TRANSCRIPT; HOME AFFAIRS DG MKUSELI APLENI STATEMENT AND QUESTION AND ANSWER COPY; 28 NOVEMBER 2013, PRETORIA,
We welcome members of the media present with us today. Our media briefing today will focus mainly on the Home Affairs operational plans in all our ports of entry for the festive period beginning in December as well as plans for the Orange African Nations Championship 2014 to be held in South Africa.
16 DAYS OF NO VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND CHILDREN CAMPAIGN
Our media briefing takes place against the background of the national campaign of 16 Days of No Violence against Women and Children launched on 24 November and will culminate with planned events on 10 December 2013.
In this regard, the Ministry of Home Affairs joins the government and people of our country in this campaign. Indeed recent horrific incidences in Gauteng and the Western Cape in particular and all our provinces in which elderly women, children ,babies and young girls and young boys have been subjected to the most barbaric forms of violence must be condemned in the strongest terms.
This morning we were awakened to news that a six week-old baby is fighting for her life after being raped allegedly by her uncle. We express our collective outrage and condemnation at this dastardly act and call on our law enforcement agencies to ensure those implicated will face the wrath of the law.
Violence against women and children is not only an affront against the victims but indeed an attack on the people of our country. We must take action as nation within the framework of the law – both men and women- to bring to an end this scourge and working together with our law enforcement agencies help bring those responsible for such heinous acts to face the full might of the law.
FESTIVE SEASON: OPERATIONAL PLANS FOR THE PORTS OF ENTRY-LAND, SEA AND AIRPORTS
The festive season is once more upon us. We take this opportunity to extend our best wishes to all our people during Xmas and the New Year, which coincides with the 20 years of our democracy. It is our hope and wish that we shall all return to our homes, places of employment and all other sectors of our society rejuvenated and more determined to deepen and consolidate the achievements of the 20 years of the dawn of peace, freedom and justice in our country.
Once more we reiterate our government’s message for people to observe and ensure that they indeed “Arrive Alive” whatever their destinations. This includes those who may be travelling to various destinations passing through our sea, land and airports of entry during the festive season.
As is customary, during this period we envisaged an increased movement of people and goods through all our ports of entry. Working together with all other government agencies operating in the ports of entry and border areas –SARS, SAPS, SANDF, Agriculture and Health- we stand ready to help facilitate the smooth movement of all those travelling through these ports of entry during the festive season.
In anticipation and as part of our overall plan to ensure efficient and effective delivery of service in all our ports of entry during the festive season, Minister of Home Affairs Naledi Pandor has announced the extension of hours and deployment of more immigration officials to a number of ports of entry across the country.
This follows consultation and agreement with all stakeholders operating in our ports of entry including countries sharing borders with the Republic of South Africa to effect the implementation of extended operational hours as follows:
Mpumalanga
Lebombo- will operate 24 hours
Oshoek-will operate 24 hours
Mahamba- 06h00- 24h00
Manange-06h00-20h00
Jeppes Reef- 06h00-24h00
Limpopo
Groblersbrug –will operate 24 hours
Eastern Cape
Qashasnek- 06h00-24h00
Kwazulu-Natal
King Shaka international airport- 05h00-24h00
Kosi Bay-06h00-19h00
Golela- 06h00-24h00
Free State
Caledonspoort- 06h00-22h00
Van Rooyenshek-06h00-24h00
North West
Kopfontein- will operate 24 hours and Ramatlabama- 06h00-24h00
PLANS FOR THE ORANGE AFRICAN NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIP - CHAN 2014
As you are by now aware, South Africa is proud to play host for the Orange - African Nations Championship -CHAN 2014 scheduled from 11 January to 02 February 2014.
In this regard, the Department of Home Affairs is ready to play its role in ensuring that South Africa hosts a successful CHAN 2014. Having played a pivotal role during the 2010 FIFA World Cup as well as the 2012 African Cup of Nations, our immigration officials stand ready to welcome fellow African and other visitors at our ports of entry.
