At the very outset of my address let me extend on behalf of our Minister, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, a sincere apology for not being here today due to unforeseen circumstances. I personally conveyed her apology to the Chairperson of the NCOP this morning.
The theme of this year's budget speech is: Working together to ensure South Africans value their identity and citizenship. In keeping with the topic of the previous debate, we recall the glorious 1956 women's march to the Union Buildings, led by Lillian Ngoyi, Helen Joseph, Sophie de Bruyn and Amina Cachalia, to demand an end to the hated pass laws.
Among these women was the legendary Mama Albertina Sisulu, who recently joined the ranks of our departed heroes and heroines. We take this opportunity to express our deep gratitude to the Sisulu family for having contributed this treasure of our people to a just cause for freedom, democracy and justice.
Critical to note, however, is that this march to the Union Buildings, was in essence about the restoration of the dignity, identity and citizenship of the majority of our people. It is an integral part of our overall struggle for the emancipation of our people from oppression.
Accordingly, today as we print new forms of identity documents, IDs, it is not simply a bureaucratic act; it is part of the historical mission to restore the dignity, identity and citizenship to all people, irrespective of colour, race, gender, religious beliefs and indeed sexual orientation.
Our budget speech also takes place against the context of yet another important date in the political calendar of our country. It is the date of the 35th anniversary of the 16 June 1976 student uprisings in Soweto and elsewhere in our country.
Last year we joined with our hon President and launched the national population registration campaign, which, inter alia, focuses on the issuing of IDs to young children on their 16th birthday.
In this regard, and as part of our contribution to the national commemoration services, the department deployed mobile units to all events organised by the National Youth Development Agency, NYDA, across the country, to mark the 35th anniversary of 16 June.
It is our conviction that it is absolutely critical for young people to apply for IDs upon reaching the age of 16. They will be able to fully participate in opportunities presented by a normal, democratic society, such as access to the opportunity to write their matric examinations, which is a vital gateway to a prosperous future. Social services for citizens in need of government help may only be accessed with an identity document. We therefore reiterate our view that an ID is indeed a passport to a better life for all.
The Department of Home Affairs has extended online connectivity to 189 public and private hospitals, as well as other health facilities, to enable the registration of all child births within 30 days. Where no connectivity exists, we have deployed our staff to collect registration forms daily from health facilities, for processing in our offices. We will endeavour to extend this connectivity to many more areas in this financial year.
In this regard we are happy to report to this House that pursuant to this campaign, between April 2010 and March 2011, 500 000 births were registered within 30 days; 445 000 babies were registered after 30 days but before they reached the age of one year; a further 130 000 children were registered after one year but before the age of 15; and 190 000 were registered after their 16th birthday. These figures indicate that our countrymen and -women are indeed responding positively to the department's campaign, and are reversing the culture of disaffection that is deeply entrenched in the psyche of mainly formerly oppressed groupings in our country.
All these achievements were made possible by the strategic partnerships that the department has initiated in all provinces of our country, through the establishment of stakeholder forums in 254 local government structures. We hope to launch others in the remaining 28 areas in the near future. We take this opportunity to express our deep gratitude to members of these stakeholder forums. They voluntarily contribute their time and effort while interrupting their busy schedules in the noble service of our people, without seeking material or financial reward.
These forums are very important to us because they enable the community to be involved in the direct governance processes within the department. They help monitor and assess the performance of our officials. They identify areas where the Home Affairs department has no footprint. They provide the necessary feedback from communities, and thus help us to improve on the delivery and extension of quality services to our people, both in urban and rural areas.
This month also marks the first anniversary since our country and its people successfully hosted the most beautiful spectacle in the world on our shores - the Fifa World Cup. We are indeed proud to have contributed to the hosting of the 2010 Fifa World Cup on behalf of the continent and thousands of football fans from across the world.
In collaboration with the SA Revenue Service we launched - as part of government guarantees to Fifa - the enhanced movement control system, which was rolled out at 34 priority air-, land- and seaports of entry. This system enabled the country to facilitate the smooth entry and exit of over two million visitors to our country, coinciding with the period of the World Cup.
Critical to note is that the system is integrated and linked to law- enforcement agencies, customs and the SA Revenue Service. Accordingly, and as part of the legacy, the system remains in place to assist us in ensuring a smooth immigration process, whilst simultaneously enabling the country to push back the frontiers of crime, fraud and corruption.
