Report of the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs on the Strategic Plan and Budget Vote 4 of the Department of Home Affairs and Entities, dated 29 March 2011.

 

The Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs having met with the Department of Home Affairs (DHA), Electoral Commission (EC), Film and Publication Board (FPB) and Government Printing Works (GPW) reports as follows:

 

1)         Introduction

 

The Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs plays an oversight role on the Department of Home Affairs and its Entities. The Department, Film and Publication Board and the Government Printing Works had tabled their Strategic Plans for 2011/2012 financial year on 9 March 2011. The Electoral Commission had not tabled its Strategic Plan but the Committee received a briefing on its Strategic Plan and its budget. The Committee scrutinised the Strategic Plans and Budgets of the Electoral Commission and the Film and Publication Board on 8 March 2011 and that of the Department of Home Affairs and the Government Printing Works on 15 March 2011.

 

The Electoral Commission, the Film and Publication Board and the Government Printing Works are the three Entities that received transfers from the Department of Home Affairs.

 

2)         Department of Home Affairs (DHA)

 

The vision of the Department of Home Affairs is to provide a safe, secure South Africa where all of its people are proud of, and value, their identity and citizenship and its mission is the efficient determination and safeguarding of the identity and status of citizens and the regulation of Immigration to ensure security, development and fulfil our international obligations.

 

The role of the Department of Home Affairs is to ensure that all citizens and residents have enabling documents in order to have equal access to rights and services. The Department also has the responsibility to ensure that South Africa acquired strategic scarce skills. The fight against crime and corruption was also a key element. The Department also intended to give support for South African Development Community (SADC) development and cooperation, including the facilitation of the movement of people and trade.

 

The Department of Home Affairs has aligned its planning and the development of its objectives in line with the new outcome-based approach of government. The Minister of Home Affairs had signed a performance agreement with the President for the period 2009-2012. The Minister has also signed delivery agreements with ministers from other departments.

 

The Department of Home Affairs has reduced the programmes from four to three. The programmes are as follows:

 

Programme 1: Administration

 

The purpose of this programme is to provide leadership, management and support services to the Department of Home Affairs.

 

 

Programme 2: Citizen Affairs

 

The purpose of this programme is to provide secure, efficient and accessible services and documents for citizens and lawful residents. Programme 4, which was known previously as transfers and subsidies now falls under programme 2.

 

Programme 3: Immigration

 

The purpose of this programme is to facilitate and regulate the secure movement of people into and out of the Republic of South Africa through Ports of Entry, determine the status of asylum seekers and regulate refugee affairs.

 

2.1)       Strategic Overview

 

The Department’s strategic priorities had been refined to be in line with the 12 National priorities of the Government. The Department had developed its own outcomes and outputs that are in line with the performance agreement of the Minister of Home Affairs signed with the President. The Department would contribute to the following three out of the 12 national outcomes:

 

Outcome 3: all people in South Africa are and feel safe;

Outcome 5: a skilled and capable workforce to support an inclusive growth path; and

Outcome 12: an efficient, effective and development orientated and an empowered, fair and inclusive citizenship.

 

In order to achieve the above national outcomes, the Department of Home Affairs developed its own outcomes which are listed below:

 

Outcome 1:      Secured South African citizenship and identity

 

  • Children should be registered within 30 days of birth. The Portfolio Committee processed the Births and Deaths Registration Amendment Bill which was assented to and signed into law by the President. The Department was planning to have 126 additional health facilities connected for the purpose of online births registration,
  • 95% of Late Registration of Births (LRB) applications for the age 31 days and above to be finalized within set timeframes,
  • 49% of high schools would be visited to collect Identity Document applications from learners of 16 years and above and 100% of South African learners who would be writing matric exams in 2011 would be issued with Identity Documents as required by examination regulations. During the months of April 2011, the DHA would have an idea of how many matriculants would require Identity Documents,
  • Live capture of photographs in the application of passports process would be rolled out to 167 offices (currently there are only 40 offices who have the live capture functionality). Live capture would reduce the number of days to issue out a passport to 13 days. Live capture would also be extended to the re-issue of Identity Documents and first-time applicants in the 167 offices,
  • The DHA would ensure that 100% of reported duplicate cases were resolved. This was a major problem because the Information Technology systems were not integrated,
  • The proposal for the implementation of the Identity Document Smart Card pilot project had been submitted to Cabinet for approval. Currently it is only crew members who have smart ID Cards,
  • The 3rd Party verification of identity data would be put in place for The Employment Bureau of Africa (TEBA), South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) and the Department of Human Settlements to prevent identity related fraud and corruption. The 3rd Party verification would be extended to SAPS, Departments of Correctional Services and Justice in 2012/2013.

