I wish to thank the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs for
the opportunity to address it on the activities and planning
agenda of the Department of Home Affairs. This discussion is all
the more pertinent in view of the forthcoming Home Affairs Budget
Appropriation Debate, scheduled for this very month. I hope that
the information we share during this meeting may enable Members
of this Committee to engage in constructive debate on that
occasion. Furthermore, with your active support, informed advice
and your policy input, the Department will be better positioned
to meet social expectations with regard to the provision of the
services allocated to it by Parliament.
As you all know the two functions of the Department are firstly
the identification of members of the population and the granting
of specific rights and powers, and secondly the exercise of
control over the admission of aliens to, and their sojourn in the
Republic of South Africa. In addition, the Department manages and
operates the Government Printing Works.
I can say with conviction that the staff of the Department of
Home Affairs has performed these functions with dedication and
hard work over the past years. I know the difficult conditions
under which they often go the extra mile to please our clients.
Unfortunately, however, the few times in which we fall short in
rendering exemplary services, are those that are remembered and
focussed on. We must also draw a constant distinction between the
hard work and dedication of the majority of our officials on the
one hand, and, on the other hand, the problems and malfunctions
affecting our service delivery which are the product of a
combination of obsolete administrative structures and many of the
laws, which we are struggling to reform, and our failure to
render services to the best of our ability because of the poor
funding this Department has received ever since I was appointed.
Recent media reports focussing on the tabling in Parliament of
the Public Service Commission's report "Home Affairs Batho
Pele and Management Audit Investigations", bear this out.
This despite the fact that the report was based on investigations
conducted in 1999 and early 2000, covering a period when the
Department was without a Director-General. At that time, the
Department had already embarked on an extensive programme of
service delivery improvements. On April 12 I instructed the
Department to report what has been done since February 2000 to
address some of the issues highlighted in the report. In my
instruction, I also instructed the Department to abandon ideas of
redesigning the Department before we build on the plans which are
already in place and fix the most obvious problems and
shortcomings. I am awaiting the Department's response.
I must stress that the many problems the Department is
experiencing are only marginally caused by its people. To a
greater extent they are caused by our lack of resources and the
structural imbalances within the organisation of its two
functions, which can only be corrected through the long-term
reforms we envisage. In the mean time, to resolve the problem of
resources we must find ways and means of doing things
differently. I have urged a change of attitude which starts at
the delivery interface between our structures and our clients in
respect of both our civic affairs and migration control
functions. We need to be more responsive and more accommodating,
especially in respect of our clients seeking migration control
benefits. We also need to find ways and means of performing our
tasks more simply and effectively with fewer resources.
To this end, but also as a requirement laid down in the Public
Finance Management Act, my Department embarked on a strategic
planning process that constitutes the first comprehensive
planning instrument of the Department of Home Affairs. It is the
product of deliberations during a top management workshop held
during the period 21-26 January 2001. I opened this workshop by
restating the policy vision of reform, restructuring and
transformation in line with my submission to Cabinet during our
Cabinet lekgotla. Given the general interest in the matter, I
instructed that my opening address be posted on our Web site.
Together with the implementation of this strategic vision, I
urged the development of a new institutional culture and
operational parameters which define who we are and what we do.
Unfortunately, the Department has not yet reported to me on the
outcome of this workshop, in spite of the time which has lapsed.
Nonetheless, I trust that the report will emphasise the need to
pursue the ambitious goals and objectives we have set for
ourselves, as well as mechanisms to measure progress and success
in a multi-disciplinary framework focussing on high priority,
short-term needs and daily management agenda items, as well as
important long-term objectives for improved service delivery.
Of course, any strategic plan can never be seen in isolation from
the budget allocated to my Department. I reported in detail at
last year's Home Affairs Budget Appropriation Debate on the
insufficient funding in every sphere of activity of my
Department. Unfortunately, the situation this year looks no
different. In fact, for the 2001/2002 financial year the budget
allocation of the Department, personnel expenditure excluded, has
decreased by 5,9% when compared to the previous year, which is
unbearable, taking into account the increase in the services
expected from the Department. This severe under-funding impacts
negatively on all the Department's activities and, consequently,
on our level of service delivery. It has impaired a number of the
Department's identified priorities, such as the upgrading of the
Population Register, the upgrading of the Movement Control System
and the taking over of 14 border posts from the South African
Police Service, at their request. The legal cases, often arising
out of deficient legislation, which my Department defends
resulted in expenditure of over R3 million. Yet, with the current
budgeted allocation, only R1 million is available for this
purpose. Furthermore, although the computerisation of
Departmental offices and linking them to the Departmental
mainframe in order to optimise service delivery has been
identified as one of the strategic goals, the practical
implementation of this will be seriously hampered by insufficient
funding. National Treasury has already indicated that the
Department should consider Public Private Partnerships for
funding
of these priorities.