As we look forward to celebrating 20 years of freedom, peace and democracy, the CHAN tournament provides a perfect platform for us to demonstrate our heartfelt gratitude towards the African continent for its continuous and unwavering support during our struggle against apartheid.
As with the CAF Championship and indeed the 2010 FIFA World Cup, South Africa has been requested to provide guarantees to CAF. In terms of these guarantees, the Department of Home Affairs’ responsibilities are as follows:
|
DEPARTMENT |
KEY PROVISIONS |
OBLIGATIONS |
|---|---|---|
|
The Department of Home Affairs |
The guarantee requires the SA government to issue visas to a broad range of Persons (including the CAF Delegation & the Commercial Affiliates and Media). |
Communicate all the immigration requirements with CAF and the Participating Member Associations during the Team Training workshop. Send all obligations / requirements to the LOC in order to communicate with CAF |
|
The Department of Home Affairs |
The guarantee requires the SA government to issue work permits where required to CAF Employees / Commercial Affiliates that will be working during the Championship. |
Same as above |
|
The Department Home Affairs |
The guarantee requires the SA government to guarantee “priority treatment for participating teams and CAF Delegation. |
Provide Dedicated lanes at all immigration ports of entry with event branding. This will also require dedicated personnel who will be facilitating this process. |
In addition, the following ports of entry have been selected to facilitate the smooth movement of multitudes of football fans wishing to visit the country during the tournament- Cape Town, OR Tambo, Braam Fischer and Gateway airports and Beit Bridge, Ficksburg, Maseru and Groblersbridge land ports.
The department is also expected to provide the necessary branding for the air and land ports of entry for dedicated lanes that will be provided for the football fans and executive committee members, teams and participating member associations.
I thank you
Transcript Copy; Home Affairs Weekly Media Briefing; Director-General Mkuseli Apleni; Thursday; 28 November 2013; Pretoria
Question and Answer Session
Question: DG, can you elaborate more on the problematic ports of entry and explain if there will be mobile units and more officials deployed? And also, concerning this operation that is directed to facilitating movement within the festive season, when will it cease?
Question: Is there any possibility to give us a rough estimation of perhaps how many people are we expecting to go forward and back through the different ports of entry? I understand maybe there is an estimation that can be given or previous statistics.
Question: In addition to the previous questions, DG, when you talk about extending working hours, you mean that there may be a need for extra human resources. Do you envisage to increase the number of staff members? And if that is the case where will you get them?
Answer (Director-General, Mkuseli Apleni): The biggest ports we have in terms of land are Maseru Bridge, Ficksburg, Kopfontein, Oshoek, Lebombo and Beitbridge. Those are six land ports which generate a lot of numbers and, of course, O.R Tambo, Cape Town and King Shaka International Airport. That is where we normally have numbers. As the statement makes it clear, we are not working alone as the Department of Home Affairs but we are working as a cluster where we have got customs, police, Department of Health, Department of Agriculture and we have to work with the neighbouring countries because you cannot open on your side and not on the other side. You will recall that at Lebombo in particular, we started the process of one-stop border post, where we are piloting it, where we are able to clear buses and trucks seven metres before they reach the border and when they are coming back we are clearing at kilometer four at Lebombo. Also, during Easter where the Minister Naledi Pandor was at Beitbridge to observe what can be done better to relieve officials of the stress of they have going through that port of entry. I was also at Lebombo. Based on that, there are plans which we will be implementing to change the process of moving people at Beitbridge. In particular, we are looking at dividing lanes for trucks, buses, passenger vehicles and the pedestrians.
In terms of mobile offices, we will not be putting trucks but satellite offices. We will have to increase staff because other borders will be opening for 24 hours whereas they used to open for 12 hours. We will be sourcing the staff across the Department, hence we said the Department of Home Affairs does not close but we shift staff around. There will be areas where we will need less and we will take those officials to a border environment.