 

Outcome 2:      Immigration managed effectively and securely in the national interest including economic, social and cultural development

 

  • South Africa has 72 Ports of Entry and some are so small that there is only one police person stationed there. The Department would ensure that 67% of the 72 Ports of Entry were equipped with the Movement Control System (MCS) whereas in 2010 only 33% were equipped with the MCS,
  • The National Immigration Information System would be integrated with HANIS,
  • Parliament was currently processing the Refugees Amendment Bill and the Department would amend Refugee Regulations in order to streamline the system for adjudication and processing of asylum seekers and refugee management. A clear document would be developed with clear options for the processing of asylum seekers and refugees. Adjudication committees would be established in all the seven Refugee Reception Offices and the Refugee Appeals Authority would be decentralised,
  • A position paper would be developed on policy options for managing the migration of skilled and unskilled migrants,
  • The Minister of Home Affairs in the agreement signed with the President aimed to issue 50 000 scarce skills permits per annum at the end of the five year period and for 2011/2012, the Department intended to issue18 000 scarce skills permits.

 

Outcome 3:      A service that is efficient, accessible and corruption free

 

 

  • 150 officials are to be enrolled in management development programmes to enhance operational and service excellence,
  • Birth, Marriage and Deaths and permitting processes security would be evaluated and reports submitted to State Security Agency for approval,
  • A Central database is to be developed to provide integrated reports on all counter corruption cases in the Department of Home Affairs,
  • The DHA is part of the Justice, crime Prevention and Security (JCPS) government cluster and a baseline study would be conducted here to inform the DHA Counter Corruption project,
  • The DHA would implement the Counter Corruption Strategy by establishing the Security Advisory Committee on vetting to ensure that all posts within the Department were vetted,
  • 70% of the cases of misconduct are to be finalized within 60 days. The Director-General stated that it was not possible to finalize the cases within the previously stipulated time-frames,
  • The DHA would also develop and implement a new Finance and Supply Chain Management system which would comply with the Public Financial Management Act (PFMA). This would result in the Department receiving an Unqualified Audit Report,
  • The Department would decentralize the procurement and payment  of goods and services to provincial offices and service providers to be paid within 30 days,
  • National Treasury had advised the DHA to establish a Trading Account for passports. This will ensure that Government Printing Works was paid on time,
  • The DHA would develop strategies and policies to enhance the fight against cyber crime by implementing measures such as raising awareness and education,
  • Six offices would be refurbished which is a rollover from the previous years and electronic queue management systems would be implemented in five offices,
  • 75% of refugee status determination would be finalized within six months and 70% of permanent residence permits issued within 8 months and temporary residence permits issued within 8 weeks,
  • The DHA has 10,493 employees including staff who are on contract. Priority posts for 2010/2011 were 417 of which 254 posts were filled, which represented 60% of posts that were filled. Of the 254 posts, 55% of the posts were filled by Africans followed by whites and coloureds and Indians. There are 1076 priority posts for 2011/2012 and 787 would be filled by Civic Services, 258 by Immigration Services, 16 by Information Technology, 12 Counter Corruption and 3 by Finance.
  • Of the 10, 493 staff at the Department, 53% were males and 47% were females but these were less proportional at management level.

 

2.2)       Who Am I Online Project

 

The Who Am I Online project is an integrated IT system that will enable the Department of Home Affairs to process transactions for issuing identity documents, birth, death and marriage certificate, passports, visa permits, section 22 asylum permits, refugee identity documents, citizenship certificates and permanent and temporary residence permits. The system aims to replace current outdated and un-integrated systems.

 

The Director-General also briefed the Committee on the Who Am I Online Project. He said that the DHA had reached a settlement with Gijima and other suppliers. The original bid by Gijima was R2.1 billion and the contract was signed with Gijima in 2008. There were concerns around the escalation of the projected costs to R4.5 billion and a lack of progress which led the Department to investigate and seek to cancel the project with Gijima in early 2010. The Department entered into negotiations with Gijima to resolve the dispute and a settlement was reached where the project would be completed with the original requirements and original cost estimates. This settlement meant that the Department would save on the additional R2 billion proposed by Gijima. Additional internal controls and management will also be introduced to ensure the successful delivery of the project on time and within budget. The project would be implemented by the South African Revenue Services (SARS), and Gijima would provide maintenance on the hardware.

