standing on its own. We want to have one system so that, in one go, you can identify and tell the status of a person. At the moment one cannot tell, in real time, who the person is.
When you look at our population register, it will tell you who the South Africans are. but you have to go to another system to check. People have learnt to beat the system. You can apply for refugee status today, and only a few months later, you bribe an official and you become a citizen. Because the systems are not together, you cannot tell, in real time, that this person is actually a refugee. That is why we are moving in that direction. This will help us clean our population register and ensure that when we issue the smart card, it is not issued to people who shouldn't get it.
We are also aware that we have to skill people, because when we produce the smart card, we will not use forms or a book, we will be using information technology, IT. Everything will be captured live and transmitted electronically for printing. Therefore we need to upgrade our offices so that they will be able to accept applications online from signatures, fingerprints, etc.
We need the Sector Education and Training Authority, Seta, to assist us in strengthening our broadband. Due to the increase in the load of information from our offices because of the density of photos and fingerprints transmitted online, our broadband should be strengthened. That is why we have this pilot period so that we can get all those things in place before we do the final roll-out.
I want to acknowledge that, as we said last year, we will concentrate a lot on immigration as well as on ensuring that our academy is working. We piloted a project with the Cubans, whereby we recruited 350 officials from the Defence Force. We trained them as immigration officers - South African trainers working with Cuban trainers. I am happy to say that all those officials are now at the O R Tambo International Airport, doing very well. The pilot project has worked and so we will see how we are going to roll it out.
We also said that we will start the programme of reskilling officials at Home Affairs. We have more than 250 of them, currently enrolled in the course. When they finish, they will receive a SA Qualifications Authority, SAQA approved, certificate. It is a Home Affairs qualification. This means that we will have a well-rounded official who can work in immigration, permitting, front line offices and so on. They will be able to work at any part of Home Affairs and will be conversant with any part. We are very happy that the process is on course. One half of the officials are in class and the other half is doing practical work, and they will be graduating at the end of this year.
We want to say that this year, in September, South Africa will be hosting a Conference of African Ministers who deal with civic registration. This will be the second conference of its nature; two years ago we held our inaugural conference in Ethiopia. We will be working side by side with Statistics SA; this has been approved by Cabinet. If, eventually, we have free movement of people in our continent, it is important that each country knows who its citizens are. There is no point in having a visa-free country, a visa-free agreement with a country that does not know its citizens; it is important that we all work together.
We will be showcasing what we do, but we will also be learning from what other countries do. The conference is aimed at encouraging and ensuring that every African country has a complete and secure population register.
I would like to thank the portfolio committee for their support and oversight; they keep us on our toes. We would also like to thank the officials of Home Affairs, from the director-general and the senior management right up to the front-line officers; they are the team that makes Home Affairs what it is.
Let me also thank the stakeholder forums - some of the members are seated up there in the gallery. They do day-to-day, on the spot, oversight all the time. They tell us what problems there are, and provide assistance in resolving them; therefore we are working very well with them. We would like to thank the rest of the Cabinet, the President and the Deputy President for their support. We also thank the members of the media, because, without them, we would not be unable to communicate our messages to the public.
I have not covered some topics like the issue of refugees and so on, but the Deputy Minister will be speaking about them. I am inviting all of you to the demonstration of how to read the smart card; you will find it very interesting. I thank you. [Applause.]