Due to these budget constraints, the Department has had to place
a moratorium on the filling of all vacancies since 1998. As a
result of this moratorium and the vacancies created by a number
of personnel taking voluntary severance packages, the Department
had a vacancy rate of 19,2% on its establishment for almost the
whole of 2000.
The effect of this can be seen in a statistical decrease of
almost all the services being rendered by the Department of Home
Affairs. During the latter part of 2000, a stage was reached
where the Department, with its existing personnel, could no
longer render a professional, efficient service to its clients.
The morale amongst existing personnel had become low, due to the
tremendous workload and continuous working of overtime, and with
backlogs increasing steadily. It had become imperative to appoint
additional staff to avoid serious embarrassment.
Consequently, through a process of critical analysis, 231 posts,
to be funded from savings accomplished by extreme belt-tightening
efforts elsewhere in the Department, were identified for filling.
The process of filling these 231 critical posts will be completed
within the foreseeable future. Despite this exercise the
Department still had 16,1% of the posts on its establishment
vacant on March 31, 2001. To render the kind of services expected
from the Department while operating with 84% of a staff
establishment determined on the basis of the needs six years ago,
is impossible.
It has clearly become imperative that a scientifically based
staff establishment for the Department, based on current needs,
be compiled and that the necessary funding be obtained to
suitably fill the posts concerned in order to render the kind of
service members of the public expect and deserve.
Following the new demarcation of municipalities, my Department
has embarked on a process of re-evaluating the present location
of its network of offices so as to endeavour to align this with
the new municipal areas. This is obviously a long-term exercise
but is part of the ongoing efforts to improve the Department's
service delivery to the public of South Africa. However, the
fundamental issue of the unequal distribution of civic affairs
services across the territory cannot be solved within the present
paradigm. Apartheid has left us with a concentration of our
offices in affluent areas, and with vastly inadequate resources
where the majority of our people live and where, because of
historical backlogs, the need for our services is the most
intense.
As mentioned in the President's state of the nation address, we
will need to devolve functions to municipalities in order to
provide a long-term stable and sustainable solution to the
problem. This is an essential part of the overall strategy of
reforming and restructuring our Department which I mentioned
earlier. On the basis of the presentation I gave to the Cabinet
lekgotla, I instructed the Department to begin planning the
transfer of the delivery functions of civic affairs to
municipalities and traditional authorities. Municipalities are
equally distributed across the territory and there is no reason
why, in our country, one should not be able to receive birth and
death certificates, identity documents and other civic affairs
services from municipalities, as one can in most countries of the
world. It is also cheaper to build capacity in municipalities
rather than building our own capacity wherever it is required,
because the capacity which can be built in municipalities can
also be employed for other services, either other government
delegated functions, such as the delivery of welfare services, or
other municipal services which can be delivered by the same
office and with the same staff, in the same place.
Once the delivery aspect of civic affairs is devolved to
municipalities, the central government will maintain all the
powers and functions relating to the population registry, the
national identification system, including fingerprinting, and any
policy and legislation relating thereto. Our Department will help
build capacity in municipalities, maintain the integrity of the
system and access protocols and, generally speaking, monitor how
municipalities perform their function, and assist them as and
when required. This approach will also enable our Department to
deal with the problems and inadequacy it experiences in respect
of its function of migration control. Indeed, the reform of
migration control and the delegation of powers and functions to
municipalities are two complimentary sides of the same long-term
reform and restructuring of our Department. The present delivery
structures, offices and personnel of the Department will be able
to be directed more suitably towards the exercise of migration
control. In fact, migration control is less sensitive to the
requirement of equal distribution of offices across the territory
and our present allocation of resources fairly reflects the
distributional needs of migration control activities across the
territory.
While pursuing this long-term vision, and in preparation thereof,
my Department has also, with the blessing of our colleagues in
the Department of Provincial and Local Government, embarked on a
process of negotiating with local and rural authorities for
co-operation in the rendering of civic services. These
negotiations have met with positive responses from several
quarters.
