Chair, I am getting paid for only one job. I hope I will not annoy the hon Bloem with a long response. The total number of applications for work permits received in the period 1 January 2005 to 31 January 2010 was 98 093.
The statistical information for the month of February 2010 cannot be provided yet, as it is still being processed. A total number of 10 532 applications for work permits were declined in the period 1 January 2005 to 31 January 2010. A total number of 87 561 work permits were granted in the period 1 January 2005 to 31 January 2010.
The nature of persons who were granted work permits includes the following and forms an integral part of the number of work permits granted: foreign nationals who possess skills and/or knowledge which is not readily available in the Republic of South Africa; exceptionally skilled foreign nationals; foreign nationals who possess qualifications and experience, of which there is an acute shortage in the Republic of South Africa; and foreign nationals who established their own businesses within the Republic of South Africa.
The nature of persons whose applications for work permits were declined includes those with incomplete documentation as prescribed by the Immigration Act, Act 13 of 2002 and the regulations incorporated in terms thereof, submitted with the applications. It also includes the applicants not complying with the prescribed requirements as set out in the immigration regulations. It included those whose information was not made known in their application, which might be to the detriment of the Republic of South Africa, as well as those whose applications included negative information in respect of their applications, when reviewed. Thank you.
UMBHEXESHI OYINTLOKO WEBHUNGA: Sekela-Sihlalo, ndingathanda ukuqonda kuSekela-Mphathiswa ukuba ingaba urhulumente uqinisekisa njani ukuba la maphepha aza naba bantu bavela kwamanye amazwe ngawenene kwaye naba bantu bangabanini awo la maphepha kunye neziqinisekiso ezo. Oku ndikutsho kuba aba bantu bavela kwamanye amazwe bayayenza into yokuza namaphepha anganyanisekanga. (Translation of isiXhosa paragraph follows.)
Deputy Chairperson, I would like to know how the government ensures that these documents the foreigners bring are genuine and that the people who are presenting them are the rightful owners of these documents and certificates. I'm asking this because the foreigners bring and present fraudulent documents.]
USEKELA NGQONGQOSHE WEZASEKHAYA : Mhlonishwa, Sotswebhu oMkhulu, abantu abafaka izicelo zokuthi bazosebenza la eNingizimu Afrika uma befaka izicelo zokuvunyelwa ngokwalolu hlelo lwamakhono angavamile naswelekile, siyaye sizicubungule izicelo zabo nemibhalo abasinikeza yona, ukusukela ezweni lapha umuntu efaka isicelo khona ukuze kuzofinyelela kule nkampani emqashayo azoyisebenzela.
Uma siluqala lolu hlelo sasisebenza nezinkampani ezinhlanu ezinkulu, okuyizona ezaziletha le mininingwane kithi, ukuze sikwazi ukuyicubungula. Saluhlola lolu hlelo ukuthi luzosebenza ngendlela efanelekile yini. Emva kwalokho sabe sesilenyusa inani lalezi zinkampani.
Sinesiqiniseko njengamanje ukuthi uhlelo esilusebenzisayo lusebenza ngendlela efanelekile. Kodwa kuzothi ngokuqala kwenyanga kaMeyi kuwo lo nyaka esikuwo bese sisebenzisa olunye uhlelo - lapho sizobe sisebenzisa izinkampani ezizimele ukuselekelela ukucubungula izicelo nemibhalo efakwa abantu abafisa ukusebenza nokuzovula amabhizinisi kuleli lizwe. Loku esizokubiza nge-Visa outsourcing, okuzokwelekelela emazweni lawa amakhulu njengo-India, oChina noNigeria sikwazi ukusheshisa ukucubungula imibhalo yezicelo zabantu abafisa ukuza ezweni lethu.
Lolu hlelo luzoqala ukusebenza kuwo lawa mazwe amathathu esengiwabalile, bese kuthi uma silubona ukuthi lusebenza kahle, silwenyusele nakwamanye amazwe. Lokho kuzoselekelela ukuthi sisheshise ukunikeza abantu abafanelekile ama-Visa okuthi bakwazi ukuzosebenza eNingizimu Afrika, njengoba kunesikhalo esikhulu sokuthi uMnyango wethu uyaye ikakhulukazi ubabambezele osomabhizinisi, nalabo abanamakhono aswelekile ezweni lethu uma befaka izicelo zokuthi beze ezweni lethu. Lolu hlelo luzosilekelela kakhulu, luyindlela esithuthukisa ngayo izinqubo esizisebenzisayo eMnyangweni. Ngiyabonga. (Translation of isiZulu paragraphs follows.)
[The DEPUTY MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS: Hon Chief Whip, when people who send applications to work in South Africa apply for permits through this programme of exceptional and scarce skills, we normally scrutinise their applications and the documents they submit from the country of origin to the company that they are going to work for.
