Committee Report on Department of Home Affairs Budget, with Minister present

Meeting report

Chairperson’s opening remarks

The Chairperson introduced Mr G Cachalia (DA) to the Portfolio Committee as a new Member. He said that the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) dealt with approximately 56 million people, so there was a lot of work ahead for him in the Committee. The Department was responsible for ensuring that all information and data about people was not only kept safe, but also readily available. It also had to deal with all people moving in and out of the country on a regular basis. He also referred to the extra four million people of whom the Department was aware, but who were not officially entered into the database, which was an issue which the Committee would be discussing.

He also introduced Mr Muzi Njongo, who is the Parliamentary Liaison Officer (PLO) for the Department of Home Affairs (DHA), as well as the department researcher and acting personal assistant to the Minister, Ms Hlengiwe Mkhize, who was also present. Mr David Hlabane, the media director, was also in attendance.  

Committee report: deliberations

The Chairperson then took the Committee through a point by point deliberation of the observations and recommendations it had made on the DHA budget vote report, directing Members to page 10, paragraph 6, where the deliberations would begin. He said that paragraphs 1 to 6 were based on facts that had been presented to the Committee by the DHA. The process would be focussed on the recommendations made to the DHA, and recommendations made in the past could also be brought up. The DHA would be held accountable for all Annual Performance Plan (APP) recommendations, including those raised in the previous year and still on-going.  Members should look through paragraph 6 to ensure everything that had been mentioned had been correctly recorded. He had already asked the Parliamentary Content Advisor, Mr Adam Salmon, to remove the two points that had focussed on the outcome of the elections and perhaps add them to the minutes, or to create a separate report, because the matter was not relevant to the budget vote report. He asked Members to review points 6.1.1 to 6.1.6, to raise their concerns before the document was adopted.

Mr M Hoosen (DA) said that he was fine up to that point.

Ms H Hlophe (EFF) asked for clarity on point 6.1.3.

The Chairperson said that there were people who still had their identity (ID) numbers blocked by the DHA because it was suspected that they were not South African citizens, but had received South African ID documents. He believed that the problem could have begun during the year leading towards the local government elections in 1994, when almost everyone who was living in South Africa at the time had received an ID document. The DHA had observed a number of individuals who travelled to neighbouring countries a lot more often than just to visit. It was suspected that the countries to which they travelled were their home. Although these people had been provided with ID documents, they were not South African citizens. Some would not have been granted dual citizenship, but would have a South African ID and a passport issued by the government of Swaziland, which raised red-flags for the DHA. These individuals were being monitored and the DHA was hoping that the people would come forward to report the blocked ID documents in order for the DHA to intervene. He suggested that the only other way to get these people to come forward was to transition the move away from the use of green ID booklets, to using the ID smartcard.

The Chairperson told Mr Salmon that an issue relating to the migration policy was missing from the observations. Point 6.1.8 had stated that “the White Paper on International Migration needs engagement on an intergovernmental and regional level to facilitate its implementation.”  He said that the matter was meant to run continuously until the DHA was able to complete it, and that it had been left out of point 6.1.8. The migration policy was part of the business included in the current (2017/2018) financial year. He asked the Minister what would be done this year to ensure that the goal with the migration policy was accomplished. What would be the next step?

Minister Mkhize said that the DHA would continue to speak to stakeholders about peoples’ free movement across borders. The Department would also have meetings internally to develop a new migration policy.

The Chairperson said that the next step would be the white paper. The migration policy would lead to a new Immigration Bill and possibly a new Refugee Bill. He emphasised that this would not be an amendment, because changing the policy would mean that the two Bills had to be reviewed and changed in order to reflect the conditions of the new migration policy.

Mr Salmon added the recommendation that the white paper on international migration needed to be engaged on at an inter-governmental and regional level to facilitate the observation made by the Committee.

The Chairperson clarified that the observation would include only what had happened to the migration policy, and then the recommendation would include the legislative action to be followed. It would be added into 6.1.7.

Mr D Gumede (ANC) was happy with the Chairperson’s suggestion, and asked that Members pay attention to 6.1.4, which stated that there was a frequent breakdown in connectivity, affecting service delivery at Home Affairs offices. The point had also mentioned that the DHA depended on the State Information Technology Agency (SITA) for connectivity at its offices. He said that point 6.1.4 was ambiguous, as it suggested that the challenges experienced by the DHA were caused by SITA. He asked that the Content Advisor try to rephrase the point in a way that suggested that the DHA was dealing with the problem.

Mr Salmon suggested separating the two sentences into two separate statements so that it became less ambiguous.

