Chairperson, the Minister of Home Affairs, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, the chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs, hon Advocate Bongo, the Whip of the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs, hon Mosa Chabane, members of the portfolio committee and distinguished guests, we are called to serve. We are called to do all in our power and capabilities to serve the people. The people come first they are the reason we exists as a department, we are not doing the people a favour for, in fact, we are offering a service that they are deserving as protected by the Constitution.
The services we offer our people are the sole responsibility of Home Affairs and as such this responsibility requires us to be at our best at all times. We have no option but to be the best because it is only the Home Affairs that can affirm or grant citizenship to foreign nationals. We are the only ones who can grant non-South Africans authority to enter or leave South Africa. We are the only ones who can allow non-South Africans to access, to come and work, study and to do business in South Africa through our visa regime.
It is only Home Affairs that can grant asylum seekers a refugee status in the Republic. It is only Home Affairs that can designate a port of entry to facilitate movement of people and goods in and out of the country opening a gateway for international trade. These are tasks that we must execute with a high level of consciousness. A compromised immigration system results in a compromised country. Our immigration system has a direct impact on our national security and the economy. Chairperson, we have a huge responsibility in our shoulders to maintain a world class immigration system. That is in line with the theme of this Budget Vote which is building a world class Home Affairs. If we are to do this, we must learn to convert themes into actions and dreams into reality. To do this, we must be frank and open. If we want a world class Home Affairs with world
class immigration systems we must be comfortable to discuss discomforting issues.
The Greek mathematician teaches us that, the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. To solve our problems we must be upfront, frank and direct. South Africa is today a great place to live in and many people in the world aspire to live, work and to be South Africans. We have developed laws that are humane, business friendly and go beyond just conforming to international standards on immigration to allow people to access South Africa. We do not deny them access outside of the laws. We give refugees the same rights as citizens except for the right to vote. They have access to our social services such as basic health and social grants. We do not run refugee camps, but we allow integration of refugees to local communities. The Southern African Development Community, Sadc, countries with the exception of the Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC, do not require a visa, but only a passport to visit South Africa. We do not deny foreign nationals to work, study and to do business in South Africa provided they comply with the Immigration Act and related legislation.
The white paper on international migration of 20l7 contends that international migration in general is beneficial if it is managed in
a way that it is efficient, secure and respectful of human rights. In general, nations flourish where people with different origins, skills, resources and cultures are able to live and trade peacefully. Despite these open and friendly channels of immigration, we still have those who enter our country illegally undermining the sovereignty of our country. The issue of illegal immigrants is not supposed to be a difficult issue because those who seek to come to South Africa must do so incompliance with the laws of our country. In the operation conducted in Marian Hill and Tongaat Toll Plaza between 1 and 7 July 20l9, we arrested 39 foreign nationals who were driving trucks without permits and legal status to be in the country. One employer has already been charged and more arrests are imminent. We do this by working with the police. We do not have a police department within the Department of Home Affairs, hon member, you must check your facts straight before coming to such platforms.
We will curb the appetite of employers to employ undocumented foreign nationals all in the name of profits. They must know that when they break the law and employ illegal immigrants they will face the consequences and our inspectorate unit will leave no stone unturned. The major reason why they do this is because the seek to maximize their profits by abusing foreign nationals by paying them below market value salaries because they know that they are in the
country illegally. This can no longer be allowed to continue. We will fight the corruption that allows people and goods to enter the country illegally. We have a serious responsibility to capacitate our inspectorate and allocate the necessary funding in order to enforce immigration laws that decisively deal with illegal immigration and its impact on our economy, social security spend and national security.
Chairperson, we are moving forward with the one-stop border post project. This will be implemented in the six priority land ports between South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Botswana. These will promote intraregional trade between our countries and will reduce and deal with elicit trade as well as illegal movement of people within our borders. The one-stop border post, OSBP, project will also reduce congestion and improve turnaround times in our points of entry. This project is in line with our plan to build a world class Home Affair. We do this with other countries that we share boarders with. So, we do talk to our African brothers contrary to the misleading statements. Of course, boarder movements will be enabled by this project to also provide a legal permitting route for Sadc to economic migrants. We will also place our efforts towards improving efficiency in our refugee reception centres. We have to speedily conclude the adjudication
process of asylum seekers who seek refugee status. We are located in
30 missions abroad where we process visa applications and offer civil applications. Maybe the reduction numbers on refugees is also part of our ability to process their requests much quicker.
We are now moving towards a new era that will bolster economic growth and create jobs for our country. We are moving forwards with the implementation of the e-visa regime. I think it is proper that we take fellow hon members through this process. This regime will place technology at the centre of our operations by making it easy yet secure to enter South Africa. The e- visa regime will see tourists and visitors to South African applying for their visas online and these will be sent to a central adjudication and approval whilst our visitors sit at the comfort of their homes. The e-visa regime will result to the issuing of virtual visas. The paperless virtual visa will combat visa fraud. This will open South Africa as a desirable destination through the ease of our visa systems. The e- visa regime will have huge tourism growth implications for the country.
The e-visa regime is anticipated to go on full production in November 20l9. We are not talking of something that we are not in the process of doing. This is something that we are already doing.
The department currently runs an Advanced Passenger Processing System. This allows us to see and target undesirable visitors before they even board a flight from their destinations. This gives us capacity to stop undesirable visitors for purposes of national security. We are now going further by establishing the national targeting centre that will do risk assessments on visitors after they have boarded flights as a secondary control system. This is critical to ensure that undesirable and risky visitors are kept at bay as we are creating a secure environment for the country.
The world systems will work with world class infrastructure like the e- gates. The National Border Targeting Centre will be used to profile trusted travellers. These travellers will then be registered in our e-gates systems which will open for them automatically as they present themselves on our airports of entry. These are world class systems that are linked with international policing and security. We are building a modern home affairs, Chair. We are moving forward with our e-gates system in partnership with Airports Company South Africa, Acsa. After we would have registered these trusted travellers, this would mean that bona fide South Africans citizens who are not flagged on the stop-risk engines will now be part of our trusted travellers which will drastically ease human
traffic for citizens giving us more capacity to speedily handle visitors in our airports.
The trusted traveller's security vetted by our systems will be able to check themselves in and out of the country using the e-gates which will register them on arrival and departure. This is in line with world standards. As a result of this technology our airports will now rank higher within the international community making it a desirable destination to do business. Chairperson, we are building a world class Home Affairs with world class immigration systems. We will never fail. This budget will enable us to do so. Thank You.