My Department is also co-operating closely with the GCIS
initiative to establish Multi-Purpose Community Centres (MPCCs)
to integrate service delivery at community level, especially in
rural areas. MPCCs have allowed for close collaboration between
national, provincial and local governments, as these centres are
homes for government services in different spheres. The
Department will participate in all MPCCs and will ensure that
appropriate staff is made available for these purposes.
Improving service delivery also pertains to the services Home
Affairs renders in respect of foreigners. The Department has
grown used to administering migration control in terms of the
Aliens Control Act and at times fails to accept that from the
viewpoint of our clients, the function of migration control has
become inadequate and ineffective in sustaining present pressures
and satisfying future challenges. The inefficiency and inadequacy
of migration control is one of the contributing factors
preventing our country from acquiring the skills and human
resources it needs to grow and prosper. After four years of
intense policy formulation, a new vision for migration control in
the 21st century has been developed, which has been embodied in
the Immigration Bill serving before Cabinet. As the matter is
still in the process of being finalised by Cabinet, it would be
improper for me to comment on it or discuss it extensively.
Many of the members of this Committee honoured me with their
presence during the international conference we held on the Bill
in July last year and are therefore familiar with the features
and purposes of the new Bill. Since the draft Bill has been
substantially amended to reflect comments and requests made by my
colleagues during the extensive discussions held in Cabinet and
its committees or by their departments during the extensive
interdepartmental discussions held since the Bill was first
tabled in Cabinet. The latest version of the Bill has been posted
on our Web site for a while. However, there is a second version
of the Bill which has been prepared at the request of Cabinet, in
which the Immigration Service no longer features, which, for
transparency sake, has also been posted on our Web site.
At this juncture it shall suffice to remind the Members that the
main thrust of the new legislation will be that of simplifying
the processing of temporary and permanent residence permit
applications so as to attract required skills to our country and
to move administrative capacity towards law enforcement and the
prevention, detection and investigation of illegal aliens and
their removal from the country. The President, in his State of
the Nation Address, mentioned the urgent review of immigration
laws and procedures as one of the priority actions to stimulate
the economy of the country.
Cabinet has recently held a workshop in which uncertainties
regarding the Immigration Bill were clarified. The Bill has
received wide support in civil society in spite of being part of
what will always remain a controversial field, and I trust that
this Bill will pass through the parliamentary process in the
current year. As you know, in his State of the National Address,
the President has indicated his wish that Parliament may process
this Bill this year, and the parliamentary schedule reflects this
hope. I hope that my Department and this Committee may work hand
in hand in processing this Bill once it is approved by Cabinet,
and I can assure the Committee that I and my staff will be
available at all times to provide whatever assistance the
Committee may require in this task, which I know from experience
to be a very difficult and complex one.
We must take cognisance that, unfortunately, migration to our
country takes two forms, legal, that is in terms of the
prescribed immigration procedures, and illegal, as people enter
and reside in South Africa in an unlawful manner. At present both
add significantly to the workload of the Department and the
severe shortages of personnel and funding that I have described
earlier similarly impacts on migration management. For lack of
resources, not much is being done in respect of illegal
immigration, which in the long run will cause difficult policy
problems for the country as a whole. We hope that once the new
legislation brings about a complete overhaul of the
administrative structure presently dedicated to migration
control, more can be done to deal with illegal immigration.
However, until then, in a certain sense we are postponing facing
up to a difficult policy debate that we, as a country, will
sooner or later need to confront, relating to the degree of law
enforcement we wish to achieve in migration control and the
measure of resources and energies we intend to dedicate to this
end.
I have instructed the Department that foreign spouses of South
African citizens and permanent residents must be allowed to work
within South Africa and that they be eligible for work permits
free of charge, while their permit application for permanent
residence is being processed. The renewal of their permits will
also be entertained free of charge. It should be noted that such
spouses must lodge an application for an immigration permit
within ninety (90) days from the date of receipt of a temporary
residence permit. I hope that this instruction has in fact been
carried out.
Measures are also currently in place to accommodate the residence
of life partners in South Africa. I recently reviewed and
extended the cut-off date of March 19, 2001 for life partners of
South African citizens or permanent residents to apply for an
extension of their exemptions. These life partners have the
opportunity to work in South Africa and to apply for permanent
residence. All these interim measures will be deal with in the
new legislation once enacted.