 

 

3)         Electoral Commission (EC)

 

The Electoral Commission is a chapter 9 institution which has a constitutional mandate to manage free and fair elections at national, provincial and local levels in South Africa.

 

The vision of the Electoral Commission is to strengthen constitutional democracy through the delivery of free and fair elections in which every voter is able to record his or her informed choice and its mission is that it is an independent and impartial permanent body created by the Constitution to promote and strengthen constitutional democracy in South Africa through delivery of free and fair elections at all levels of government.

 

The Electoral Commission has five Strategic Goals, as follows:

 

Promote principles of peaceful, free and fair elections

  • Including that the Commission has planned to have six meetings with relevant stakeholders.

 

 

Improve organizational efficiency and effectiveness

  • Including that the Commission will review policies to ensuring that there was adherence to the policies and strategic goals and objectives.

 

Manage free and fair elections

  • The  Commission will ensure that the distance to voting stations in the rural areas were no more than 12.5km  away and in the urban areas, no more than 7.5km away,
  • 22, 000 voting stations would be provided for voters at which to register to vote,
  • The number of registered voters on the national voters’ roll was anticipated to reach 22 999 273 and the voters’ roll would be checked against the National Population Register 12 times per year to remove deceased persons,
  • The Commission would have 1234 Party Liaison Committees (PLCs) at national, provincial and municipal levels,
  • The registration of a political party would be finalized within 35 working days,
  • Elections would be conducted within 90 days from the date of the vacancy of an elected position and proportional representative seats would be replaced within 35 days,
  • The elections results would be announced within seven days,
  • All voting stations would be issued with electoral materials for each electoral event,
  • 234 of the electoral offices were already established and functioning well in all municipalities,
  • All the 22 000 voting stations would be secured and functional and 13 200 of these voting stations would be at schools.

 

Foster public participation with a view to deepen democracy

  • 3314 voter education events would be conducted and 50 projects with strategic partners would be initiated and completed,
  • Approximately 2 million educational materials would be disseminated during the first and second quarters of the financial year.

 

Support the core business of the Electoral Commission

  • A comprehensive HR strategy would be approved by 31 March 2012 and this HR strategy would be reviewed on an annual basis,
  • An integrated training strategy would also be developed and approved by 31 March 2012. The stakeholders would be consulted and 126,000 electoral officials would be trained and 325 training and development interventions will be conducted,
  • An approved Budget and Project Charter Framework will be in place by 31 March 2012,
  • An approved 5-year plan on ICT infrastructure should be in place by 31 March 2012. The plan would be reviewed on an annual basis in consultation with stakeholders,
  • A Supply Chain Management Framework to be developed and approved by 31 March 2012,
  • The Commission plan to have an unqualified audit opinion report.

 

3.1)       Preparations for 2011 Local Government Elections

 

The date for the 2011 Local Government Elections is 18 May 2011. The final set data was received from the Municipal Demarcation Board on 1 September 2010. There would be eight metros, 226 Local Councils and 44 District Councils.

 

There would be 4277 wards for the 2011 Local Government Elections, an increase of 9.8% from the 3 895 wards in 2006 and this results in 4 555 different types of ballot papers. There would be 20 867 voting districts. There had been two voter registration weekends, namely, 5 and 6 February 2011 and 5 and 6 March 2011. Voter registration continued at offices until the date of proclamation. The number of voters on the voters’ roll at the date of the briefing was 23 161 975 and it would be updated on 9 March.

 

There were 164 registered political parties as at 7 March 2011 of which105 were national and 59 were at the municipal level and 45 applications were still pending.

 

The Commission continued working with media houses to train journalist covering the elections to ensure that they understand the electoral processes. The Commission was also working with communities, commercial and the public broadcaster on programming of communication awareness and voter education campaigns on radio and television. They have also implemented new initiatives to reach the youth like twitter and mobile sites. The Commission had created mobi.elections.org.za.

 

To contest election, parties or independent ward candidates must pay an election deposited as indicated below:

 

 

Election Type

Local Government Election 2006

Local Government Election 2011

Metro Council

PR List and Wards

R3, 000

R4, 000

Local Council

PR List and Wards

R2, 000

R2, 500

District Council

PR List

R1, 000

R1, 500

Ward - Independent

Ward

    R500

R1, 000

Candidate of a party that has not submitted a PR List

Ward

    R500

R1, 000

 

For the first time, there would be special votes for voters who were unable to cast their vote at the voting station in the voting district where they had registered. The Commission had published regulations concerning special votes.

