| Media release |
| Mininster Dlamini Zuma's transcript at a media briefing held on the 09 December 2009 |
Good morning and thank you for being here. This is probably the last briefing we will have before the end of the year.
Fifa 2010 Final Draw
The Department of Home Affairs is proud to have been part of the successful planning and execution of the 2010 World Draw held in Cape Town last week.
The 2010 World Cup Draw served as both as a reaffirmation of South Africa’s readiness to host the 2010 World Cup and a celebration of the 32 teams that will participate in the FIFA 2010 World Cup. In this regard, we can say without fear of contradiction that we are indeed ready to host the 2010 World Cup.
Once again we express our gratitude to FIFA and the peoples of the world who have placed their faith in our country and its peoples’ ability to host such a spectacular event on behalf of ourselves and indeed the entire African continent.
In pursuance of this objective, Home Affairs is proud to have facilitated the smooth entry of the FIFA family and the 32 teams that participated in the 2010 World Cup Draw
· The final draw reflected the achievement of a milestone on the road to the 2010 FIFA World Cup both for the final 32 teams as well as our country as host nation.
· While welcoming all 32 teams on our shore, we were particularly proud to welcome among them the qualifying teams from Africa, who are vital to ensuring that the 2010 FIFA World Cup leaves a lasting legacy on the continent.
· Let us together sustain our tireless efforts that has brought us to this point
· We were proud of the spirit of Ubuntu reflected in our hosting of the 2010 World Cup draw and the display of the flair and efficiency that will indeed be the hallmark of our hosting of the World Cup in 2010
In this regard as the Department of Home Affairs we facilitated the following:
Advance Passenger Processing (APP)
· Advanced Passenger Processing system which allows us to bar undesirable elements from entering South Africa before boarding from various countries became operational on 23rd of November 2009 on the South African Airways daily flight SA191 from Mauritius to ORTIA prior to the 2010 World Cup Draw
· 79% of all airlines flying to South Africa are now signed up APP.
· Of these 31 airlines, 18 airlines have provided roll out plans of which 4 have completed testing and have been certified as compliant (SAA, BA, Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines). These became operational with effect from today, Tuesday 8 December 2009 - January 2010.
· Engagements are ongoing to have all airlines signed up prior to the 2010 World Cup - The Department of Home Affairs continues to work with the Department of Transport and the airline associations to accelerate the process.
· APP will be expanded to include private flights as well and the crew of cargo flights and maritime travel, specifically passenger cruise liners
Operations Centre
· Our Operational Centre was up and running and functioning 24 hours per day, 7 days a week to assist in unlocking logjams during the 2010 World Cup draw
· All Operational Centre staff members have been trained and tested in the use of the APP system.
Volunteers
· For the FIFA Final Draw in Cape Town this week, we deployed 55 volunteers at OR Tambo (25) and Cape Town International Airports (30) conjunction with the Organising Committee- to assist FIFA delegates and dignitaries
Dedicated Express Lanes
· For the FIFA Final Draw in Cape this week, we also successfully deployed the Dedicated Express Lanes at Cape Town and OR Tambo International Airports for the preferential processing of the FIFA delegates and dignitaries.
Airline Liaison Officers
· The engagement with identified foreign countries for the deployment of Airline Liaison Officers at identified high volume hubs is progressing well, with 6 of the 8 identified countries having agreed to their deployment.
· This will allow for the validating of travel documents prior to passengers boarding flights to South Africa.
Joint Border Operations
· Our engagement with our neighbouring countries for the establishment of Joint Border Operations during the 2010 World Cup event is at an advanced stage and our first trial run is scheduled for Ficksburg Bridge (between R.S.A. and Lesotho) during December 2009.
VISA EXEMPTIONS
During the 2010 world Cup Draw, we facilitated a number of visa exemptions that were available to accredited FIFA delegates upon producing letters of accreditation from FIFA.
Such delegates were again pre-screened before being granted such visa exemptions. As part of this process we had also created a dedicated unit to assist in the fast-tracking of all permits and/or visa applications.
As a Department, and as part of the overall government efforts to host the 2010 World Cup, we will continue to do everything in our power to ensure the smooth entry into our country by all FIFA delegates, guests and indeed the multitudes of soccer fans whose support is critical for the success of the World Cup. We will not fail them.