April 1, 2001 marks the first anniversary of the entry into force
of the Refugees Act, 1998, (Act 130 of 1998) and its Regulations
and the implementation of the new refugee status determination
procedure. The Act increased the structure of the Refugees Appeal
Board from one person to three persons, and broadened the scope
of the Board. Furthermore, the Act required that the powers of
the Standing Committee on Refugee Affairs be delegated and
decentralised to the Regional Directorates of the Department of
Home Affairs. Five Refugee Reception Offices were established at
Braamfontein, Port Elizabeth, Cape Town, Pretoria and Durban.
Although the Department requested an additional amount of R11,218
million to implement the Refugee Reception Offices required by
the Act, it could only make provision for R1,3 million to fill
some of the posts at the Refugee Reception Offices.
Recently, my Department has implemented a number of measures that
will enhance the situation of refugees and asylum seekers in
South Africa. As you may have read in press reports, some of such
measures have been controversial, including those embodied in a
circular adopted without prior consultation with me or my office,
as should happen in respect of policy matters of this nature. I
have instructed the Department to deal with any matter relating
to refugee affairs in terms of the strictest compliance possible
with applicable international law rules and standards, and that
such circular be reviewed in terms thereof.
The exercise to clear the backlog of asylum applications which
were active and pending at the date of entry into force of the
new refugee status determination procedures, embarked on with the
assistance of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees and
the Human Rights Commission, was completed on 31 March 2001. The
conversion of the Section 41 permits issued in terms of the
Aliens Control Act, 1991, held by asylum seekers who applied
under the old procedure, into Section 22 permits issued in terms
of the Refugees Act, 1998, was completed by 31 April 2001. To
respect acquired rights of former Section 41 permit holders, the
Section 22 permit will be endorsed to enable the holders to
continue working or studying, as they have done hitherto. Of
course, under normal circumstances asylum seekers are not allowed
to work, in terms of the provisions of the Refugees Act, 1998. As
from 1 May 2001 my Department has commenced with the issuance of
new Refugee Identity Cards to all recognised refugees, which will
enable them to fully exercise their rights and comply with their
obligations in South Africa.
Since 1 April 2000 visa applications from foreigners wishing to
visit South Africa may only be lodged at South African missions
abroad. This new policy was, in general, well received and is
working effectively. Nationals from countries where South Africa
is not represented are lodging applications timeously with the
assistance of courier services and travel agents. The number of
persons arriving at South African ports of entry without visas
has decreased. This is ascribed to the strict policy of refusing
entry to persons arriving without visas.
In this regard it should also be mentioned that the Department of
Foreign Affairs has indicated that the workload in the consular
sections of South African Missions abroad has escalated to such
an extent that more officials from the Department of Home Affairs
need to be transferred to these Missions. It would, however, not
be possible to consider this, as my Department is struggling to
financially maintain the current number of officials abroad.
The Movement Control System that records the movement of persons
through the border posts of the country was developed and first
implemented in 1989. The programme had an estimated usable life
of five years but has now been in use for twelve years and is
completely outdated, and can no longer cope with the volume of
data. The system no longer satisfies the needs of the various
user departments and requires a complete rewrite. This would cost
approximately R20m, but funds have not been made available for
the purpose. As the programme is so outdated, new technology
cannot be used on it. Consequently it is becoming progressively
less efficient and will soon be unusable.
Turning now to the second form of migration, namely illegal
immigration, the Department of Home Affairs spends approximately
R35m annually on repatriations of illegal aliens and
deportations. This amount does not include salaries of staff
involved and their accommodation costs.
As is the case with all the activities of the Department of Home
Affairs, the Department's task in the tracing and removal of
illegal aliens is being hampered by the lack of manpower and
financial resources. The Department will henceforth place more
emphasis on the prosecution of persons who employ, provide
accommodation or education to aliens in contravention of the
Aliens Control Act. Nonetheless, the Department ordered or caused
the repatriation of 170,317 illegal aliens to their countries of
origin last year.
A concern in this regard is the fact that the so-called
"marriages of convenience" where illegal aliens enter
into marriages with South African partners, either by fraudulent
means or by arrangement with a South African accomplice, are on
the increase, in their attempts to legalise their stay in the
country. Administrative procedures are constantly being reviewed
in an attempt to curb further increases of this abuse of an
otherwise fundamental human right.
