Hon Chairperson, hon Minister, hon Deputy Minister, hon chairperson of the committee in absentia, hon Members of Parliament, the director-general and guests in the gallery, at the risk of being dismissed by journalists in our midst who are in denial and are refusing to let bygones be bygones, I nonetheless shall, with haste, be true to the fact in spite of their stubborn revulsion for revisionism.
Under the apartheid regime with its Bantustan offspring, the main objective of the Department of Home Affairs was to control black people and deny them their citizenship, identity and freedom of movement, among other injustices. Thanks go to the ANC and its philosophy of struggle, because it sought to amend the ignoble system that saw African women triple-oppressed. Indeed, the legacy of apartheid lives on like a ghostly spirit haunting its neighbourhood, because St Peter refused it entry in heaven because of its prejudiced conduct.
It was during those trying times that we had to choose between bullets and ballots. Thanks to the tripartite alliance, and in particular to the ANC and the SACP, for choosing the settlement of the ballot over the bullet for the sake of all of us in the country - black and white. This settlement brought about what we now call the Independent Electoral Commission, IEC.
Whilst we acknowledge the challenges experienced by this institution, we however applaud it for its improved services, transparency and openness in dealing with issues within its organised formation. We expect the institution to further focus on rural areas. Voter education should be an ongoing programme and should further the development of an information technology system which will link the institution to all other services needed and identified for improved outcomes.
Modulasetulo, ha naha e fumana tokoloho, ke tshwanelo hore setjhaba se keteke. Jwale he, mekgwa ya ho keteka e fapane. E mong o nwa sekipa se ntekane, e mong o ya mabaleng a dipapadi, e mong a tantshe ha e mong a boha ditshwantsho tsa baesekopo, dipapadi, inthanete kapa thelebishene. Ka hona, re ile ra lemoha hore boithabiso bo bong ha bo sa elwe hloko bo ka senya batho dikelello le maikutlo. Hara tse ding ke qolla ditshwantsho tsa banana le bahlankana ba tsotseng. Tjhe, ha se rona ba ka qobellang batho ho sheba dintho tseo tse tshosang.
Re ile ra hlahloba Molaotheo wa naha mme ra lemoha hore mokgwa o neng o sebediswa kgale wa hore ditshwantsho tse tshosang, tse tsipanyang mmele le ho phallisa madi ka lebelo le hodimo di se dumellwe hohang, o ke ke wa sebetsa nakong ya jwale. Seo re ka se etsang e ka ba ho fa setjhaba boikgethelo ba ho boha kapa ho se bohe dintho tseo ka ho hlophisa ditshwantsho tse jwalo le ho di fa manane, e leng se bitswang classification ka sejatlhapi. (Translation of Sesotho paragraphs follows.)
[Chairperson, the country has got freedom; it is therefore right for the nation to celebrate. There are various ways of celebrating, though. One person might drink, another one might go to the sports ground, another one might dance while the other one goes to watch a movie, sports, Internet or television. We have therefore realised that other forms of entertainment may damage people's minds and emotions if not monitored. Among them I can mention pornographic images of men and women. We cannot force people not to watch these shocking images.
We have reviewed the Constitution of the country and realised that the law that was made previously, which completely banned the showing of these shocking, horrifying and daunting images, may not be applicable today. What we can do is to give the nation the choice to watch or not to watch those images by classifying the images accordingly. This is known as classification.]
We affirm the important role played by the Film and Publication Board. However, we have, through the committee, requested the board to reinforce the ports of entry and relations with the SA Revenue Service, Sars, to ensure control of incoming films, games, etc. Furthermore, we expect the distribution inspection to be more visible and to educate our communities on the role played by the Film and Publication Board, FPB, and also on their responsibilities as communities. A working relationship between the Department of Education, Department of Communications and the FPB will bear sweet fruits for the nation. [Interjections.]
... bana ba rona ba ya ka diselefounu dikolong. [... our children carry cellphones to school.]
The review of the Act and the guidelines will further better the services rendered, hence the need for both human and financial resources to this board.
Modulasetulo, re le mokgatlo wa African National Congress re ile ra lemoha hore re na le mosebetsi o mongata mme ho keteka ho ke ke ha lokisa dintho tsohle. Mokete ona o ile wa tshwanela ho fela mme ra kena temeng. Ntho e ileng ya re tshwenya ke taba ya ho hopola sehloho se ileng sa namolwa ke bomme ka 1956 sa dipasa, e leng bukana e neng e sebediswa ho laola metsamao ya rona esita le bodulo ba rona bontshonyana. (Translation of Sesotho paragraph follows.)
[Chairperson, we as the African National Congress realised that we still had a lot of work to do and that celebrating wouldn't fix everything. The celebration had to end and we got straight to work. What made us sad, was remembering the cruelty of the pass laws that women protested against in 1956, which was about a document that was used to control our movements and settlement as Blacks.]