When we started this programme we were working with five big companies, which provided us with this information so that we could scrutinise it. We tested this programme to see if it was going to work properly. After that we increased the number of companies.
We are now certain that the programme we are using is working properly. However, at the beginning of May this year, we will be using another programme. We will be using private companies to assist us in checking the applications and the documents that are submitted by the people who wish to work here or have their businesses in this country. This will be called visa outsourcing, which will assist in respect of big countries like India, China and Nigeria so that we will be able to speed up the process of checking the applications and documents of those who wish to work in our country.
This programme will be utilised in the aforementioned countries, and then if we see that it is working properly, we will take it to other countries too. This programme will assist us in expediting the process of granting visas to people who qualify for them. There is a complaint that our department hinders especially businesspeople and those with scarce skills when they apply for permits to come to our country. This programme will assist us a lot; it is our mechanism of developing the policies that we are using in the department. I thank you.]
Chair, I just can't understand why we outsource work while we have such a high unemployment rate. Why don't we train South Africans, instead of outsourcing the work to another country? There are sector education and training authorities, Setas, and other institutions where we can train our workforce. Why do we then outsource work?
Chair, let me say the same thing now in English: Basically the request is that I should translate what I said. When somebody applies for a visa to work in South Africa, you can't apply for that visa when you are already in South Africa. When you are here in South Africa, how will you explain your presence in the Republic of South Africa? You must explain the reason why you want to come to South Africa.
In big countries like Nigeria, China, Brazil and India, businesspeople and people with scarce and exceptional skills complain that the Department of Home Affairs takes too long to process their applications. The people who know who this person is are in that country, not in South Africa. Therefore, we must build capacity in that country so that we are able to expedite that person's application right in their country of origin.
The first reason why we decided to engage in this programme of outsourcing the processing of the applications for visas is that it will help us to expedite the processing of the applications. Secondly, all countries with which we compare ourselves are engaged in similar programmes with maximum benefits. It will help our programmes to attract foreign nationals to invest in our country or to work in South Africa under the exceptional and scarce skills programme.
This programme will process the applications but the final decision of adjudicating on the person's application will still be done by the officials of the Department of Home Affairs. It wastes time when the official who adjudicates must start from checking whether the person is a businessperson as claimed, has a criminal record or has the qualifications he claims to have. All of those are required as prerequisites before your application is adjudicated. That is what this programme will do.
We are doing it because in big countries it does not help us to centralise these services and do them ourselves. What it ends up doing is frustrating our businesspeople, trade and investment and the companies that are recruiting scarce and exceptional skills. Government ends up being blamed for something that we could have done better like other countries we compare ourselves to. Thank you.
Chairperson, how will this project that the Deputy Minister refers to improve the turnaround time and the cost of the project and how long will it run? What work permits will be issued to the 40 000 sex workers that are coming to the 2010 Fifa World Cup? How is that going to be handled? Thank you.
I did not know that the hon member already knows that there will be 40 000 prostitutes coming for the 2010 Fifa World Cup. I don't know whether she participated in recruiting them. With regard to this programme that we are talking about, I have just explained in detail, in both isiZulu and English, how it is going to assist in improving services. I could try in Afrikaans.
My Afrikaans is swak, maar ek kan probeer. [My Afrikaans is very poor, but I can try.]
With my Standard 10 Afrikaans, I may end up insulting someone.
I have an emergency. I have been presented with an urgent request. The Deputy President wants to see the Deputy Minister of International Relations and Co-operation. There is a question that he must respond to. I want to establish whether the member who asked the question, which is hon Lees, will be comfortable with the response being tabled.
Chairperson, the difficulty I have with that is that with oral questions there are follow-up questions, and a tabled response does not have follow-up questions. I would request that, if there is this urgency, the nature of which I am not aware of, that question be dealt with now, rather than later.
Chairperson, on a point of order: I don't think my question was answered. I thought I was insulted because I quoted a figure of 40 000 which was mentioned on the Sunday Times or The Star front page and I was then accused of helping to canvass them. I think that is an absolute insult. I also think that I asked for a turnaround time, in other words, where a document takes six months or eight months, it will be brought down to two months. I asked for the costs and was also not given a proper answer.
The problem with follow-up questions that are based on newspaper articles is that you don't know whether they are factual or just sensational reporting. The rule of questions is quite clear that, if you asked a question based on a newspaper article, you must attach that article. There must be a verification process.
If you put that as a follow-up question without proper facts being put - it could have been just an article for purposes of sensation - it would be quite unfair to expect the Minister to respond to something that he might not even have read. He might not read the Sunday Times. He might have his own Sunday newspaper that he prefers to the Sunday Times. That is why I did not want to put the Minister in an uncomfortable position by responding to that.
