Report of the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs on Study Tours to Gauteng and Mpumalanga, dated 2 November 2004:

A. Introduction
A delegation from the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs, under the leadership of Mr Patrick Chauke (ANC), visited Gauteng from 6-8 October 2004, and included Mrs MM Maunye (ANC); Mr KW Morwamoche (ANC); Mr P Sibande (ANC); Mrs SV Kalyan (DA) and Mr J F Vermeulen (Committee Secretary).

Asecond delegation from the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs, under the leadership of Mr Patrick Chauke (ANC), visited Mpumalanga from 13-16 October 2004, and included Mr B L Mashile (ANC), Mr K W Morwamoche (ANC), Mr W M Skhosana (ANC), Mr P Sibande (ANC),
Mr M Swart (DA) and Mr J F Vermeulen (Committee Secretary). Mr A Goosen, Acting Director of Port Control, Home Affairs Head Office, accompanied the delegation throughout the visit.

The delegations visited Gauteng and Mpumalanga to exercise oversight over the Departments adherence to the strategic objectives as set out in the Departments Strategic Plan 2004/5–2006/7 and to assess the progress that the Department has made with implementing set strategic objectives by set implementation dates (where applicable) as follows:

1. To assess the implementation of the Immigration Act.
Is inspectorate functioning effectively?
Is investigations unit functioning effectively?
Did provinces receive proper training on new Act and regulations?

2. To oversee the core capacity of the Refugee Affairs Directorate to comply with legislation to provide for the reception into RSA of asylum seekers
What is the progress with the rollout of new ID cards, passports and child certificates for refugees and is amalgamation with Civic Services finalised?

3. Are ports of entry staffed at adequate levels?
Are the interdepartmental liaison committees functioning at set levels?
Are ports of entry effectively equipped?
Are the standard operating procedures on Ports of Entry being adhered to?
What is the progress to link border posts to main frame and at what level is the movement control system operating and are the targets to implement new software being reached?

4. Are Home Affairs offices adhering to the ‘‘client is always’’ right campaign?
Has the training manual to deal with clients been developed by the target date of August 2004?
Was training intervention conducted or is it being planned?
Has the reward and recognition system been implemented by the target date of July 2004?
Has an action plan been developed to combat ‘‘street agents’’ by the target date of July 2004?
Has the transformation policy and review been implemented?
What progress has been made to capacitate the new structure?
What is being done to uplift staff morale as set out in the strategic plan?
Have offices been refurbished and uplifted or is it in the process of being done?
Has the medium term repair and maintenance programme of offices been introduced?
Has the possible relocation of offices been finalised?
Has an effective transport fleet been introduced and managed in the province by the set date of July 2004?
What has the success of the illegal marriage campaign been in the province?
How high are incidents of corruption and what are the counter measures in the province?
Has the related awareness campaign been introduced in the province?
Has office security been improved?

B. Itinerary: Gauteng
Wednesday 6 October
• Briefing on the arrest and detention of illegal foreigners and the conditions at Lindela repatriation center by:
1. Consul General of Mozambique: Mr LI da Silveira
2. Consul General of Zimbabwe: Mr G Dzvairo
3. Johannesburg Police Commissioner: Mr OD Reddy
4. Chairperson of the Human Rights Commission: Mr J Kollapan and Mr P Mabiletsa;
• Unannounced visit to Lindela repatriation centre.

Thursday 7 October
Unannounced visits to:
• Refugee reception centre in Rosettenville
• Regional Home Affairs office: Market Street, Johannesburg
• District Home Affairs office: Harrison street, Johannesburg

Friday 8 October
Unannounced visits to:
• Soweto Home Affairs office
• Alberton Home Affairs office

In a nutshell it can be said that in Gauteng the Committee exercised oversight over the service delivery of the Department in the areas of:
• Civic services;
• Immigration; and
• Refugee affairs

C. Itinerary: Mpumalanga
Mpumalanga has a population of 3 122 990 according to the 2001 census and this represents 7% of the population of South Africa. The province is divided into the 2 sub-regions of Nelspruit and Witbank.

In total the Department of Home Affairs has 2 regional offices in the province, (the one at Nelspruit and the other atWitbank) 14 district offices and 11 ports of entry.