 

There would be approximately 2 million election officials and these officials would be trained before voting day. Party Liaison Committees were consulted in the appointment of presiding officers.

 

Counting would take place immediately after voting at each voting station and party agents and observers will witness every aspect of the voting and counting. Results systems will be audited and results slips would scanned and made available.

 

Key Challenges

 

  • Generally lower voter turn-out in municipal elections,
  • Disputed ward and municipal boundaries,
  • More complex logistical demands, since there would be 4 555 different ballot papers and making a Braille Template had proven extremely difficult and the Commission published a tender for a Braille Template but yielded no results,
  • Parallel structures within political parties.

 

The Electoral Commission is funded mainly by a transfer from the Department of Home Affairs but it also generates some income revenue from various sources including the sponsorships, political parties’ registration fees and interest received.

 

The expenditure of the Electoral Commission is mainly influenced by the election cycle, peaking during preparations for an election and then decreasing to fund regular activities in non-election cycles.

 

The Electoral Commission had budgeted R816.2 million for 2011/2012. An additional R80 million had been budgeted for special votes and R120 million in 2013/2014 in respective for national and provincial elections.

 

4)         Film and Publication Board (FPB)

 

The Film and Publication Board regulates and controls the creation, production, possession, exhibition and distribution of certain films, interactive computer games and publications, in terms of the Film and Publication Act (1996).  The FPB is also responsible for monitoring age restricted business premises for compliance with the license and registration terms.

 

The vision of the FPB is a credible and visible content regulation authority that protects consumers and its mission is to ensure efficient and effective consumer protection through regulation of media content, whilst empowering the public, especially children through robust information sharing.

 

The Strategic Objectives of the FPB have not changed from the 2009/2010 financial year, and are as follows:

 

  • Enhance, integrate and implement a constitutionally sound regulatory framework,
  • Develop and main organizational capacity and capability,
  • Form and maintain national and international partnerships, and co-ordinate initiatives that support the business of the FPB,
  • Position the FPB as a viable and credible, professional run organization.

 

The FPB intended to identify distributors and have a database for both compliant and non-compliant distributors. The registrations and classifications process would be enhanced by developing policies and Standard Operating Procedures for registrations and classifications.

 

The FPB would also build relationships with the South African Police Services, the South African Revenue Services and the National Prosecuting Authority by signing Memoranda of Understanding. The number of classifiers would be increased. The Department of Education was being engaged with regard to consumer education and curriculum integration.

 

The FPB has not fully complied with the Occupational Health and Safety. They would also develop and implement a Human Resource and employee wellness strategy as well as implement staff training and development.

 

The total budget allocation for the FPB is expected to be R75 659 000, with the grant from the DHA amounting to R65, 458, 000. The FPB is to generate funds from classification (R8 200 000), registration (R1 100 000) and annual renewal of registration certificates (R500 000) and interest (R401 000).

 

5)         Government Printing Works (GPW)

 

The Government Printing Works provides security printing services to the South African government and some states in the SADC. GPW was converted into a government component in terms of Public Service Act (2007). GPW’s main strategic objective is to establish itself as the security printer of choice in Africa. The vision of GPW is to be State’s mandated Security Printer and its mission is:

 

  • To provide cost effective, reliable and timeous services to all spheres of government in security printing,
  • To provide the public with equitable information,
  • To disseminate government information through technology, innovation and service excellence.

 

Spending over the MTEF period will focus on accelerating the asset replacement programme and the development of GPW’s new production facility. According to the 2011 estimates expenditure was expected to be R821.7 million over the MTEF period. GPW is expected to generate R695.4 million and receive transfers of R129 million from the DHA.

 

6)         Budget Summary

 

According to the Estimates of National Expenditure of 2011/2012, the budget of the Department of Home Affairs decreased by 6.35% in nominal terms and 10.64% in real terms from R5.8 billion to R5.5 billion in 2010/2012. The only programme which increased its allocation is Administration which received an additional R316 million.

 

In 2008/2009, the Department implemented the Who Am I Online Project. The total cost is estimated to be R2.2 billion over five years. To date, R390.4 million has been spent since 2008/2009 and R299.3 million, R298.6 million and R315 million has been allocated over the MTEF period.

