We all have heard it said that you have to know where you come from in order to know where you are going.  

As we reflect on the work of the Department of Home Affairs over twenty years of our democracy, and envision the future of our Department, these words could not be more true. 

I do not want to spend a lot of time today talking about the history of our society, and the legacy of injustice, exclusion and indignity which, while vanquished, remains all too real in its on-going effects for all South Africans.  

I would rather us project forward to our future vision, for Home Affairs as a professional department, offering critical, world-class services in a highly secure environment. 

But it is impossible to adequately reflect on twenty years of the Department of Home Affairs, without remembering that its institutional forebears were devoted to systematically denying the black majority a national identity and citizenship, the bedrocks of self-determination. 

We cannot simply move forward without acknowledging the role this department played during our painful past in confirming the classification of some South Africans as “people” and of most South Africans as “non-people”. 

We remember today the painful but brutally honest words of the late Mr. Oliver Tambo, one of the principal architects of the new South Africa, when he made the candid remark that central in the short-sightedness of the apartheid architects and high-priests was an attitude of mind which was basic to the policy of apartheid, namely, that “South Africa was populated by people and non-people.”  

In this regard, he summed up the description of apartheid thus: 

“Apartheid, in its more comprehensive connotation, is the sum total of all the policies and practices, stratagems and methods, beliefs and attitudes that have been marshalled and are being employed in an attempt to ensure and entrench the political domination and economic exploitation of the African people by the white minority... Paramount in the strategy of the South African rulers, therefore, is the use they make of colour or race differences. In the workings of apartheid, colour comes first in importance, race next, and human beings last.” 

It is a sad indictment that the Department of Home Affairs in the past played a central role in the enforcement of this line of thinking, in dividing South Africans and thus creating a situation in which a united South Africa, envisioned by the likes of Drs. Dube, and Abduraman, Mahatma Ghandi and Charlotte Maxeke, Reverend Makgatho and Mahabane could not exist for 84 years since the formation of the so-called Union of South Africa and only became a possibility not only through the struggle against apartheid-colonialism, but also through its victory in 1994 when our country and people could only then begin to chart a different course and thus bring closer to reality the dream of the founders of the South African Natives National Congress in 1912, as an alternative to the divisive, racially-exclusive and all-white Union of South Africa. 

It is our hope that this Booklet, though not a history book, will contribute in modest ways towards confronting the accumulated and stubborn challenges of our past and towards nation-building and social cohesion and affirming our common nationhood. 
 
We are determined as this Department that we should make a decisive contribution towards both the restoration of the dignity and humanity of the majority.  

Our programmes today create the real possibility that we can comprehensively make our contribution towards expanding the frontiers of discourse as to what and who constitutes the New South Africa, occupying as we do an important nexus between national security, service delivery as well as governance and administration. 

It is now 59 years since the Congress of the People drew the Freedom Charter on the pages of which eternally are etched the cornerstones of our principles of freedom, democracy and a common nationhood. 
 
In asserting that “South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white”, the Freedom Charter rejected the principles of exclusion, bigotry and discrimination upon which was founded the system, policy and philosophy of apartheid-colonialism. 
 
It made the pledge that, “All shall be free to travel without restriction from countryside to town, from province to province, and from South Africa abroad”; and that “Pass laws, permits and all other laws restricting these freedoms shall be abolished”. 
 
We have thus, in the Department, sought to act in a manner consistent with this vision, determined that we should forever banish the dehumanising policies and practices that denied our people their rights, restricted their freedoms and classified in a derogatory and dehumanising manner unbefitting of a human-rights ethos based society towards which our people aspire. 

Racial division was enforced through bureaucratic categorization and disparate documents, the worst of which was the dompass, confining Africans to ethnic identities tied to homelands.  

Significantly, our people resisted this symbol of their oppression and dehumanisation, routinely burning these passes during protests such as, most memorably, through a women’s march to the Union Buildings on 9 August 1956 in protest against the extension of Pass Laws to women and the 1960 Sharpeville March which resulted in a brutal and cowardly massacre of 69 people, leaving scores of others injured.  

We are grateful today for the presence of one of the leaders of that historic Women’s March and one of our struggle heroines and icons, Ms. Sophie De Bruyn, who continues through her moral courage and fortitude to symbolise the future we must build. 

It is, accordingly, of enormous significance that since 1994, Home Affairs has issued all South Africans with a single identity document, confirming the single, common citizenship which binds us together, with respect and dignity for all. 