The success of the system was again highlighted during the recent investigation, which proved that a Somalian killed in Mogadishu recently was not in possession of a lawfully issued South African passport, but indeed held a very bad fake. The system proved without doubt that no movement into or out of the country by the deceased was recorded, nor would such a visit be possible, given the introduction of initiatives such as the advanced passenger processing system.
Two months ago the country once more witnessed successful democratic local government elections. In these elections the majority of our people were enabled to exercise their democratic right to vote for the candidates of their choice. This was made possible by the dedicated work of the Independent Electoral Commission, IEC, led by Dr Brigalia Bam and the chief executive officer, CEO, Adv Pansy Tlakula.
The IEC is one of the legal entities that support the work of the department. It is only correct therefore that we extend our deep gratitude to all members of the IEC for the sterling work done. It is for work done before, during and after the successive voter registration weekends, as well as on election day. They have certainly done our country and people proud. In this context, and as part of our commitment to assisting the IEC in meeting its obligations, we deployed mobile units to areas where the department did not have a footprint during the various dates of registration, including on election day.
On the other hand, staff at the Government Printing Works worked long hours to produce the requisite documents to enable members of the public to vote. We also opened all our offices to coincide with voter registration weekends and on the election day. We therefore want to thank the staff of the Department of Home Affairs and Government Printing Works. They made it possible to assist people with the issuing of temporary ID certificates and IDs to enable them to vote.
This financial year we will witness the prioritisation of a secure and effective management of immigration through, among other things the streamlining of our permitting regime and the use of the measures indicated earlier.
Critical to the effective management of immigration will be our co- operation with the Higher Education and Training and Economic Development Ministries, to proactively attract skills from abroad as part of government's New Growth Path, NGP. In this regard our department, which plays a facilitating role, has been charged with the responsibility to facilitate the entry of 50 000 critically skilled professionals in three years to support our national development priorities. The development of our own economy is partly a result of the sweat and blood of foreigners who, for years, have toiled on our mines, farms, factories and in other critical areas of our economy.
Accordingly, these critical skills, identified by the Ministry of Economic Development included, among others, engineers - civil, chemical, electrical and mechanical; agronomists; suitably qualified artisans; scientists; senior project managers; environmental experts; information and communication technology, ICT, specialists; economic planners; and others.
On Monday, 20 June, we joined the international community in commemorating World Refugee Day. The critical challenge arising from these international obligations, however, is the need for us to balance the need to offer asylum to those fleeing their countries of origin due to persecution with the need to maintain the security and integrity of our borders. This will also require co-operation with our regional partners. In pursuance thereof, we are currently reviewing and overhauling our asylumseeker management processes to ensure adequate capacity and expertise at all levels of the process to ensure its safety and efficiency.
During this last term the NCOP reviewed and passed amendments to the SA Citizenship, SA Births and Deaths Registration, and Refugees and Immigration Acts, as well as the Municipal Electoral Bill. We are happy to report that the SA Citizenship and the SA Births and Deaths Registration Amendment Bills have now been assented into law. They will become effective as soon as we have finalised the regulations governing their implementation.
Last year we successfully concluded the documentation process of Zimbabweans who were residing illegally in our country. In this regard a total of over 275 000 Zimbabweans came forth to apply for work, business and study permits. Again, this was made possible by the strategic partnership, created by the department in the form of a South Africa- Zimbabwe stakeholder forum. It consists of representatives of the government of Zimbabwe, nongovernmental organisations and various Zimbabwean political formations operating in our country. With everything remaining the same, and all partners co-operating to the fullest extent, we should be able to conclude the process of adjudication of all these applications by the end of July this year.
We have prioritised the improvement of the security of our systems, while ensuring effective and efficient delivery of quality services to our people. Accordingly, we are in the process of discussions with many countries as to the best international practice in the field of immigration and civic management.
As part of our commitment to building a new Department of Home Affairs, we are working towards reversing the trend of qualified audits. Members would be glad to hear this. In this regard we reiterate our commitment to working towards an unqualified audit in 2011-12, with a clean audit by 2012-13. We have strengthened our finance unit to lead our efforts in pursuance of this objective.
We have introduced a new corporate model, which resulted in the refurbishment of 30 offices across the country. The model includes the implementation of a queue management system in 13 of our offices, which will be rolled out to all other areas in the country in due course. Our offices are now open to the public from 07:30 to 16:30 on weekdays and from 08:30 to 12:30 on Saturdays. All these efforts require that we increase our human resource capacity.
My time has expired, but there are many more of our successes that I could have told you about. I do thank you all for your attention. [Applause.]