In order to get a complete picture of the operation of Home Affairs in the province the delegation visited offices and ports of entry in both sub regions as follows:

1. Witbank sub region
Wednesday 13 October
• District office: Kwa-Mhlanga
• Service point: Mkobola
• Service point: Mbibane
Thursday 14 October
• Regional office: Witbank
• District office: Evander
• District office: Bethal
• District office: Ermelo
2. Nelspruit sub region
Thursday 14 October
• Port control office: Oshoek
Friday 15 October
• District office: Eerstehoek
• District office: Barberton
• Port control office: Josefsdal
• Regional office: Nelspruit
• Office of the Provincial Manager: Nelspruit
Saturday 16 October
• Back-up facility at Lebombo port control office
• Port control office: Lebombo
• Mbuzini (informal crossing to Mozambique and Swaziland)
• Port control office: Jeppes Reef

The delegation visited regional and district offices in Mpumalanga as well as border posts during the oversight visit where departmental officials were interviewed in order to gain insight into the Department’s performance and progress in implementing the turnaround strategy in the province. In a nutshell, it can be said that the delegation exercised oversight over:

• Civic service delivery
• Immigration
• Border control in Mpumalanga.

C. Findings of the Committee:
Mpumalanga
1. Civic Services
1.1 Most service points remain without computers. This makes the
provision of services protracted and cumbersome as data is
captured manually at service points and then taken to district
offices to be captured on computer. At times the original
documents of clients are lost as it is taken to district offices to be
copied, as there are no copiers at service points. It can thus take
as long as 1 month and longer to issue a birth certificate at
uncomputerised service points. For example at Kwa-Mhlanga
there is 1 photocopy machine for 6 service points.

1.2 In general the relationship between the department and civil
society is good as schools; tribal authorities and local communities
are involved in the planning of the department’s schedule
for mobile units and distribution of documents.

1.3 The lack of staff has the effect that certain areas are neglected
when it comes to the provision of services as established offices
do not have the capacity to release staff to take mobile units to
unserviced areas.

1.4 The upgrading of offices including proper security at offices.

2. Immigration control and ports of entry
2.1 Immigration officers are needed throughout the province. The
new Immigration Act emphasizes law enforcement, but with the
current staff establishment the department cannot comply with
its law enforcement responsibilities. There are only 39 immigration
officers in the entire province.

2.2 The borderlines in SA and especially in Mpumalanga are very
porous and with the withdrawal of the defense force from border
control the transition might be difficult. At present the soldiers
stationed along the borderline of SA/Mozambique find themselves
without transport. They thus have to do patrols and
respond to breeches of the borderline by foot and as a result
border control becomes very ineffective, as smuggling syndicates
are well equipped.

2.3 The interpretation of the new Immigration Act remains problematic
and in some cases even Magistrates have limited understanding
of the new Act. The delegation was informed of cases
where a Magistrate set illegal immigrants free without first
consulting with or asking for evidence from the Immigration
officers who arrested the illegal foreigners.

2.4 There is an omission in the new Act as it concentrates on illegal
foreigners, but does not provide for the arrest of South Africans
who cross illegally into neighboring countries and then cross
back into South Africa.

2.5 The upgrading of ports of entry is moving at a very slow pace.
The needs of SARS has been addressed at many border posts, but
not that of Home Affairs.

2.6 Computers and passport scanners are needed at border posts
especially the commercial border posts like Lebombo that are
very busy. The current scanners that have been provided by
SARS under the Repair and Maintenance programme are not
compatible with other office software and are of poor quality.
According to the Immigration officers that work at the border
post the scanners that they currently use are not effective and the
same system that is now being used at Johannesburg International
Airport will be much more effective. Contracts in place
with suppliers is problematic.

2.7 The Border Control Improvement Programme has been a
frustration to HomeAffairs—R10 million was allegedly spent on
a system that never materialized. The delegation was told that the
Border Control Improvement Programme is being run by SARS,
but that the co-operation between SARS, Home Affairs and the
Police Service was poor in this regard.

2.8. The traffic control system at Lebombo border post was never
introduced as was planned under the Border Control Improvement
Programme. Now there is no traffic control or any real
security at Lebombo.