HOME AFFAIRS SERVICE DELIVERY
Document Times
· Our improved turnaround times for key enabling documents are being sustained. We are now consistently producing IDs in 45 days or less and Passports in 19 days.
· We can now also announce that we are starting to see significant improvement in the production times for key permits. Permanent Residence Permits are now being produced in around 6 months - down from more than two years before and Temporary Residence Permits are being produced in 30 days.
Electronic Tracking System Extended
· Our electronic Track & Trace system for documents has now also been extended and now covers not only IDs and Passports, but also Amendments, Citizenship, and Late Registration Birth.
· This means that customers are now be able to trace the status of their applications on all the above functions as well.
· Permanent Residence and Temporary Residence Permit applications are about to be added to this list as we have just successfully concluded a pilot in this area.
· An added advantage of the extension of electronic tracking to all these documents is that it not only enhances the Department’s ability to monitor production but also identify fraudulent behaviour by our officials as we are able to link officials to the different steps in the production process.
Fight against corruption
In our fight against corruption, in November alone we arrested 28 officials for fraudulent activities. We hope we will be able to continue with this fight in the Department. This is an ongoing fight but we are doing to our best to address this.
IMPROVING THE EFFICIENCY OF OUR FRONT OFFICES
· The focus on improving the front office experience for our citizens continues. In conjunction with numerous surprise visits to ascertain the conditions first hand, a very definite effort is now being implemented to change the way our front offices operate. All our staff is now required to wear nametags to ensure the personal accountability of every official.
· A countrywide process-training programme is being rolled out at the moment to every single front office in the country to ensure that all processes are understood and applied in a uniform way.
· Our office refurbishment process is also continuing with just over 50 of our offices now completed
· Next year will see a dedicated front office transformation project kick off that will aim to stamp out the entrenched culture of corruption, frequent errors on documents as well as rudeness and disrespect to the public.
We will also be prioritizing certain front offices for reorientation and refocus. In this regard we will, as a blueprint, be looking to the way banks provide front office service.
· We have also as part of the anti-corruption crusade, suspended 28 officials of the Department of Home Affairs in the month of November 2009 alone.
National Births, Identity and Customary Marriages Registration Campaign
· The planning for a national campaign to ensure the registration of all births and marriages and the issuance of Identity Documents to all citizens at 16 years of age. The campaign design is now in its final stages and we will launch this country wide in January 2010.
· The aim of the campaign is to consolidate a secure and credible national population register. In this regard, protecting the integrity of the Birth Certificate, as the main base document for identity in South Africa, is key.
· It is crucial to do away with all processes that allow for fraudulent access to the South African identity.
We aim to:
o Eradicate the Late Registration of Birth backlog by end of February 2010
o Completely do away with the process of Late Birth Registration by the end of 2010
o Ensure that all births are registered within 30 days by end of 2011
o Ensure that all customary marriages are registered end of 2010
o Ensure that all South Africans of 16 years and above are registered and issued with an Identity Document by the end of 2011
o Increase the number of health facilities (both public and private) with connectivity to DHA services to 200 by the end of 2010.
PROGRESS TO DATE
· The Department has thus far consulted with a number of stakeholders. These among others include National Departments such as Health, Basic Education and Social Development etc.
· Draft MOU’s with Departments of Health as well as Basic Education are at an advanced stage.
· We have developed an overall implementation plan for the campaign. This plan was presented and adopted by all managers on the 25th and 26th of November 2009.
· Stakeholder forums established in Sisonke and OR Tambo district municipalities. This will then be rolled out nationally to allow communities to be involved in delivery of DHA services.
· Provinces are currently developing their localised plans which includes the appointment of coordinators, communication strategies focussing on local areas, etc.
FESTIVE SEASON
Having entered the festive season, may I extend on behalf of our department, our Deputy Minister Malusi Gigaba, the Director-General Mavuso Msimang and indeed on my own behalf my best wishes to all our citizenry during the Christmas and New Year period.
We are humbled by the support we have received from the general public and members of the media without whose support our efforts aimed at the fundamental transformation of our department will not succeed.
In this regard, we commit ourselves to continue to improve our service delivery mandate in line with our constitutional mandate to ensure all of our people throughout the length and breadth of our country receive quality service delivery from our department.