 

MTEF Allocation per programme is as follows:

 

Programme

2010/2011

2011/2012

% Increase/ (Decrease)

Administration

R1, 478, 873

R1, 782, 879

11.1%

Citizens Affairs

R3, 070, 238

R2, 100, 002

42.9%

Immigration Services

R1, 294, 717

    R587, 603

(54.6%)

Total

R5, 834, 390

R5, 464, 134

(6.3%)

 

 

7.         Issues raised by the Committee

 

  • The Department of Home Affairs intended to increase tariffs for enabling documents, it was indicated that the Department should consider exempting people whose documents were lost as a result of disasters.
  • There was a concern on the slow progress in the processing of the Zimbabwean Documentation Project,
  • The attraction of scare skills was also a major concern, the Committee wanted to know what those scare skills were,
  • South Africa has 72 Ports of Entry and it was concern that some of the small Ports of Entry only had one police person,
  • All staff should be vetted correctly because there was too much corruption at the Department,
  • The gender as well as race imbalances at the Senior Management had to be attended to,
  • The Department has approximately 500 000 uncollected Identity Documents and Committee was concerned about the duplicate IDs,
  • The timeframes of issuing IDs was going up instead of down,
  • Although the Committee indicated that the Department would be invited to be engaged on the “Who Am I Online Project”, there was a concern on why they settled with a company that failed to deliver on its contract,
  • The Department of Home Affairs should learn a  lesson from the Department of Transport in the implementation of the Smart ID Card,
  • Members felt that the police were suppose to access the database of the Department of Home Affairs first in terms of the third party verification project because some of the people in the National Population Register, may be wanted criminals,
  • The Committee was worried that the DHA did not keep a record of skills coming into South Africa,
  • The accessibility of people with disabilities to the Department of was a concern,
  • Apart from the Political Liaison Committees, the Strategic Plan of the Electoral Commission did not indicate which stakeholders would be consulted
  • A question raised was whether people who were outside South Africa would be able to vote during the Provincial and National Elections in 2014 as well as whether electronic voting would be considered,
  • There was a concern of reports of the establishment of voting stations at prisons for the local government elections,
  • A concern was raised about the alleged rigging of the registration of voters especially at the Midvaal Municipality,
  • There were places which had been affected by the recent floods and issue of farmer owners who did not allow their  farm workers to vote was raised,
  • The FPB was currently restructuring and the Committee wanted to ascertain when the process of restructuring would be completed and there was a concern that there too many administrative staff,
  • With regard to FPB, the Committee was concerned about cyber safety at schools and bullying and that it should be stopped,
  • The Committee expressed a concern with regard to the digitising of government gazettes, and that the gazettes should be kept affordable to South Africans,

 

8.         Recommendations

 

  • The Department of Home Affairs should work with Community Development Workers (CDWs) and other stakeholders to identity those who have not collected their Identity Documents to ensure their IDs were collected or delivered to applicants,

 

  • The Electoral Commission should present a report to the Portfolio Committee on the voter’s roll when it has been checked against deaths recorded on the National Population Register. The report should be tabled before the Committee 14 days after it has been checked against the National Population Register

 

  • The Department of Home Affairs must present a report on the Zimbabwean Documentation Project,

 

  • In terms of personnel, the Department of Home Affairs should make improvements at the Ports of Entry,

 

  • There are gender imbalances with regard to the staff at the Department of Home Affairs and the Committee recommended that quarterly reports should be provided to the Committee and the Department should try to achieve the 2% of people with disabilities,

 

  • The Department of Home Affairs should also report on the accessibility of the people with disability at their offices in the country,

 

  • The mobile units were not working as frequently as possible and the Committee requested a plan on how these mobile units could be more accessible to rural areas

 

  • The FPB was busy with restructuring, and there was more administrative staff, the Committee requested a comprehensive report,

 

  • The Committee recommended a day or two engagements with the Department of Home Affairs on the Strategic Plan and Budget in June.

 

9.         Conclusion

 

The Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs considered the presentations by the Department of Home Affairs and its entities. Although there had been improvement in the services provided by the Department to its clients, there were still challenges in the strategic planning of the DHA which were raised that still needed to be addressed.

 

The Committee expressed satisfaction with the preparations for 2011 Local Government Elections set to take place on 18 May 2011.

 

 

Report to be considered.