2. Human Resources
2.1 The process to fill vacant posts in provinces is very cumbersome
and it takes months to get the necessary approval from head
office and provinces thus sit and wait for months to fill vacant
funded posts

Gauteng
1. Civic Services
1.1 Lack of resources, security and overall management remains a
problem.
1.2 ‘‘Runners’’ still operate seemingly unchallenged at HomeAffairs
offices in Johannesburg.
1.3 The Soweto office is far too small and understaffed to provide an
effective service to the community.
1.4 Home Affairs staff are not all wearing their name tags even
though government decided that this should be done as part of
improving service delivery.

2. Immigration
2.1 The Lindela repatriation center is being well run by Bosasa.
Conditions are hygienic and the detainees are well treated.
2.2 The problems at Lindela mostly relate to the fact that Home
Affairs has no efficient identification system available to ensure
that South Africans are not detained at Lindela. At the time of the
delegations visit the Department was busy setting up such an
electronic identification system.

3. Refugee offices
3.1 The refugee reception center in Rosettenville is in need of
equipment and staff to deal with the growing backlog of
applications.
3.2 There is a definite need to open more refugee reception centers in
South Africa especially closer to our Northern borders.

D. RECOMMENDATIONS
The Committee requests the Department to provide Parliament with a
detailed report that answers the following questions as this will enable
Parliament to measure the Department’s performance against the set and
agreed to objectives and timeframes.

1. Transformation of Immigration
1.1 The Department has set itself the objective to define the
structural, personnel and logistical requirements of a transformed
immigration branch by the target date of July/August
2004. Has the target date been complied with?
1.2 The target date for the review of business processes in the
Immigration branch to enhance efficiency and to eliminate red
tape is December 2004. Will the target date be met?
1.3 The target date for amendments to the Immigration Act was set
for August by the Department and has been met. The department
should however investigate the need for further amendments
especially the loophole that exists for SA citizens to cross into
other countries and then come back without the proper documentation.
1.4 The target date for the determination of the basic capacity of the
inspectorate is October 2004. Has this been complied with and if
so make the information available to Parliament.
1.5 The target date for the effective functioning of the inspectorate is
April 2005. Will the inspectorate function effectively by the
target date?
1.6 Have the law enforcement plans been developed by the target
date of October 2004?
1.7 Will the investigations unit function effectively in all provinces
by the target date of April 2005?

2. Refugees
2.1 Has the core capacity of the Refugees Affairs Directorate been
established by the target date of 1 October 2004, and if so could
the information be made available to Parliament?
2.2 The target date to eradicate the backlog of asylum applications is
April 2005. Is the finalisation of this task still on track?
2.3 Has the research been completed on the possible establishment
of temporary accommodation for asylum seekers pending the
finalisation of their claims, by the target date of October 2004?
2.4 Has the manual on procedures and policies on SA;s asylum
regime been developed by the target date of October 2004?
2.5 Have the standardised procedures been developed and put in
place on asylum by the target date of October 2004?
2.6 Will the target date of February 2005 be met for the rollout of
new ID cards, passports and child certificates for refugees and
will the amalgamation with civic services be finalised at the
target date?
2.7 Have the amendments to the Refugee Act and regulations been
effected by the target date of October 2004?

3. Border control
3.1 The target date for the establishment of interdepartmental liaison
committees in terms of section 6 of the Immigration Act was
August 2004. Have the committees been established and how
effective are they? The Department should play a leading role to
ensure cop-operation especially at commercial border posts
where security and traffic flow arrangements could vastly be
improved simply by better interdepartmental co-operation.
3.2 The target date for the adequate staffing of all ports of entry has
been set for April 2007. Is the target date still the same and will
the target date be reached?
3.3 The target date to effectively equip all ports of entry is April
2007. Will the target date be reached?
3.4 Will all port control officers be effectively trained by the target
date of April 2007?
3.5 What progress has been made with the development of the
standard operating procedures at ports of entry as the target date
is April 2005?
3.6 Has the recording of entry and exit of citizens been reviewed by
the target date of October 2004 and what are the findings of this
review?
3.7 What progress has been made to institutionalise co-operation in
the JCPS cluster as the target date was October 2004.
3.8 What progress is being made to establish bilateral agreements
with SADC countries on visa regime and entry requirements, as
the target date is January 2005?
3.9 The Department should take the lead in getting the various role
players together to develop policy that will result in the
resolution of the problems around the Mbuzini area, especially
the issue of the Mahlalela tribe that is split by the border.