The Department's bilateral contact with its SADC counterparts on
migration issues has increased and strengthened over the past 12
months. Major progress has been made on issues that have long
been outstanding with Mozambique, Lesotho and Botswana. The
Department strives for continuous contact with all SADC members
on migration concerns that impact on the country and the region
as a whole. The International Organisation for Migration has
initiated a forum for the region at which migration strategies
for SADC are examined and Departmental representation at this
forum is active.
Turning to the Civic Services terrain I am once again proud to
say that, in the run-up to the Municipal Elections, my Department
was able to cope with the demand for identity documents. No
prospective voter was disenfranchised as a result of my
Department's inability to provide the necessary documentation
timeously. It is in fact heartening to be able to say that,
despite the staffing levels mentioned earlier, the Department is
currently able to exceed the service delivery standard of six
weeks and issue identity documents within 2-4 weeks from the date
of application.
One way in which the system was being abused by illegal aliens to
regularise their stay in the country, was through late
registration of birth, usually with the assistance of South
African accomplices. To eliminate the number of illegal aliens
who endeavour to obtain South African identity documents by
furnishing false information through this method, my Department
has established screening committees at all regional and district
offices of the Department with a view to interviewing applicants
who apply for first identity documents and who cannot submit
documentary proof to substantiate their claim to South African
citizenship. The Department is still monitoring the success of
this control measure, but it is envisaged that this will curb
malpractice in this regard.
The implementation of legislation that legalises the green
bar-coded identity document as the only acceptable identity
document will further assist in curbing fraud in this regard.
A major challenge that the Department has embarked on is the Home
Affairs National Identification System (HANIS) of which most
Members will be aware by now. This project, which consists of the
automation of the Department's manual fingerprinting system and
the issuing of a new, smart card identity card should be seen as
more than just a new identity card project: it is in fact the
advent of electronic governance in South Africa, as this card
will eventually become the key to accessing government and other
social services.
The Department of Home Affairs has been working very closely with
a number of other departments in the arena of smart cards and
e-governance. A Request for Information (RFI) was published in
this regard in July 2000 with a closing date of 31 August 2000.
The outcome of this RFI, requesting inputs from the information
technology industry and other stakeholders, was then used to
undertake a thorough investigation of the viability of
implementing smart cards as the national identity card. A
recommendation in this regard is to be submitted to Cabinet soon.
It is also envisaged that the card will eventually be used by a
number of private organisations such as banks, insurance
companies, medical aid schemes and many more, to combat fraud.
The benefits of reduced fraud in these practices should result in
substantially higher profits and therefore increased revenues to
the State through taxes. It should be noted that I have appointed
a commission headed by Prof. Fink Haysom to monitor any stage of
the procurement of the smart card technology and assess available
options, so as to avoid any possibility of impropriety, and to
look into any possible allegation from the public which may
emerge at any time.
My Department is also embarking on the implementation of an
electronic document management system. The current manual records
system has reached the point where it has become almost
unmanageable. An electronic system will greatly enhance service
delivery, but will also address the current fraud gap that exists
due to the excessive manual process requirements. Computerisation
of the records environment will also remove the current need for
physical storage space and reduce the disaster impact risk.
Following the national and provincial elections of June 1999, new
municipal councils were elected for the whole of South Africa on
5 December 2000. These elections were the first in the municipal
sphere where the principle of one person, one vote fully applied.
The Electoral Commission did not have an easy task. A wide
variety of problems around the demarcation of new municipal
boundaries meant that final preparations for the elections had to
be delayed until very late. The allocation of funding for the
elections was also somewhat delayed. This adversely affected a
variety of projects and programmes. In the end the elections
were, however, acclaimed as free and fair and well run. The
Electoral Commission advises me that it received general acclaim
for the conduct of the elections but that it also received many
more complaints and objections from political parties and others
than with the 1999 elections. This they regard as a positive
sign, showing that education in electoral practices and
procedures has clearly improved knowledge of and constructive
participation in the electoral process.
The turnout for the municipal elections was high by international
standards. Once again the faithful were queuing before sunrise to
cast their votes and early indications were thus of a high
turnout. A significant number of voters did not participate,
however, and that is a cause for concern. This is a matter which
the Electoral Commission will study and analyse in the coming
year and will further comment on when it submits its report on
the elections.