Only our extravagant imagination can envisage how the past 118 years could have turned out, had the founders of the Union of South Africa not had the courage and, above all, the vision to make the Union a uniting and all-inclusive process. 

Clearly, the dompass and its dehumanising effects would have been avoided, but the entire century of racial strife and conflict which has wasted so much South African talent would itself have been avoided. 

Above everything else, South Africa would long have been the united, non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous society envisioned in the Preamble of our Constitution in 1996. 

These principles found resonance amongst the oppressed revolutionary democrats and anti-apartheid activists of all ideological persuasions precisely because they epitomised and expressed the very basic tenets of modern and most human and humane society the best amongst us seek to live in. 

So important are these principles that many people were prepared to die for them, to be sent to jail or even face the cold and brutal loneliness of exile just to realise them; and thousands even paid the ultimate sacrifice to see them come to reality and become the lived experience of all South Africans. 

This issue of “a single identity document, confirming the single, common citizenship which binds us together, with respect and dignity for all” speaks to the very core of our mandate, which is, determining and safeguarding the identity and status of all citizens. 

To discharge our mandate, Home Affairs must walk a journey with every South African through critical events in their lives: from birth, marriage and death and the birth of our children. 

The single most important step in this journey is that of accurately recording the birth of each South African.  

Your birth certificate ensures the state’s recognition of your identity and citizenship status, and enables you to access your rights as a citizen.  

In addition, early registration of birth is recognized worldwide as the only way to secure a nation’s population register and thus safeguard citizenship.  

Accordingly, we now have permanent or remote offices at over 300 health facilities, to enable parents to register their children’s birth and obtain full, unabridged birth certificates before leaving the hospital.  
This is why it is now a legal requirement to register every birth within the first 30 days of your child’s life.  

Citizens are responding positively to this change, and our priority is to reach universal early registration of birth in the coming years, including for children not born at hospitals or those born outside the Republic but to South African parents. 

Years of public information campaigns, stakeholder engagement and deployment of mobile offices in remote areas around the country, have ensured that we have spread public awareness of civil registration practices to every community in South Africa. 

This has prepared us to be able to end late registration of birth as a common practice on December 31, 2015.  

This process, while necessary in the past due to the apartheid-era practice of not registering the birth of most black children, is no longer necessary and has proven to be a backdoor through which some foreign nationals attempt fraudulently to access South African citizenship.  

Ending late registration of birth is the only way to ensure that every person on the National Population Register is there legitimately. 

Put differently, early registration of birth is the only way to ensure that every person on the National Population Register is there legitimately and, consequently, to safeguard the integrity of our National Population Register and citizenship. 

The end of LRB is a positive and natural development of a maturing country. 

However, this does not mean we will no longer accept late birth registration applications to those with a legitimate claim; it just means the process of ascertaining the veracity of your claim will become more onerous and will depend on the applicant providing conclusive and incontrovertible proof to back up their claim. 

We believe that we have provided ample time in the past ten-plus years since we launched this campaign to register births late for those with genuine claims to come forward and that this process can now be ended as we have reached out to every corner of our country. 

During the next 12 months, leading to December 31st, 2015, as we mop up this campaign, we shall ensure that we extend our services to reach out to every person with a genuine claim. 

Again, we wish to plead to every traditional leader, priest or pastor, and Councillor or member of a Ward Committee not to connive with fraudsters by providing letters of testimony to people who do not deserve our documents and citizenship just because they have been paid some money and a bottle of whisky to do so. 

We encourage every South African at 16 years of age to apply for an identity document.  

Our ID is currently being revolutionized through the rollout out of the Smart ID Card, which is indeed a world class product that was awarded the ‘Regional ID Document of the Year Award’ in 2013 by the Asian, Middle East and African Security Printing Conference.  

Its advanced technical and security features make it a critical tool in protecting the identity of every South African and we anticipate that it will become a valued platform for various public and private services in the coming years. 

Since its launch in October 2013, we have issued over a million Smart-ID Cards – in fact, the millionth Smart-ID Card recipient, Mr. Moses Maluleka is here with us today, 

We are excited at the prospect of replacing all 38 million green ID books with Smart-ID Cards over the coming years. 

We are ramping up from 1.6 million Smart-ID Cards issued this financial year, to 3 million and then 8 million per annum in the next several years. 

