House Chairperson; hon Minister, Deputy Minister, MPs, the officials from the Department of Home Affairs, IEC and Government Printing Works, just a few weeks ago on the 8 May 2019, South Africans made their voices heard through the ballot box. The IFP thanks each and every voter who supported our democracy by
casting their vote, the ultimate act of patriotism. We thank the voters for giving the IFP an increased mandate and we pledge to serve the electorate to the very best of our abilities.
However, it would be remiss of me not to mention our concern with the struggling nature of the elections passed. The allegations of indelible ink disappearing, faulty zip-zip machines, people voting more than once and other shortcomings had placed at risk the very credibility of our electoral system. We are however grateful that the IEC has already started looking at new technology to replace our old voting systems and we hope that Treasury will give them support in this regard.
Seventeen years ago, the then Minister of Home Affairs, Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi, appointed a commission of inquiry into South Africa's electoral system. The commission agreed that our electoral system lacked accountability, and a mixed system was proposed. Why do we still talk about the Van Zyl Slabbert commission, 17 years later, in 2019? This year's elections were mired by dodgy characters, appearing on party lists to be MPs and MPLs, most notably sitting on this side of the House. Not you, Mr Lekota! [Laughter.]
A genuine outcry from the public that they wanted to see greater accountability from our electoral system. Also because at the time, Cabinet had promised to implement the recommendations at a later stage, but that later stage never arrived. So, it is our hope, hon Minister, that you will in fact reopen this debate because electoral reform is needed.
Minister, your department faces many severe challenges. Whether it is the traumatising long queues at Home Affairs office, or computers that are offline for days on end, or the critical vacancies to go unfilled, or the applications to lie unattended for weeks and months and years. I am quite shocked today to hear that MPs can get a smart card ID within 48 hours when in fact for citizens it will take perhaps 48 months to get that documentation. So, we should be speeding up services for everyone, not just for MPs, but for all our citizens.
Your act of patriotism, Minister, must be that you fix what is broken within the Department of Home Affairs. When the Department of Home Affairs fails, it fails the most vulnerable in our society. When Home Affairs fails, it fails pensioners; it fails vulnerable children; it fails young people who cannot access job opportunities. When Home Affairs fails, the consequences are dire. When Home
Affairs fails, it fails people like Elize Marcha O'Brien. She is currently married to an Egyptian national, somebody she has never met. When her fraudulent marriage was discovered, her real relationship ended, as Elize could not prove her innocence.
After three years, Home Affairs has still not annulled that fraudulent marriage. Her life has been ruined. The Minister spoke earlier about squanderers at the Department of Home Affairs who are corrupt but the IFP believes we need severe jail sentences for those who sell South African paperworks for a few hundred rands. In the same way, the IFP believes that we need to secure our porous borders and deal with lawless elements, who are flouting our laws.
Just recently, South Africans were left reeling when our own SA Police Service offices were attached by undocumented migrants in Hillbrow. In December 2017, you hon Minister, when you were still the Minister of Health told us that 60% of babies being born in the Steve Biko Academic Hospital were from other countries. Just last week, Gauteng Premier David Makhura told us that his administration needs a better plan to deal with illegal migration into his province.
Clearly, your government realised you've got a challenge, but as it is always the case with the ANC-led government, you seem not to have a plan. Throughout South Africa, even outside of the precinct of Parliament, you find businesses operated by undocumented migrants who flout our laws: They do not pay tax; they do not pay VAT; and they pay their staff less than minimum wage.
Out trucking industry is in crisis. Lives have been lost because South African job seekers are saying they are being shunned in favour of undocumented migrants who can be paid less. Let me be clear today: What I am speaking about has got nothing to do with being unAfrican or xenophobia. It has to do with the rule of law; it has to do with the Constitution and it has to do with being patriotic. When they mention the insecurity of our state, our citizens are threatened. We need to act.
Last month, Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari, signed an executive order to withhold visas from foreign workers whose skills are readily available in Nigeria. His was an act of patriotism. He put the people of Nigeria first. This budget before us needs to fix many problems. Some will be easily fixable, but others will require real political will and real patriotism. The IFP looks forward to working with you, hon Minister, and to partner with you in fixing
the Department of Home Affairs and putting South Africans first. I thank you. [Time expired.] [Applause.]
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