The Minister said that there were a number of other problems, such as budget challenges that contributed to the breakdowns. The breakdown was not only attributable to the Department of Public Works (DPW). For instance, many DHA offices were understaffed and people would complain about there not being a front desk operating there.

The Chairperson said that the DPW was the main concern, because people often still had to travel long distances to find a DHA office. He asked why safe and secure land had not yet been identified to begin building DHA offices in the rural areas, and some township areas as well. He felt that it had been unfortunate that the Department’s offices had been inherited from the previous regime, and the structures had remained. However, it did not make sense for people to travel long distances to reach one DHA office which may or may not assist them on that day. Sometimes a person would have to travel back home and once again spend money to go back the following day.

The Minister said that even if the DHA and SITA managed to find areas to build DHA offices the next day, there would still be budget constraints. Staff employment, training, as well as buying equipment, would need to be included in the budget.  

The Chairperson said that a report would be given after discussions with National Treasury, and the budget issue should be discussed with Treasury as well.

Ms B Dambuza (ANC) said that emphasis had been placed on the issue of space, but nobody had mentioned making use of mobile DHA Offices. It had not been reflected in any of the points.

The Chairperson said that the mobile offices were being used in the Northern Cape, but were not able to produce smartcards. There was no equipment to provide the people with smartcards, and the Department was hoping to move away from using green ID books. The mobile offices had recently had a breakdown in the Eastern Cape, which also needed to be attended to. However, the meeting on May 30 with Treasury and the Minister would provide clarity on the matter.

Mr Gumede felt that the filling of vacant managerial posts was a matter that had not been fully addressed, and a recommendation to fill them was important.

The Chairperson said that the DHA had sent the requested document, and that perhaps he had forgotten to pass the information on to the Members. Mpumalanga had an acting manager, and the acting manager position in Kwa-Zulu-Natal (KZN) had been filled. KZN had a manager. He said that the Committee had spoken to the DHA about the vacancies.

Mr Njongo, the DHA’s PLO, said that there were nine provincial managers in the annual target. There were three provinces -- North West, Limpopo and Free State -- with acting managers, but not permanent provincial managers.

Ms H Hlophe (EFF) said the Committee had spoken about having a person at the front desk of all DHA offices. The acting manager in KZN had been doing an exceptional job and was competent and fully capable, but she had been replaced by a male. She was not happy with the election of the male to replace the previous acting manager.

The Chairperson felt that the position had been filled, and that the process had been fair and legal. He added that a recommendation about employing and filling all vacancies could not be made, because everyone was aware of the rule set by National Treasury in 2016. There was a budget cap on administrative fees and employee payments, which made it difficult to employ more people until the DHA and other Departments had reached a number below the budget cap. This also meant that should someone resign, the DHA would not be able to have the vacancy filled, as it would first have to wait for the administrative expenses to reach below the budget cap. Perhaps this would also have to be discussed at the meeting with Treasury,.

Mr Hoosen said that perhaps the Committee could include a recommendation that the DHA had to engage with Treasury, because so many vacancies affected service delivery.

The Chairperson said that the Committee could add that the DHA had a lot of vacant posts as an observation. The recommendation would be that engagement with Treasury would take place, but the Committee could not recommend that the vacant posts be filled.

He asked Members to take note of the reference to the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) in section 6.2.2. The IEC was preparing for the 2019 elections, and it was important that the Commission ensured public trust. The 2019 elections were something that everyone was anticipating, and although he knew that the other parties were waiting for the opportunity to see the ANC fail, the IEC played a significant role in the elections.

Ms Hlophe chanted, “ANC must fall!”

Ms T Kenye (ANC) said that all other points had been mentioned, except the point about using the banks to issue smartcards.

The Chairperson reminded Ms Kenye that the observation had been based on a pilot project. It had not yet been approved, and once a positive response was given and the project could begin, the Committee would be able to acknowledge it. It was a great idea to get the banks involved in producing smartcards, but many Members, including himself, had been sceptical about it because of the risk of having the security violated. Using the banks could pose a threat to the privacy of everyone’s identity

Minister Mkhize said that Cabinet had asked to go through the security aspects of the project to ensure cyber security. It was important that the peoples’ identities and dates were kept secure.

The Chairperson said that the Committee continued to have reservations about the project and would continue hold them until safety was guaranteed. The DHA had brought in a security information technology (IT) risk specialist who had said it was safe, but it was important that the data handled by Home Affairs remained private.

Ms Dambuza added that the report requested by Parliament in point 6.2.4, which stated that the IEC was still facing challenges with the proper procurement of goods and services, was also a budget challenge. She also felt that putting a person under suspension for long periods was also causing problems with the budget, and was affecting the proper procurement of goods and services. 

The Chairperson asked the content advisor to include reference to this point in the report.