Do you agree that the Minister responded to the issues as raised, even during the follow-up? That does not stop you, if you are still uncomfortable, from making a follow-up but not at this particular moment. We want to proceed on this matter.
Chairperson, on a point of order: Is it parliamentary to allege that an hon member is a pimp?
Who said that?
The hon Deputy Minister alleged that.
That is not what I heard.
Can you then make a ruling on that, please?
The ruling on that matter is that, as far as I have listened to the Deputy Minister, I did not hear him saying that the hon member is a pimp. That question is out of order.
UMBHEXESHI OYINTLOKO WEBHUNGA: Sekela-Sihlalo, Ndingathanda ukubuza uSekela- Mphathiswa - ziyeke wena ezi zibheke ecaleni izinto - ukuba ingaba ikho na intsebenziswano phakathi kwesebe lakhe nelikaMnu. Cwele malunga nalo mba walo mbuzo wethu. Ndibuza kuba abantu abaninzi bangena ngobuqhophololo ngezi ncwadi zibiweyo baze benze okungekuko oku bathi bakuzele apha eMzantsi Afrika. (Translation of isiXhosa paragraph follows.)
Deputy Chairperson, I would like to ask the hon Deputy Minister - never mind the irrelevant stuff - whether there is any co-operation between his department and that of Mr Cwele about the issue in question. I'm asking because many people gain entry into the country fraudulently using stolen identity documents and they do not do what they said they had come for in South Africa.]
USEKELA NGQONGQOSHE WEZASEKHAYA: Siyasebenzisana nayo yonke iMinyango efanelekile ukuthi sibheke amadokodo futhi sicubungule amadokodo abantu abafaka izicelo zokuzosebenza noma ukuzokwenza amabhizinisi la eNingizimu Afrika.
Iningi labantu abangena ngokungemthetho ezweni ngabantu abangangeni ngendlela efanelekile. Sinayo imishini, nezindlela zokucubungula amadokodo abantu abafaka izicelo zama-Visa zokuza eNingizimu Afrika. Abantu abangena ngokunge mthetho yilabo abeqa imingcele noma abafumbathisa abanye uma bezongena ezweni. Kodwa kulabo abazokwenza amabhizinisi noma abanamakhono angavamile, ababaningi abantu esike sabathola abangena ngalolo hlelo. Siyaye sibacubungule besese mazweni abo ukuze kuthi befika lapha sibe sesazi ukuthi siwenze wonke umsebenzi ofanelekile.
Sisebenzisana nezinkampani ngoba akuthina esibabuyisayo kepha basuke bebuyiswa yilezi zinkampani ezifunela bantu imisebenzi zisinikeze uhlu lwabantu ababafunayo nokuthi banaziphi izinhlobo zemfundo namadokodo. Bese thina sicubungula ngaleyo ndlela esenza ngayo ukuze umuntu ekwazi ukuza eNingizimu Afrika. Uma kungukuthi mhlawumbe umuntu ehluleka ukuphumelela ekwenzeni msulwa ngamaphoyisa siyaye ke simnqabele loyo muntu. Njengoba ngisho ababaningi abantu kulolu luhla lwabantu abangena ngalolu hlobo esesibathole ukuthi banezinkinga ezingaleyo ndlela. (Translation of isiZulu paragraphs follows.)
[The DEPUTY MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS: We are working with all the relevant departments when we check and verify the documents of the people who apply for permits to work in South Africa or to run businesses here.
Most of the people who come here illegally are people who do not follow the proper channels in respect of gaining access to this country. We have machines and mechanisms in place to check the visa applications of people who want to come to South Africa. Illegal immigrants are those people who cross the borders or who bribe others to gain access to this country, but amongst those who come to set up businesses or who have scarce skills, we have not found many people who gain entry in that manner. We do the checking while they are still in their countries, so that when they arrive here we already know that all the necessary work has been done.
We are working with the companies because it is not us who send them away but the recruitment companies that we provide with the list of candidates, the information on their educational credentials and the documents. Then we do checking of our own so that a person can be authorised to come to South Africa. If, for example, a person fails a security clearance check, we do not allow that person entry. As I have said earlier, not many people who come here through this programme have been found to have problems of that nature.]
Details regarding government's position on North Korea's refusal to co- operate with United Nations and international community with regard to discontinuation of North Korea's nuclear arms programme
19. Mr R A Lees (DA) asked the Minister of International Relations and Co- operation:
(1) What is the government's position on North Korea's refusal to co- operate with the United Nations and the international community with regard to the discontinuation of its nuclear arms programme; (2) whether South Africa has (a) taken any diplomatic steps and/or (b) held any discussions with North Korea to discontinue its nuclear arms programme; if not, why not; if so, (i) what steps and (ii) what are the further relevant details?