Our extension will be beyond January, it will be until after the African Nations Championship -CHAN 2014 in February so that we make sure that we keep the movement easily flowing for that period. In terms of the number, it is a huge number of people who come through our borders, so during festive we are looking at approximately two million across all the borders.
Question: It is nice that you gave us the two million figure, DG, but it is two million versus how many staffers?
Question: My question has got nothing to do with the briefing currently, basically, it is about Radovan Krejcir. We know that he is the country illegally, without a passport and other illegal documents. We have raised the question with the SAPS and they have referred us back to Home Affairs because it is your responsibility to check the lawfulness of passports and IDs. I just want to find out what has Home Affairs been doing about the Krejcir issue and other prominent people like him who have entered the country illegally and it is well documented, it is not a secret, everybody knows? What has Home Affairs done?
Answer: You will recall that we have been increasing our staff numbers at ports of entry; we started with O.R Tambo where we recruited 350 staff members in 2011. From there we have been targeting Maseru Bridge to increase permanent staff with an additional thirty staff members as well as Lebombo and Beitbridge. But we know when the volumes increase and decrease, for instance we know that the schools close in the first week of December, however, because of the long weekend on 14 December and contractors and mines close on 13 December, that period until the 24th of December volume will peak and that is when we put more resources. From 25 to 29 December is very low but from the 3rd of January we will put more staff. They differ from port to port but we know when the peak period is and when there is a decrease. Also, we must be reminded that it will not help us a Department to deploy 1 000 officials when there are only 50 counters. We make sure that the numbers we put there is equal to the counters to ensure that in each and every shift there is no empty counter.
I think we need to clarify when we say someone is illegal in the country. South Africa is a signatory to various conventions which deal with asylum seekers and visitors into a country. That is a universal principle not only for the Department of Home Affairs. If you are moving from one country and reach a port of entry, the first thing you need is a visa allowing you to move from your country of origin to the port of entry. Once you get into the port of entry and we stamp it, you will either be given a visitor or study permit. But, I can also go to a port of entry and once there claim to be an asylum seeker. An asylum seeker is a person who is saying I am persecuted in my country for whatever reason, be it political or religious. As a country, I have an obligation to allow that asylum seeker in, give them a Section 23, which allows a person to come into the country and within 14 days they must appear before a refugee reception officer who will then give them a Section 22 which allows them to be in the country whilst their case is being considered. We cannot take a decision and say you are illegal without considering your case. If your case is considered positively, you will be granted a refugee status. If not, you have a right to appeal to two bodies. To the Standing Committee on Refugee Affairs if your case is a clear-cut case according to a refugee status determination officer then you appeal and remain with a Section 22 and you are not illegal in the country, or you can appeal to the Refugee Appeals Board if your case has got some possibilities. If that board gives you a decision, you will still have a right to a judicial review because you think certain aspects have not been considered.
Coming to Mr Krejcir, he came into the country using a Seychelles passport, on a visitor’s permit and was allowed to get into the country. Whilst in the country, he applied for an asylum seeker’s permit and, as I am saying, we do not have a right to just simply say we do not want to consider your case. Mr Krejcir’s case has been considered up to the level of the Refugee Appeals Board, and I am sure you are aware of the decision of the court, when even the media approached the courts to say: ‘that when the Refugee Appeals Board is dealing with that application, we want to be present’. So, in terms of him being here, we are dealing with him as an asylum seeker. We are considering his case which is with the Refugee Appeals Board. Once the decision is taken, it can either say you are granted a refugee status or you are declined and then you will be deported. But it does not mean that when you come with a visitor’s permit you must engage in illegal activities like crime. Once you do that we will deal with you as we are dealing with a South African. Because when I commit a crime as a South African, I am subjected to the laws of the country.
Question: How long does it take for the Refugee Appeals Board to process such an application?
Question: The sort of problems people experience at a peak period when trying to leave or enter the country, how long will it take now with these plans in place? I am trying to establish waiting time or turnaround time for people to be actually processed.
