NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
FOR WRITTEN REPLY
QUESTION 936
DATE OF PUBLICATION: Friday, 10 May 2013
INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO 15 of 2013
Mr M Mnqasela (DA) to ask the Minister of Home Affairs:
(1) (a) What was the reason for her Departmentâs Gala dinner held at the
Mittah Seperepere Convention Centre in the Northern Cape on Friday 9
March 2013 and
(b) what was the total cost of the event;
(2) who were the stakeholders that were invited to the event?
NW1158E
REPLY:
(1) & (2) The purpose of the Gala dinner was to provide me with an
opportunity to engage with the members of the stakeholder forums
and the Provincial leadership in the Northern Cape Province. I
introduced the concept of stakeholder forums to the Provincial
leadership, which included MECs and MPLs of the Northern Cape
Provincial Government, Traditional leadership, Faith based
organisations and Heads of Provincial Departments. The stakeholder
forumsâ members also participated in the engagements.
Further, the Department of Home Affairsâ key priority programmes
were also discussed. These include:
⢠The registering of babies within 30 days after birth
⢠Introducing the new unabridged birth certificate
⢠Assisting children who turn 16 years of age to apply for
Identity Documents
⢠Ensuring that people who are older than 16 years of age and
are not in possession of an ID, apply for the late
registration of their births
Lastly, I also discussed the Departmentâs goal of improving access
to its services in the Northern Cape Province. The challenges
facing the Department to obtain office space to increase its access
to services were discussed with all the stakeholders and the role
of all key stakeholders to ensure the success of the Department of
Home Affairsâ outreach campaigns was emphasised.
The cost of the dinner, including the venue, catering and election
of the stakeholder forum members was R408,275.00