Hon Chairperson, hon Deputy Minister Chohan-Kota, hon members, departmental delegation, comrades and distinguished guests, Constitutional Principles 1 and 7 of Schedule 5 of the 1993 Interim Constitution read as follows:
The Constitution of South Africa shall provide for the establishment of one sovereign state, a common South African citizenship and a democratic system of government committed to achieving equality between men and women and people of all races. There shall be representative government embracing multiparty democracy, regular elections, universal adult suffrage, a common voters' roll, and, in general, proportional representation.
The ANC - the organisation launched to unite our people and deliver services to all, irrespective of race, class or gender - views the Budget Vote of Home Affairs within the constitutional responsibilities and obligations of the state. This being the case, the ANC's policy formulation seeks to address the following: the revision of the Immigration Act, Act 13 of 2002, to guarantee that it promotes development while addressing national and regional security concerns, through the introduction of stringent screening processes to prevent law fugitives from other countries from entering the country on the pretext of being refugees; promoting the fight against xenophobia and facilitation of social integration of refugees; and declaring immigration officers and other strategic components of Home Affairs, such as those dealing with death registration, as essential services.
The Constitution places a huge responsibility on the shoulders of Home Affairs. Home Affairs, in particular, has the responsibility of securing the integrity, identity and status of citizens.
The magnitude of this constitutional responsibility means that Home Affairs is tasked with the responsibility of ensuring that all South Africans of 16 years and older, possess birth registration certificates and ID books; that economic migrants have been separated from genuine asylumseekers; that fraud and corruption has been curtailed; and that the National Population Register, NPR, has integrity.
The department has demonstrated beyond the shadow of a doubt that its heart lies with the people. It has been an epitome of a caring developmental state that knows where the people are.
In his 2011 state of the nation address, President Zuma said:
We are concerned that unemployment and poverty persist despite the economic growth experienced in the past 10 years. To address these concerns, we have declared 2011 a year of job creation through meaningful economic transformation and inclusive growth.
It is, therefore, incumbent upon each government department to realise this imperative.
In respect of job creation, Home Affairs has been able to identify 417 priority posts and these were funded posts in 2010-11. Of these 417 posts, 254 have been filled to date, which represents 60% of the total. Prevailing unemployment levels and the need for Home Affairs to build its capacity to deliver on its mandate make it essential that the remaining 40% unfilled posts be addressed as soon as it is reasonably possible to do so.
We are also concerned that in the 2009-10 financial year the department had acting positions beyond the legal limit of 12 months and consequently disclosed R5,8 million expenditure as irregular. We urge urgent attendance to these matters, which otherwise threaten to blemish the good image of this department. We certainly in no doubt as to the department's commitment to realising the creation of decent jobs and sustainable livelihoods.
Outcome 5 of the 12 priorities of government talks about "A skilled and capable workforce to support an inclusive growth path". In this regard, Home Affairs should focus on critical skills shortage, supportive of the medium-term strategies and outcomes adopted by government. Furthermore, outcome 12 of the 12 priorities of government talks about "An efficient and development-oriented Public Service and an empowered, fair and inclusive citizenship".
The implications of the two outcomes is that Home Affairs will have to ensure service delivery access and quality in order to achieve, among other things, the following: the registration of every child birth within 30 days; the issuing of identity documents to every South African 16 years and above; integrated key systems and upgraded information and technology, IT, infrastructure for improved security and data integrity; improved turnaround times for all services, queuing time and unit costs per service; and reduced maximum distance for a citizen to travel to access Home Affairs services.
Turning to gender equity and the Department of Home Affairs, the ANC continues not only to fight for gender equity, but to exemplify it through its internal processes. Section 9 of the South African Constitution entrenches equality in that it prohibits unfair discrimination on the basis of gender. As a United Nations, UN, member state, we are signatories to the Millennium Development Goals, MDGs, and MDG 3 enjoins us to promote gender equality and women empowerment. We note that Home Affairs has not yet reached gender parity in its staff component, and this weakness needs to be corrected going forward.
As I have outlined, it is the responsibility of every department to contribute to job creation and the New Economic Growth Path. This Budget Vote, therefore, needs to speak to this. Job driver 4 of the New Growth Path speaks to investing in social capital and public services, which has a direct bearing upon Home Affairs. The New Growth Path outlines that the Public Service can generate 100 000 jobs by 2020 across a broad range of departments, even if the Public Service grows only by 1% per annum.
In addition, there are huge possibilities for Home Affairs through the public employment schemes to create employment. The key challenge for this Budget Vote is to identify clearly where jobs can be created within the Budget Vote that has been allocated. Here I am not just speaking of the vacant funded posts, but the initiatives that can lead to and result in employment creation. As the New Growth Path articulates, all of these initiatives will require comprehensive departmental support, and we need to see evidence of this in the Budget Vote.
What this practically means is that targets are being set by Cabinet for growth in the Public Service in line with the New Growth Path, to meet specific national needs. Home Affairs meets the criteria of specific national needs by virtue of it being one of the frontline service delivery departments. The youth brigades that have been established in other departments need to take root in Home Affairs as well. For example, the intergovernmental relationship between the Departments of Rural Development and Land Reform, and Home Affairs must mean that the 8 000 brigades in Rural Development are going to interface and bring new areas of growth for Home Affairs, all of which could result in expansion of services through Home Affairs in rural areas. Does this Budget Vote speak to these possibilities or does the focus remain inward-looking and fixed on the notion of funded vacant posts?
Exposing young people to work experience through internships is already established in the Public Service and the ANC would call for the expansion of this programme, especially for a department such as Home Affairs.
In anticipation of the response to what I have just said, let me add that the expansion of public employment will require budgeting and a strategy to ensure both affordability and cost effectiveness. It is within this context that I express reservation in the actual decline in Budget Vote allocations for this financial year for the citizenship programme and immigration services. This is a cause for concern and needs to be addressed in this debate. I am mindful of the fact that there have been savings and cost- effective measures of R15 million for this year, which is welcomed, but the overall decline in the Budget Vote for this year far exceeds this amount. We need to get answers to this in the debate today.
The ANC supports the Home Affairs Budget. Thank you. [Applause.]