The content advisor replied that he had added that the IEC was facing challenges in the procurement of goods and services.

The Chairperson said that the IEC had to deal with procurement issues, and that it needed to consider the supply chain under all circumstances.

Mr Gumede said that the IEC had to comply, as stated in the constitution.

The Chairperson felt that the IEC had become arrogant. The Commission’s unqualified audit from the Auditor General (AG) had been due to its action to access funds outside of its requirements. The excuse had been that it had been an emergency, but if the IEC had communicated with the AG, the audit would have been done according to the terms or conditions set by the AG during that period of emergency. It was important that the IEC follow protocol and obtain a clean audit.

Mr Gumede was worried that the IEC’s reputation was at risk and this would pose a threat to its credibility in the future.

He highlighted a point in 6.2.3, that on election days there were political parties that continued to campaign illegally, particularly in electronic or print media.

The Chairperson said that one could not necessarily use the word ‘illegally,’ because parties like the DA would have a stand 500m from the voting station, giving away T-shirts, but this was allowed. It was not necessarily considered campaigning by law. However, it was not acceptable that people received messages on their phones on voting day, being urged by a particular party to vote, as campaigning was meant to end 72 hours before voting day. This was meant to allow people time to review and make a conscious to decision to vote for the party that they felt could lead them, and not be bombarded with continuous messages. On election day, the print media would still print articles about things that had happened during a campaign period, and one could also associate that as indirectly campaigning.  This also defeated the purpose of not influencing the voters or persuading them in any way.

Mr Hoosen said that the word ‘illegally’ would have to be removed in the observation 6.2.3, because there was no law against some of the things that were mentioned, and perhaps Parliament would have to clearly outline what constituted campaigning to remove the grey area. He also mentioned that talking to his neighbour on election day about politics would not necessary persuade the neighbour to vote for the DA, but could be misinterpreted as campaigning. He felt that as the law had not stated exactly what was meant by campaigning, it was not considered illegal.

The Chairperson agreed with Mr Hoosen, and said his comments were not directed at the DA only, as it could have easily been a technique used by the EFF or the ANC. However, it was important, moving forward, to clearly state what was meant by ‘campaign.’ There had to be a control mechanism to prevent print media from mentioning anything about any political parties within the 72-hour period prior to voting day.

The Chairperson directed Members to paragraph 6.3, moving on from points on the IEC to the Government Printing Works (GPW), and asked if there were any further observations to be discussed.

The Chairperson said that a fulltime Chief Executive Officer (CEO) had to be appointed at the GPW.

The Minister said that the DHA was moving towards ensuring that there was a fulltime competent CEO who would be responsible at the managerial level, as well as complete the state-owned enterprise (SOE) board of governance.  

The Chairperson added that the CEO had to be capable of making the transition between the governance and managerial duties of the GPW, in order to make the necessary transition to it becoming an SOE.

The Chairperson highlighted that point 6.3.3 mentioned that the GPW was losing artisans and skilled staff to the private sector due to salary disparities.

The Minister explained that due to recent budget cuts, the employees were not getting paid as much as the private sector was offering them.

The Chairperson said that the Committee had observed that the IEC had planned for an unqualified audit target in their APP for 2017/18. The Content Advisor would also need to add the recommendation that the IEC should obtain a clean audit for the 2017/2018 financial year.

Mr A Figlan (DA) said that the Committee had not mentioned anything about vetting the security guards working at the GPW’s premises.

The Chairperson said that this had been added on to the recommendations under 7.3.2. He added that the security company responsible for hiring security would hire random personnel with no guaranteed training, and so he advised that a separate recommendation be added to ensure that the security company was also vetted.

Mr Figlan agreed that it should be added separately.

The Chairperson asked that the newly added observations be printed so that the recommendations could be discussed according to these new observations.

Ms Kenye said that the DHA had also to strive towards a clean audit.

Mr AM Figlan asked that 7.1.2 be clarified as it was vague. It stated that the DHA should engage the Department of Education (DoE) and SASSA on the documentation of children at schools and for child support grants respectively.

The Chairperson said that children without birth certificates were given SASSA grants and allowed to register for school. This was a challenge for the Department, because although the children were registered with the Department or Education and were receiving grants from Social Services, the DHA did not have them documented and in the system. This also became a problem when the child reached Matric and needed an ID document to write the exams, but did not have a birth certificate despite having been in the school system all their lives. Many children with the potential to succeed were being excluded by this, and the DHA had to find some way to regulate the matter in order to make sure that children had birth certificates. Furthermore, schools had somehow to request the necessary documents for the children at the school.

Mr Salmon confirmed that the statement written in 7.1.2 was not clear, and that it would be amended accordingly.