We reach out in thought and prayer to all those families including the Skhumbuzo Mhlongo family who lost their loves ones during the year and commit ourselves to ensuring that there no recurrence of such acts now or in the future.
We extend our best wishes and speedy recovery for those in hospitals and in trauma expressing our wishes and hope that 2010 brings with it the best for them
We join our entire government in reiterating the central message of the festive season “Arrive Alive! Don’t Drink and Drive and critically continue to practice safe sex and don’t abuse women and children.
I thank you.
Question
Minister, will there be further action against those arrested? How does this compare with previous years?
Answer
Obviously, if there is a need to impose criminal charges, this will be done. We have discussed co-operating on this matter in the cluster. In terms of the comparison, I have not compared month by month so I may be able to answer this question in the new year.
Question
Minister, the fastracking of service delivery - how will this impact on our relationship with countries abroad and how does this impact on the security of our documents?
Answer
We felt it was important to put all measures in place that we felt necessary and really improve, even to our own satisfaction that side of things before we begin a discussion on this matter. We will however discuss this with them once we are confident of the security of our own documents.
We have identified the loophole as the late registration of births and this is why we are keen to run this campaign so we can put an end to this. You will see this is why some people have been suspended and so on. Until we feel confident in the security of our documents, we will not begin negotiations with other countries.
Question
Minister, regarding the prevention of undesirable elements from entering South Africa - can you elaborate on this?
Answer
The Advance Passenger Processing goes hand in hand with our placing of liaison officers in those countries and what is happening is that they will have to bounce this passenger list with Interpol lists so that the obvious people who should not be coming to South Africa do not.
Secondly, our liaison officers will also be looking at documents themselves to ensure that the documents that are being used are authentic because we did find a few fraudulent documents during the Confed. It will also assist, not only us from the security side, but also the passengers, because by the time they arrive they will not be scrutinised as those who have not been cleared. So, it will help expedite their entry processes.
It will also work, together with our operations team to enable constant communication between our national liaison team, the airlines and ourselves.
Question
Minister, (inaudible)
Answer
My involvement in the World Cup began even before we won the bid. My involvement has therefore had nothing to do with Home Affairs. I was involved even before we went to Zurich with the lobbying and interaction with governments. I have a long involvement with this.
However, Home Affairs is critical during this phase of the World Cup because no one can come to South Africa unless you have complied with all entry requirements. We are the face of South Africa when people enter our country through road, rail, sea or air.
It is in the interests of our country that we render good service to people, not just for ourselves but for the country. That is why I began by saying we are honoured to host the 2010 World Cup.
Let me also say I think you are seeing a different Home Affairs so the defining moment for us is not 2010. We want to make a difference everyday. We want to change Home Affairs everyday. I think we need more time to get it exactly as we want it but we make progress every day.
Question
Minister, (inaudible)
Answer
It is not so much the challenges we have to overcome as it is proper preparation because we have to prepare well in advance of the date of the draw. Preparation and planning was therefore very important because on the day we merely assembled the plans we had already put into place.
So, I think it is really about planning well in advance. Generally everything went well and we are happy. Other than the difficult group we are in, and I think this will challenge us …
Question Minister, (inaudible)
Answer
I think the difficulty comes from different areas, the most difficulty arising from a historic circumstance. Right up until the mid 1980s-1990s, South Africans were in different population registers. We are all in different registers and so, there was no meticulous matching of numbers so that the ID numbers given in this register could have been duplicated in another because a book of life did not equal a dompass.
So, there was no effort to ensure numbers were not duplicated. So, a lot of what we currently experience is historic. Also, many of the 400000 we have identified have not even come forward to complain because they do not know this exists. We have discovered it for ourselves as we begin to clean up our population register.
The number of people who have come to us to complain amounts to about 56000 cases. Those are the ones where people have come to us.
We are now working on a strategy of the others before they add to the backlog of the 56000. A few of them will be those who collude with Home Affairs officials. Quite a few people have more than 1 ID number. We would like you to inform the public of this - those with more than one ID number should choose one and come to us and declare the other null and void.
With time, if people do not come to us voluntarily, we will have to make the decision ourselves. We will however like to give people the opportunity to choose. Another reason is that there was administrative mistake in duplicating the numbers. But mainly it is historic.
