Chairperson, hon Deputy Minister Chohan, hon members, comrades, and distinguished guests ...
... pele ke eya tokomaneng ye ke e ngwadilego, ke rata go gopot?a mohl Faber gore a se ke a re seo se ?et?ego se hlalosit?we morago ga gore se diragale a be a etla mo Palamenteng gomme a nt?ha batho le Palamente tseleng. O re pasporoto ye motho a bego a tsamaya ka yona ke ya Afrika- Borwa. Pasporoto ye e be e se ya mo Afrika-Borwa, e be e le ya maaka. Bjale, mohlomphegi, o se ke wa tla mo Palamenteng wa fihla wa bolela selo seo se sego gona. Kgoro e e hlalosit?e taba ye. (Translation of Sepedi paragraph follows.)
[... before I continue with this document, I would like to remind hon Faber not to take us back and lead us astray. He says that a person carried a South African passport when it was actually a fraudulent passport. Hon Faber, please do not come here and tell us something that does not exist. The department has explained that.]
Chair, in considering this Budget Vote today, we must assess its adequacy and effectiveness against the vision that has been set by Cabinet and translated by the Department of Home Affairs. This vision is a safe, secure South Africa where all of its people are proud of and value their identity and citizenship. The mission goes further to speak of the efficient determination and safeguarding of the identity of the status of citizens and the regulation of immigration to ensure security, promote development and fulfil our international obligations.
Chairperson, what it therefore means is that the value the Department of Home Affairs commits itself to, is one of being people-centred, caring, patriotic, professional and having integrity, corruption-free ethical, efficient and innovative. As these debates are policy debates, let me speak to ANC policy and priorities on certain key aspects of this Budget Vote.
Of the 12 Medium-Term Strategic Framework government priority outcomes, Home Affairs has the responsibility to contribute to Outcome 3, and that outcome says that all people in South Africa are free and safe. The ANC's observation of the response of Home Affairs to this is reflected in the increased security of the identity and status of citizens that we have witnessed over the past 24 months. This has included effective and efficient refugee management strategies and systems to ensure that registration at birth is the only entry point for South Africans to the national population register; increased security of processes and systems to combat fraud and corruption; increased capacity to contribute to the fight against cyber crime; and the internationally accredited implementation of effective and efficient strategies to deal with asylumseekers and refugees.
Chairperson, let me dwell for a while on the budget prioritisation of this Budget Vote. The 2011-12 budget is weighted towards the citizen affairs programme, whose allocation has been reduced by 40%. It is a top priority to ensure that every South African is given the secure identity and citizenship that is their birth right, won through bitter struggles and great sacrifices. Therefore, an increased allocation to the aforementioned programme is more than justified. The budget contraction cannot in the context of the foregoing be justified. Given the current objective priority, the 55% contraction of the immigration services budget is difficult to rationalise. Push and pull factors favour the rise of immigration into the Republic. Immigration has inherent opportunities and threats which need to be attended to meticulously and precisely, averting both conflation and misdiagnoses.
The response to asylumseeking is essentially a humanitarian intervention. Chairperson, in addition to having been elected to give form to the New Economic Growth Path, South Africa needs skilled personnel to drive such growth. Whilst it is possible to produce such skills internally, an external injection of skills into the economy is required, and this in itself brings strain to Home Affairs.
Chairperson, in concluding on the actual vote of funds, it is a struggle to reconcile the critical nature of the mandate of Home Affairs to the operations of the developmental state with an 11% - in real terms - contraction of its budget from R5,8 billion to R5,5 billion. Home Affairs is about service delivery and the value attached to this budget contraction translates into weakened capacity to realise goals and curbing of the intermittent influx of challenges. Having said this, there can be no doubt that the orientation of Home Affairs is pro-poor. The fact that the National Population Register Campaign was launched in the rural town of Libode signals the pro-poor stance of Home Affairs. The National Population Register Campaign is planned to continue for at least two or more years. Through stakeholder forums Home Affairs is poised to reach, inter alia, workers who are isolated on farms, people who are institutionalised and vulnerable groups such as children in child-headed households and those in remote areas.
A budget allocation biased towards citizen affairs is arguably pro-poor, given that under apartheid the best of Africans, in particular, were often not registered; and this phenomenon invaded the democratic dispensation in communities that are remote or marginalised. This pro-poor inference is further validated on the grounds that apartheid social engineering has created a legacy of chronic poverty and underdevelopment among Africans in general and rural dwellers in particular.
Let me turn to ownership and application of documents as a fundamental thrust of Home Affairs in our commitment to meet the Millennium Development Goals and the resolution of the World Summit on Sustainable Development. The issuing of identity documents and birth registration certificates is linked to the facilitation of access to social grants - a means to alleviate poverty and hunger. Does this duty of Home Affairs contribute directly to the realisation of Millennium Development Goal 1 - the eradication of poverty and hunger? Securing the integrity of the National Population Register is linked to empowering women, as it facilitates their participation in economic affairs, strengthens the legitimacy of compensation, inheritance and claims relating to women beneficiaries in the main. In that regard it contributes to the achievements of Millennium Development Goal 3 - to promote gender equality and empower women.
Chairperson, the African Charter on Human and People's Rights is a very important document to reflect on for this Budget Vote debate. Amongst other things it says, "Every individual shall have the right to leave any country including his own ..." This right may be subject to restriction, provided by law for the protection of national security, law and order, public health and morality. It should therefore follow that any legal limitation of people's movement should serve the national interest and enhance national security. The asylumseeker process poses a serious threat to our national security and to the integrity of the immigration system.
As a country we are committed to play our part as hosts to those who have well-founded reasons to fear for their lives and who require refugee status, as defined in various international instruments. In the same vein, we are determined to obviate any abuse, overt or covert, of the system and to strengthen the asylumseeker process.
Chairperson, we are encouraged by the department's commitment to combating fraud and corruption as envisaged in its plan to effect, inter alia, proactive performance of a detailed data analysis to identify and investigate corrupt activities, increased vetting capacity, through an agreement with the State Security Agency to help with vetting investigations and possible evaluations and analysis, and lastly, close co- operation with law enforcement, state security and other pertinent agencies to ensure successful prosecution of corrupt officials. Chairperson, the ANC supports Budget Vote No 4: Home Affairs. Thank you. [Applause.]