Ms Dambuza was concerned that some of the children would not be accepted into schools when it should be the clear mandate of the Department of Education that all children on South African soil, foreign or national, had to be in school and that vulnerable children needed to receive grants from social services. By passing that recommendation, she felt that the Committee would infringe on those rights. The Committee should merely advise the DHA on how to handle the problem.

Mr Hoosen said that the recommendation on 7.1.1, that the DHA should conduct more outreach programmes such as posters at health facilities, training clinic staff and seeking out the contact details of parents to promote registration within 30 days of birth, was ambiguous. He was not sure if it meant that the project had to be completed within 30 days or whether the registration of births had to take place in 30 days. He asked that it be worded more clearly.

The Chairperson asked that the content advisor take note of the request.

Mr Hoosen said that instead of using posters in hospitals, electronic devices could perhaps be an option used to communicate directly with the mothers after giving birth. The details were usually available, and if SMSs could be sent to people to collect ID documents, perhaps the same could be done for mothers as reminders to have their children’s birth registered.

The Chairperson said that it was a good idea, but even though the birth certificate could sometimes be completed immediately after giving birth, different cultures prohibited some women from doing that. He also mentioned the challenges faced by women in poor or rural areas, who travelled long distances to the nearest hospital with the help of strangers. Giving birth was often sudden, and women could easily forget to bring their ID documents with them.

Ms Kenye added that deliveries also happened at clinics, and perhaps the same information could be provided at the clinics as well.

Mr Salmon went through all the changes that had been made to the documents, from 6.1.4 to 6.1.12.

The Minister was worried that the recommendation mentioned for 7.1.2 would divert the problem, as the matter would be dealt with by the DHA.

Ms Dambuza was also not satisfied.

Mr Salmon and the Chairperson discussed ways to phrase the recommendation in a way that would not prevent children from going to school or receiving SASSA grants because of missing documents. The point 7.1.2 was amended to: “The DHA should engage the Department of Education (DoE) and SASSA on the documentation of children at schools and for child support grants respectively.”

Ms Dambuza felt that the recommendation was a work in progress.

The Chairperson said that the Committee’s amendments would be tabled by 14:00 on that day.

Ms D Raphuti (ANC) moved to adopt the document.

Ms Dambuza seconded the motion to adopt the report on the Department of Home Affairs Annual Performance Plan and Budget Vote, with amendments.

Mr Figlan reserved his right to vote on behalf of the DA, and asked for time to discuss it with his colleagues as well as discuss it at the DA’s caucus.

Ms Hlope said she would give her response the following day. She did not want to be pressured into making a decision immediately.

  

Consideration and adoption of Committee’s Annual Business Plan

Mr Salmon went through the Committee’s business plan for the rest of the term, including the plans for the trip to Germany in June.

Ms Dambuza said that point 2.3.7 from the Annual Business Plan was not part of the Parliament’s mandate.

The Chairperson said that it had been extracted as it was written in the Parliament’s model procedures.

Mr Salmon said that he could remove the point and refine it so that it sounded clear.

The Chairperson refused and said that the points had already been agreed to and adopted by Parliament.

Mr Salmon said that there were indicators which represented the work of the Committee. The activities and deliverables highlighted the baseline for the work to be completed.

Ms Dambuza directed the Committee to page 5, and said that she agreed with the target being nine provinces. She asked that there be a recommendation describing the available assistance in the event of an emergency.

The Chairperson said that according to the structure for the APP, it had to be according to the SMART mandate. He was concerned about the annual business plan not being indicative of clear targets.

The Content Advisor said that in each quarterly plan, targets had been placed and clearly stated. Part of the targets mentioned before were stakeholder reports which had to be improved. Another recommendation included ensuring enhanced quality of oversight. He read through the rest of the recommendations for the annual business plan.

The Chairperson said that the recommendations in the annual business plan would map out the action to follow per quarter. He highlighted the important events. The Committee was to meet the DHA on 23 May. Thereafter, the meeting with the Director General of National Treasury would take place on 30 May.  He asked that a venue with cameras be booked for a change, so that the work of the Committee would also be recognised. On 6 June, SITA would brief the Committee as a follow-up to the meeting held in September 2016. The DHA would brief the Committee on the 2017/2018 annual financial plan. The Committee would then leave for Germany on 17 June and return to South Africa on 24 June. He said that Lesotho would be holding their national elections on 3 June, and felt that it would be important to follow up on that, as well as get involved.

Mr Gumede moved adoption of the Portfolio Committee’s annual business plan.

Ms Dambuza seconded the motion.

The Chairperson said he was looking forward to a progressive term.

The meeting was adjourned.