Hon Chairperson, hon Minister, hon Deputy Minister, hon members, this hon Minister inherited the department and this warrants our condolences. This was done, we hope, because President Zuma believes that you will be able to turn this department around. It is a tough instruction. This department has embarrassed all South Africans on an international level. We are sure that even you, hon Minister, shook your head in shame and disgrace. Yes, the department failed the citizens of South Africa, mostly the poor in the rural areas.
It was amazing to listen to all the various budget debates yesterday in this House during which the hon Ministers, Deputy Ministers and members referred to further requirements - developmental programmes, policies, the speeding up of delivery, more resources such as land and financial resources, new legislation, the changing of our Constitution - but, you know, when you look at them, there are two basic requirements. One was for more resources, and the other was for more legislation. But 99% of all our problems could be resolved if there was political will with the following four points: firstly, human resource capacity in a lean, mean government structure; secondly, the elimination of all corruption; thirdly, accountability and responsibility for all actions promised during elections and Budget Votes within the set targets; and, fourthly, the implementation and enforcement of action plans, strategic plans, policies, regulations and all the Acts that are currently in place in South Africa. So, what I'm saying is, let's just stop faffing around and let's just start working because that is what we are here to do.
The DA welcomes the Minister's approach on the differentiation between economic migrants and asylumseekers. We do, however, wish to remind our Minister that her intended policy must also create an opportunity for foreigners, specifically those qualified in scarce skills, to work in South Africa. I have personally had tremendous problems when trying to register foreign young professional nurses, nursing at present being a scarce skill in South Africa.
We applaud the Minister's efforts and her programmes to bring the services of this department closer to the people. But there still seems to be a problem as one has to wait for three hours in a queue for the second issuing of an ID at the Wynberg office. But, the Minister has turned around or the department has turned around - you'd think she has a magic wand - the first-time issuing of IDs by 50% from 127 days and the second-time issuing by just over 60%. This is really commendable.
Our DA colleagues in the National Assembly pointed out that there is a 34% vacancy rate in the department and that 75% of its senior members do not have the necessary skills to do their jobs. If one puts these two figures together, then there is no senior management in this service delivery business because there are no skills and there are no people, or one or the other. So, we are in a bit of a fix here.
There should be a performance and development management system in place for each official. What we have to understand clearly - even us as we sit here - is that our salaries are calculated at the value that we have to add to the company we work for. The bigger the salary, the more value you have to add. Every single official and every single one of us sitting here must understand that we have to add value. So, with the performance management programme in place, those senior managers who cannot deliver within the first six months must be deployed on ground level so that they can work where the Minister needs them the most.
We need to do spot checks on departments and offices that aren't working. The DA is offering to assist the Minister in identifying the worst Home Affairs offices in South Africa for her immediate attention.
As public representatives, we have a supervisory role. The Minister has a role that calls for brutal action to eliminate crime, corruption, backlogs and unskilled passengers in her department. The President has spoken and the Minister has now spoken. The DA will hold them and this department responsible for effective and efficient service delivery in terms of their targets. I thank you. [Applause.]