Chairperson, I would like to thank all the members who participated and all those who sat through this debate. I don't have enough time to address all the hon members' points, but since most of them belong to the portfolio committee, we can answer some of them there. So, hon members should not feel offended if I do not deal with their point.
I do want to deal with a few points. One, the Who Am I Online project is not linked to a service provider. Who Am I Online is the actual programme, and that programme is ongoing. I want to assure you that it was supposed to deliver for 2010, and it is going to deliver. As I said, it is already being used, it is already being piloted and it is going to be rolled out. After 2010, it will be rolled out to all the other ports that were not deemed priority for 2010. So, that will continue.
Two, I want to correct hon McGluwa. [Interjections.] There is no such report that was given to the former Minister. The report that was given to the former Minister was the report from the Auditor-General. The forensic audit started only after the Minister had gone, and she had left terms of reference which we gave to the professor who was doing the forensic audit. He did those, but new questions arose and we have given him those questions.
I want to assure you there is nothing that we are going to hide. As soon as that final report comes to us, we will hand it over to the portfolio committee's chairperson. There is nothing to hide. Whether it is good or bad, we will give it to you, so do not keep saying there is a hidden report somewhere.
Three, the State Information Technology Agency board is the one that stopped the tender from being finalised at Sita, and they instituted a forensic audit. So, it is appropriate for them to bring it here, and our director-general will be there. Do not worry about sanitisation. That will not happen. Everything will be presented. If the department did something wrong, it will be said. Both the current and former director-general will be there, so you will be able to deal with matters right there, on the spot. I wanted to clear that up.
I also want to deal with some of the problems. Yes, just as you receive all these e-mails, I receive SMSs and all sorts of things. The difference is that I do not bring them here, I deal with them. [Applause.] But as long as you send them to us, we will try and assist, because that is what we do.
I am sure that if hon member Balindlela was really worried about changes to her passport and ID taking a long time, she would have come to me and said, "Hey, Minister ...". But she waited so that she could report it here. It is fine, hon member, we understand. [Laughter.]
I now want to deal with a very difficult problem, one that is causing the public a lot of grief. This is the problem of duplicate IDs. That is causing a lot of problems. I will not go into detail, because I do not have a lot of time. I just want to say that part of the problem was that in the past the rule stated you had to find out the facts of both people before you resolved the problem. That is what made some of the problems last for so long.
We have changed that now. We now deal with the issue of the person who approached us, and in that way we have now been able to reduce that backlog from 29 000 to about 6 000. [Applause.] I do not have enough time to say all those things, but we are dealing with them.
I also want to say something about our employees. The budget for employees has increased. In 2009-10, the increase was R1,6 million, now it is R1,9 million. Next it will be R2,1 million, so I do not know about your arithmetic! I want to say to hon Mulder, yes, as far as I know, Van Riebeeck landed here, caused havoc, oppressed us, colonised us, did everything. Yes, the economy is great, but the majority is poor. The majority of the minority who colonised us is rich. So, I am not saying the economy is not good, but it is skewed. Let us have another debate, if you want, but that is a fact. We cannot say it is not factual. It is factual and I stand by what I said.
Perhaps, hon Mnqasela, I should address you by the title you normally use when you write to me: the Deputy Shadow Minister of Home Affairs. [Laughter.] The reason I have not had a meeting with you is that you give me very short notice. I cannot deal with that. At least, if you say to me we should meet, I can look at my diary, but if you say you want to meet me at a certain time on a certain day, it is difficult, hon Shadow Minister. [Laughter.]
On the question of the appeal board, yes, we will try to look at that, and we are dealing with SADC members. I had meetings with my counterparts from Lesotho, because that is where one of the major problems is, and we have agreed on certain things, which I will explain. I know we do not have the time now, but we are dealing with that. We are going to be meeting with them one by one, and then meet collectively. We are dealing with that.
Chairperson, do I still have my two minutes? Oh, good. I also want to deal with the audit. We are very honest with you: We are not expecting a clean audit within two years, not before 2012-13. Because we have quantified the problems, we are putting measures in place, but we have seen that we will not have a clean audit for another two years. We are honest about this, but we are doing our work in order to get there, and we hope that we will get there. [Applause.]
So, I hope next year you will not be asking what is happening with the audit. In the portfolio committee, we can tell you what measures we are putting in place and why we are saying it will take us at least two years to get there. We will not claim easy victories. We will just tell you the truth. Thank you. [Time expired.] [Applause.]
Debate concluded.