Answer: Let me deal with the first question on how long it takes to deal with the case. It has got levels but it depends on the complexity of the case. If a case is simple I will take two days, like our courts. But in terms of the process, in South Africa we are a constitutional state and you will know that for us I can take a matter up to the Constitutional Court having started from a Magistrate Court. Up to all those processes, it depends on the complexities of the case. If you take the asylum seeker processes I have explained, that the Refugee Appeals Board is not a final arbiter and if I am not happy with that I will go for a judicial review which means I am starting the court process to test whether the decision of the Refugee Appeals Board is in compliance with the provisions of the Act. So, it will depend, one case can take 30 days and another case can take two years. But the issue is that when you are in the country at that point, you are in possession of a Section 22 which gives you a period and after that period has expired you have to go and renew that permit and if you still qualify it will be renewed but you cannot be in the country illegally because that provision is there that says ‘we will extend your permit based on the finalisation of your case.’
On the issue of the volume, you will recall that we implemented a new Movement Control System during the World Cup and we can process a person within three minutes once in front of an immigration officer. But that is not the issue where people get delayed but it is the congestion of traffic. Hence, we are working together with traffic officials and police to determine ways to manage that traffic before it reaches the border. And once it reaches the border, like we have done in Lebombo, where we have a bypass road and we clear you before you get to the border and you take a bypass, so there is no delay. Beitbridge currently does not have a possibility for that and, hence inside the port we are trying to have dedicated lanes for passenger vehicles, trucks, buses and pedestrians so that we fast-track that process. But the issue is not the delay once you are in front of an immigration officer but the structure at our borders. Even in Maseru, we are trying to have a bypass road. We still need to do a lot of work in our border posts because the infrastructure is still as prior 1994.
Question: Can we have figures, DG, of people coming in?
Answer: We have got people coming in and going out. But, those going out have to come back because some work and study here, so, they will go for the festive season and come back. In addition to the tourists, I think the Minister of Tourism was indicating the figures to something like nine million we have attracted as South Africa. So those numbers are still in that range.
Answer (Ronnie Mamoepa): Because of the system that the DG was referring to, the legacy of the World Cup, everyday we receive reports of these from all these ports of entry. So, if you want us to look at last year’s figures, we can give you figures for last year’s festive period which indicates high volume ports of entry… how many people went there…how many came through…all that..we can give them to you.
Question: DG, my understanding of your operational plan for the festive season, is the plan taking an approach of a Berlin Wall…trying to make South Africa an island on its own on the international stage?
Answer: No, I want to repeat that, Home Affairs is not the only Department operating in a border environment but as a country we have got a lot of interest and there is no way that we can survive, as a country and even as a region, without other people being allowed to come into our country…whether it is for social or economic reasons. However, through all that, we must ensure that the sovereignty of the country is protected. Everything must be done in a secured manner. But we are a welcoming country and we want visitors to come into South Africa. The process we are putting in place is to facilitate an efficient movement of people in and out of the country; hence as a cluster, we have SARS there to ensure that goods coming and leaving the country do so in a legal manner. That is why we have the Department of Agriculture to make sure that goods leaving the country are properly checked…that is why we have the Department of Health to make sure that people coming into the country have been vaccinated and there is no risk of a health disaster and police to make sure that people comply with the law. What we are doing is making sure that we facilitate the movement of people and goods in an effective and efficient manner in a secured process.
Question: When did Radovan Krejcir apply for asylum and when was he given…(inaudible)?
Answer (Modiri Matthews, Chief Director: Inspectorate): I stand to be corrected but I believe it was around 2009 that he came and applied shortly after arriving in the country…so on application he would have received his Section 22 permit.
Question: Has it been renewed? And, if so, when?
Answer: I am not sure when he would have renewed the permit but the case has not been finalised and he is still awaiting an appeal hearing, which means he is still an asylum seeker, pending the decision on his asylum application…so, whether he renews it or not, he still has a status as an asylum seeker