Accordingly, we are asking all youth who are 16 years and older to apply for their first Smart-ID Cards this December by visiting our designated Smart-ID Card dedicated offices in their respective provinces.  

The Department would like to ensure that all learners who qualify are in possession of Smart-ID Cards when they register for their grade 12 examinations in 2015.  

Special preference is also given to all elderly persons – 60 years and above – who are still not in possession of Smart-ID Cards to hurry up and apply for their re-issue during this month. 

Managing immigration effectively, in a way which promotes our development and security is the second core aspect of our mandate.  

Over the past twenty years, we have gone from a closed country, to one which is open and welcoming, internationalist and pan-Africanist in outlook.  

We have facilitated the entry of ever-increasing numbers of tourists, business travellers, investors and skilled workers.  

Our ability to attract skilled workers is explicitly noted as a key factor in our development in the National Development Plan.  

For example, our ability to deliver the strategic integrated projects (or SIPs) in our national infrastructure plan is dependent on our ability efficiently to attract and retain technical skills from abroad.  

Similarly, our private sector, like others around the world, frequently needs to attract critical skills from abroad to grow and stay competitive.  

Our corporate accounts unit provides speedy services for major public and private institutions requiring visas for foreign specialists. 

Through our processing of travellers at our ports of entry, we have facilitated the growth of our country as a major and trusted host of international events, most notably the World Conference Against Racism in 2001, the 2009 Indian Premier League Season, COP 17 in 2011, the 2010 FIFA World Cup, and the 5th BRICS Summit in 2013, among many others. 

In the coming years we look forward to more efficiently and securely: 

• quickly facilitating the entry into South Africa of people of goodwill from around the world;
• quickly facilitating the entry into South Africa of businesspeople, investors, and skilled workers;
• facilitating the free movement of people within SADC and the continent more broadly in line with the vision of the African Union; and
• proactively identifying and preventing those travellers who present a risk to our country from entering it with minimal disruption to legitimate travellers.

It is critical to emphasise the following points, 

1. International migration is a very critical aspect of our work and we seek to manage it fairly, efficiently, in the national interest in a manner that ensures that, as a country, we benefit from the process as well as from immigrants rather than treat it a laissez-faire process that must and will happen all of and on its own;
2. Immigrants play a very important role in the South African economy and we are open to immigrants, be they international investors, tourists, students, long or short-term visitors all of whom have the genuine interest to contribute towards the growth and security of South Africa; 
3. African immigrants, in particular, are welcome to visit South Africa for work, study and investment and to enter our country through our regular ports of entry so that we can know and regulate their entry and exit easily and protect them whilst in South Africa;
4. Asylum-seekers are even more welcome and our country is continuously improving its asylum-seeker management processes in order to facilitate their entry, documentation and safety whilst in the country; 
5. We are continuing to improve our focus on border management and curbing of irregular migration into the country, through improved cooperation with fellow departments and sister-countries through international cooperation at bilateral and multilateral levels; and
6. The South African government will continue to take whatever steps as are necessary to minimise immigration risks, particularly to the security of our country, our neighbours, our people and immigrants.

What cannot be disputed is that immigrants play a critical role in the on-going search for a common South African nationhood and social cohesion, as they contribute towards nation-building and, accordingly, the discourse on the national question can no longer neglect the presence in our society of immigrants, who are not simply white or black, but who possess other identities new to the New South Africa, but critical in its foundation and self-definition. 

Going forward, the DHA is committed to achieving its vision of being a professional department, offering world-class services in a highly secure environment.  

This will require building a platform of integrated identity and immigration systems and creating a highly-secure paperless environment.  

It will be driven by a cadre of professional, humane and patriotic officials who will be known for serving and protecting all persons living in South Africa. 

A modern, professional DHA will be at the heart of a capable state that can lead development.  

Secure, integrated and efficient identity and immigration systems will reduce corruption and the cost of doing business, improve services and attract investors.  

It will play a key role in supporting nation building and social cohesion, and a South Africa whose people are proud of, and value their citizenship. 

The dream is to play a decisive part in securing a bright future for all of our children, some of whom will aspire to work for Home Affairs. 

We are confident that the next twenty years will be vastly different from the past; where in the past we were busy undoing the fracas of apartheid-colonialism, in the future, we will be focused on improved, secure, integrated and information-systems-driven processes, systems and services. 

We are central role in the formation of the New South African Nation. 

Thank you all for your kind attention.