We are trying to deal with this backlog. Our system at the moment is handling 2000 a week but we are trying to beef up the system. We are appealing for the public to be patient, we are not unaware of the problem, we are doing our best to deal with this.
On the late registration, this is also a historic phenomenon because in the past it was not compulsory for some groups to register. Indians and Whites sometimes registered their children because of the privileges associated with this. There was no obligation on the part of Africans to register their children and there was no mechanism of assessing whether it was done or not. I do not have a birth certificate.
Now that we are all on one population register, we all need to be registered on that register. However, you can only enter through a birth certificate. So, when adults come to us for an ID, we cannot issue this because we have to register their birth first and enter them onto the population register.
So, we are trying to deal with this backlog. At the moment we have 100000 who have applied for late registration. Those that have come up to us, we have a 112000 outstanding. We are also trying to introduce a mechanism to deal with this. As you can see, it is a difficult process.
If you come to me at this age, how will I know if you are South African. We have to first establish you are South African. It is easier when the parents are still alive but it becomes more difficult if they are not. We are trying to put measures in place to deal with this.
We are also connecting with hospitals so that newborn babies can be registered immediately. But, they will have to be connected with Home Affairs for this to work well. Some hospitals are already part of this system. We are busy working on this.
We are also discussing with the schools because if you are under 15 it is still easy to register you because you do not fall under the category of late registration. So we are dealing with the schools to see if we can register all children at schools before they reach 15.
We are putting measures in place and hopefully in a year or two, we will only be registering babies at birth.
Question Minister, (inaudible)
Answer
I thought all the measure we are talking about are also addressing that issue because if you look at birth registration, we are trying to ensure South Africans are registered at birth because if people come later claiming to be South African, we can easily say they are not because you are not registered in our population register.
The birth registration campaign is therefore a major element in addressing identity theft because we are saying we want one entry point into our population register and that is at birth.
The second point, the ID registration campaign on which we are embarking now will not be held during election campaigns where there is a lot of pressure. We are therefore undertaking an ID campaign for all South Africans who are 16 and above because in a year or so, we will only be issuing IDs to 16 year olds. This is also aimed at dealing with identity theft.
In terms of passports, we are also rolling out a system where all your information is captured online when you apply for a passport. You will not be filling in any paper documents or presenting paper photos. The first thing we will do is biometric identification through your fingerprint. A passport will only be issued when you are confirmed to be on our population register.
A lot of passports that are issued fraudulently are not issued to people who come in physically to apply for passports. We are attempting to change this.
Once we have cleaned up our population register, we will be recalling all existing passports. There are definitely big measures we are taking.
People who are suspended or being arrested are mainly those who have been selling our documents.
We have a multipronged approach to dealing with ID theft.
Question
Minister, (inaudible)
Answer
Yes, we are also approaching this in a multi-dimensional way - one is to train those we can train, those in the frontline and backline offices. We are also increasing the numbers of people in these officers. Now that we are undertaking the campaigns I have outlined, we are even training some of the people we refer to as contract workers.
We are also improving training of people - our immigration officers, we are training a lot more now and we are also deploying some of our experienced officers to come and deal with some of the backlogs. Although I don’t have the figures, it is quite substantive. We have employed quite a few contract workers.
Question
Minister, are visitors assured of how soon they will be processed at OR Tambo International?
Answer
If you recall what I said earlier, those who have been pre-processed will be processed very quickly because we will be aware of them coming and checked them, etc. Those who have not been pre-processed, may take a bit longer. Fortunately, about 80% of the airlines who will be flying to South Africa have signed up for the pre-processing and we are still talking to the remaining ones. Some have already done the training, this will assist a lot especially from the hubs like Dubai.
We will still do what needs to be done. We will not circumvent the processes but the pre-processing will certainly assist us. The pre-processing also begins before they arrive in South Africa - it begins at the time of check in.
Question
Minister, (inaudible)
Answer
I don’t have the figures for the years before this one but I can tell you that last month alone we suspended 28 officials.
Regards
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Released by Chief Directorate: Communication
Enquiries: Ronnie Mamoepa(Head of Communication)-ronnie.mamoepa@dha.gov.za 082 990 4853 | 10/12/2009 |
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