In the coming year, both our Department and the Commission will
commence important projects in the electoral fields, reviewing
the South African electoral legislation and practices. The
Department will carry out its responsibility of piloting the
substitution of the Electoral Act, 1998 with a new one which will
also consolidate the Local Government: Municipal Electoral Act,
2000 into one electoral act and bring it into line. This process
will require important and delicate policy decisions, in respect
of which I have already written to Members of this Committee.
As you know, it was formally announced that Cabinet had approved
the establishment of a task team, comprising of one
representative appointed by the Minister of Justice and
Constitutional Development, one representative appointed by the
Minister of Provincial and Local Government, one representative
appointed by the Chairperson of the IEC, two representatives
appointed by myself, and the Chief Director of Legal Services of
the Department of Home Affairs. The task team, to be chaired by
Dr F van Zyl Slabbert, is meant to be appointed to draft the new
electoral law on the basis of interdepartmental co-ordination and
a consultative process with relevant role players and
stakeholders.
We will need to discuss how this task team will liaise with this
Committee and the Portfolio Committee on Justice and
Constitutional Affairs, and how it should interface with
political parties. However, in spite of such public announcement,
the finalisation and appointment of this task team has not yet
taken place as it is awaiting resolution of certain pending
matters which rest with the Deputy President. Electoral
regulations must also be reviewed and consolidated.
The Films and Publication Board and the Films and Publication
Review Board are funded from the Home Affairs Vote. The Films and
Publication Board is responsible for the classification of films.
The Board processed a total of 3,149 applications in 2000. These
included 2,201 applications for the classification of films for
general release, 392 films under the category of
"adult" films and 68 interactive computer games. In
addition, the Board processed 29 applications for exemptions and
459 registrations for distributors and/or exhibitors. In
addition, the Board has examined and provided opinions on a
number of videos and computer disks submitted by police
investigating child pornography offences.
The Films and Publications Act, Act 65 of 1996, requires
classification guidelines to be subjected to public scrutiny in
order to establish generally-accepted community levels of
tolerance of classifiable elements - violence, sex, nudity,
language and prejudice. The procedure requires the gazetting of
the guidelines and an invitation for public inputs. In order to
reach as wide a cross-section of the South African population as
possible, the Board, after gazetting the guidelines, invited
public responses through several newspaper, radio and TV
advertisements, as well as communicating the information for
responses to almost every single school in the country, several
NGOs, Departments, interest groups and individuals. The
guidelines were made available in all official languages.
The Board shares responsibility for the business of adult
premises, the so-called "adult" or "sex"
shops, with local licensing authorities. Adult premises are
licensed by local authorities in terms of the Business Act, 1991,
and are registered with the Board in terms of the Films and
Publications Act, 1996. In order to avoid confusion and conflicts
between the two authorities with regard to the conditions under
which such businesses should be allowed to operate, the Board has
held several meetings with local authorities and has gazetted
regulations which define the general terms and conditions which
should apply to all such businesses, while allowing for
variations at the discretion of local authorities.
As far as the Government Printing Works is concerned, I wish to
inform members of this Committee that in the process of
investigating the privatisation of the Government Printing Works,
a consultant was appointed to advise Government on what will best
serve the interests of the country. The consultant's
recommendation that the Government Printing Works be privatised
and become a State Owned Enterprise in terms of the Companies
Act, was accepted by Cabinet earlier this year. The next phase in
this process is the appointment of another set of consultants to
plan and implement the commercialisation of the Government
Printing Works. This entails drawing up procedures and methods by
which the envisaged enterprise will operate meaningfully in the
competitive profit-oriented environment in which it will find
itself.
Though the process may appear cumbersome, cognisance must be
taken of the fact that transforming the Government Printing Works
from a public sector institution into a commercial or private
sector establishment is an involved process. There is no room for
any margin of error in the planning stage as, once it takes off,
there will be no second chance to fall back on. Just like any
structure, a weak foundation is bound to have serious
repercussions on its future operations. The Government Printing
Works, Umtata, which had been a financial burden on the
Department for the past years, was successfully closed down at
the end of March this year. All staff were able to be re-deployed
elsewhere, resulting in no job losses.
Ladies and gentlemen, with this overview I trust that I have
given you a glimpse into the workings, the strategic direction
and the stumbling blocks towards achieving the objectives of the
Department of Home Affairs. From my side, I will ensure that all
pertinent matters are brought to your attention. Moreover, I
desire that you become, and remain, constructive participants in
the shaping of the Department in order to tackle the challenges
of the 21st century.
I thank you.