We prioritised the issue of securing the identity of South Africans by ensuring that we also become part of the departments that do the printing through the Government Printing Works, GPW. Whilst we support the resources given to the GPW, the ANC would like to emphasise the need for focused training of personnel within this organisation on information technology; secure printing through partnership with the sector education and training authority, Seta; and the education of our communities on their responsibilities, such as the usage and safekeeping of the travel and identity documents in their possession, through the Department of Home Affairs - basically to secure the security features of these documents from the ills of this world.
The ANC will continue to embark on an identity campaign as an ongoing programme and would like to commend the department on the improved systems and the roll out of the new information technology infrastructure as a means of accelerated service delivery and information dissemination. We are referring to the short message service, SMS, life capture system and automated fingerprint identification system. I think this will answer your concern, hon Makhuba. We believe that with more human resources and skilled printing personnel the institute and the department will attain its objective of rendering effective and efficient services to our people.
We encourage the department to continue working closely with the SAPS and the Department of Defence and Military Veterans on the issues of border patrol and ports of entry to help reduce the number of people who enter the country illegally, as this forms part of the backlog we have in the increased number of people in our country without documents. We further request Members of Parliament, through their constituency outreach programmes, to educate communities on the importance of reporting such individuals within their areas, both to the police and Home Affairs offices.
A strategic partnership with the Houses of Traditional Leaders, hon Mnqasela, should be forged throughout the country as it is done in Mpumalanga. Satellite offices should be made available in these areas for the attainment of the birth registration within 30 days of delivery.
The registration of births, deaths and marriages is an initiative that has shown us that the department is indeed bringing services to the doorstep of South Africans. The above partnership should further be used to educate the rural communities on the importance of registering births, deaths and marriages, whether traditional or western, and on the marriages of South Africans to foreign nationals and the negatives and positives of that. We share your concern, Minister, that the integrity and the security of our national population register continues to be impaired by those who seek to benefit illegally from the rights of citizenship. We agree that late registrations of births open the country up to identity fraud and, therefore, welcome the modern National Identity System, NIS, which will include citizens and foreign nationals. This system should also be linked to the schools, hospitals, municipalities and all recruitment agencies so as to ensure holistic capturing of the movement of foreign nationals and citizens.
The department is also mandated to regulate and facilitate the movement of persons through legally recognised ports of entry. We support the fact that you have prioritised strengthening current processes and ensuring that immigration officers are patriotic, disciplined and humane. To this end, you have developed a pilot training programme with assistance from experts from the Republic of Cuba. I think the Cubans are in the gallery; we applaud you for assisting us, as South Africa. [Applause.]
We believe that the newly-established learning academy is best planned to roll out this programme. You have our full support in building a strong patriot public service cadre in the department and transforming the department into an employer of choice.
We share the view that immigration that is badly or corruptly managed puts citizens at risk and allows criminality to take root. However, properly managed immigration is a benefit to the country and all its citizens. We therefore urge the department to strengthen its management of immigration. It goes without saying that the Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Economic Development and Department of Labour need to play a pivotal role in this regard. The abovementioned proves that, indeed, the Department of Home Affairs is the backbone of security in this country.
The ANC recognises the rights of all workers in South Africa. We further support the notion that says workers' rights must not be undermined, but we also will not allow that to be used as an excuse for nonperformance.
The development of disciplined and professional officials by the department is highly supported. We further acknowledge the fact that the systems have improved to basically combat crime and corruption. We, however, want to see an improved working environment for the work force in terms of office space, office equipment, corporate clothing and furniture. The situation in the Thaba Nchu Home Affairs office should be improved to match up to that of Botshabelo in the Free State.
Infrastructure roll-outs in rural areas like Taung and Hluhluwe, Stanger, Lusikisiki and Phuthadithaba should be encouraged in all aspects. However, we have made a request for the improvement of the Ganyesa offices in the North West, Soweto in Gauteng, Vleifontein in Venda and Limpopo Province, and the provision of services through partnership with traditional leaders, as indicated previously to accommodate areas like Ophathe in KwaZulu-Natal, Morokwaneng in the North West, Northern Cape rural areas and many more.
In conclusion, we note and pledge to support the progress that the department has made in contributing to ensure that all people in South Africa are and feel safe, and engendering a skilled and capable work force to support an inclusive growth path and building an efficient, effective and development-orientated public service and an empowered, fair and inclusive citizenship.
Hon Chairperson, if you look at the annual report of 2011, page 32, it talks more about the issue of the duplication of identity documents. It even indicates that we need more than a year to blot out what is happening there. I thought of hon members who were in the committee when this particular report was presented. [Interjections.]
The Minister came to give us a report pertaining to vacancies; even our strategic plan and the third quarter reports were tabled for us so we could know what is happening and what is the plan, hon Mnqasela. I think you are aware of that particular plan. It need not be that when you come to this House, you say you are not aware. The ANC supports the Budget Vote. Thank you. [Applause.]