4. Civic services
4.1 How successful was the ‘‘know your status’’ marriage campaign
that was and is still being run by the department?
4.2 What is the progress with the review of all business processes
relating to civic services and what is the progress in developing
an action plan for improving systems and processes to provide
efficient services and to curb fraudulent marriages, fraudulent
acquisition of citizenship and the false entitlement of government
benefits? The issue of fraudulent marriages was addressed
in the amendments to the Immigration Act but what other
legislation is being revisited in order to clean up the relevant
legislation by the target date of December 2004?
4.3 Has the target date of September 2004 been met to investigate
the introduction of a unique ID number to eliminate the
allocation of duplicate ID numbers, and will the new ID numbers
be implemented by the target date of 1 November 2004?
4.4 The target date for the introduction of a bar-coded system to
handle the tracking and tracing of applications is April 2005.
Will the target date be met?
4.5 Has countrywide standard operational procedures been implemented
by the target date of August 2004?
4.6 Have the death registration procedures been revisited and what
was the outcome of this process as the target date was August
2004?

5. Service delivery
5.1 Has the training manual to deal with clients been developed by
the target date of August 2004?
5.2 Is the training intervention on track in this regard?
5.3 Has the reward and recognition system been implemented by the
target date of July 2004?
5.4 What was the outcome of the investigation into uniforms for
Department of Home Affairs personnel?
5.5 Has the action plan to deal with street agents been developed and
implemented by the target date of July 2004?
5.6 What is the progress with the establishment of the 24-hour client
service centre?
5.7 Has a service delivery branch been established in the department?
5.8 Will the report on service delivery improvement be tabled by the
target date of December 2004?

6. Leadership and Management
6.1 Has an additional Chief Directorate been established in legal
services by the target date of October 2004?
6.2 Has the new organisational structure at senior management level
been implemented by the target date of 1 August 2004?
6.3 What progress is being made with the introduction of a
performance management system, as the target date is March
2005?
6.4 Has the monthly reporting mechanism been institutionalised and
how effective is it?
6.5 Will the internal communication strategy be implemented by
November 2004?
6.6 Has the Departmental website been updated by the target date of
July 2004?
6.7 Has the transformation policy been reviewed and has the core
capacity of a new structure been established by the target date of
September 2004?

7. Human resources
7.1 What is the progress to fill the new establishment?
7.2 Has a retention and recruitment strategy been developed by the
target date of August 2004?
7.3 Has a comprehensive succession planning and career management
system been implemented by the target date of July 2004?
7.4 Is the development of comprehensive staff training plans on
track to be completed by the target date of April 2005?

8. Infrastructure
8.1 Has the audit on the state of all offices been conducted by the
target date of October 2004? If so, please make copies of the
audit available to Parliament. Does the audit include detailed
plans to ensure physical security at all offices?
8.2 What is the progress of the emergency plan to relocate and
refurbish worst offices as the target date is April 2005?
8.3 Which offices were given a facelift in 2004?
8.4 What is the progress of the medium term repair and maintenance
programme of offices and border posts?
8.5 The target date to develop a plan to adequately equip all offices
is January 2005. Will the plan be finalised by the target date?
8.6 Have the investigations into a viable fleet management option
been finalised by the target date of July 2004?

9. Information systems
9.1 Please provide Parliament with a comprehensive update on the
progress of Hanis reloaded, the EDMS and workflow systems
and the integrated client service console. What is the progress
with the back record conversion of all civic service documentation?
9.2 Has an IT security policy been developed by the target date of
September 2004?
9.3 What progress is being made to update the MCS and to ensure
that uniform and compatible software and equipment is used at
border posts throughout the country?
9.4 By which date will all border posts be computerised and linked
to the Home Affairs mainframe in Pretoria?
9.5 By which date will all refugee reception offices be linked to the
mainframe in Pretoria?
9.6 By which date will the electronic fingerprint verification of SA
citizenship be fully operational? By when will this system be
fully operational at Lindela to ensure that no South African
citizens are detained here?

10. Counter corruption
10.1 Has a counter corruption plan been developed by the target date
of July 2004? Please provide Parliament with copies of the plan.
10.2 Will corruption reporting policies and mechanisms be introduced
by the target date of November 2004?
10.3 Has a master security plan been developed?
10.4 Will the overall security policy, including IT security policy, be
developed and approved by December 2004?

Report to be considered.