This year's Strategic Conference of the Department of Home
Affairs has to face unprecedented challenges as well as
opportunities. There is no doubt that our Department has opened a
new chapter in its long history. This year we will need to bring
into operation the many policy changes on which we have been
working for a number of years. Some of these policy changes were
resisted both internally from within the Department, as well as
from vested interests outside the Department. However, some of
this resistance has been overcome as people realised that what
was being proposed made sense and was indeed in the best
interests of South Africa. Therefore, the responsibility now lies
squarely with us and with us alone to make sure that the promises
we made to South Africa can indeed be fulfilled.
A few years ago, I launched a new vision for the Department of
Home Affairs which relied on three fundamental reforms. The first
pillar was the reform of our system of migration control, to
which end I developed a long process which finally led to the
adoption by Parliament of the Immigration Act, in June last year.
Now that I have issued the first set of Regulations implementing
the Act, this reform is ready to be launched. The second pillar
was that of the reform of the entire system of civic affairs, on
the basis of the devolution of its delivery aspects to
municipalities. This reform met with a great deal of resistance,
but, after a long time, it has finally been accepted and adopted
in principle and we are now left with the difficult task of
beginning the process of inter-departmental cooperation and
consultation which can set out a consistent plan to transform it
into reality. The third pillar was that of the HANIS Project
which is indeed the backbone that makes the devolution of the
delivery of civic services to municipalities possible. In respect
of the HANIS Project, 2003 should be the year in which we
transform a long-standing promise into an actual reality. It is
very important after some of the controversy and resistance, even
from within the Department, that this year we really all come
together to pool our strength and transform this strategic vision
into reality.
The reform of migration control will be the first that we will
need to face. I have been very impressed by the spirit of
cooperation and enthusiasm which has characterised the efforts
which everyone made in drafting the new Immigration Regulations
and promoting training across the country and in our foreign
missions to prepare all our personnel for the implementation of
the new law and Regulations. I have received many wonderful
reports about participation of so many people in the drafting of
the Immigration Regulations, which are indeed the product of our
collegial wisdom and reflect the individual contributions of so
many officials. I have also received reports on the efforts that
have been made to prepare everyone for the implementation of the
new system through adequate training. March 12 will be the day on
which we will test the success of that for which we have been
preparing for so long. Undoubtedly, there are going to be
problems and teething difficulties, but I hope that we will move
along then with the same spirit which has characterised this
process in the past six months.
The implementation of the Immigration Act and the Immigration
Regulation is not going to be the end of the migration reform.
Indeed it will be but the beginning. We will need to gear
ourselves up, not only to implement a new law, but also to
implement a new way of doing business in our Department. I
suspect that the administrative reform is going to be more
difficult and challenging than the legal one, and yet it is the
one which holds the greatest promises for South Africa. In fact,
one of the main purposes of the new system of migration control
is indeed that of freeing administrative capacity that we
previously utilised for issuance of permits so as to move it to
the enforcement of the law. We will need to gear up our
Department to become an effective law enforcement agency. Our
regional offices will need to acquire the capacity to inspect
work places, communities and other places where illegal
foreigners may be found. We must really begin to plan for these
efforts.
Moreover, the reform of migration control will call for the
complete restructuring of the relationship between Head Office
and regional offices. We need to fulfil the promise that our line
function will effectively be administered through devolution and
regional offices will be capable of performing the function which
the Act and Regulations have ascribed to them, which is that of
considering applications. Head Office will be transformed into
the centre from which monitoring capacity building, the
supervision of the uniform application of the law, and other
support activities, take place. This will impact my own role and
the role of the Ministry. In fact, the new system of migration
control will substantially reduce the possibility that people now
have to involve me, as the Minister, in the adjudication of
cases, which will reduce substantially the number of ministerials
and therefore the need for dedicated capacity for such purpose.
I have personally done a lot to bring the Department to this
point and indeed I feel that often I had to do more than what is
expected of a Minister, because of inadequate administrative
leadership from within the Department. However, I now wish to be
in a position where I can confidently pass the ball to the
valiant officials of our top management, knowing that they know
where to take it. I think that we all understand that change is
required from all of us and from each of our officials, in order
to meet the critical changing face of migration control.
I would be remiss if I were not to express my gratitude for the
way in which the Department is slowly coming together. The
enthusiasm shown by the training division in implementing the
Immigration Act and its Regulations is something that has warned
my heart beyond words. Let us now have the same enthusiasm in
developing a viable plan which brings to fruition the vision of
civic services being delivered to municipalities. Obviously, this
cannot happen overnight and, depending on the fruits of your own
deliberations, it is likely that it will not happen in all
municipalities at the same time. In all likelihood we will need
to develop a program of scattered implementation, so that
municipalities with greater capacity may take over the function
of delivering civic services at an earlier time than those with
lesser capacity. We will need to utilise whatever capacity we
save in respect of delivery of civic services and move it towards
better migration services as well as towards those areas in which
municipalities do not have the capacity of receiving a delegation
of powers.
We must also consider the possibility that certain aspects of
civic services may be devolved to credible and reputable private
organisations, which may need to be bonded and post financial
guarantees to ensure their integrity. The HANIS project will make
this type of devolution to private and public entities possible.
It will ensure the integrity of the system and the necessary
cross-references. We can also think about the possibility of
delegating such functions to other organs of the State. We must
face up to these challenges, even though they may not fit into
our present administrative paradigm and our way of thinking. In
fact, we cannot avoid asking the question of how we are going to
cope with the present pressures on the delivery of services
unless we resort to this type of lateral thinking. There is no
doubt that the demand on our services is growing by leaps and
bounds, while our resources to meet them are not only not
growing, but seem to be diminishing in real terms. Hence, the
only solution lies in devolution.
We must also reflect on the challenges which are posed to us by
the implementation of the HANIS project. This year we will need
to first hit the brakes and then the accelerator. I am
approaching Cabinet to ask for a reconsideration of some of the
issues relating to HANIS because there are problems which have
not been sufficiently analysed. As we go through that stage and
we reach finality on the solutions to those problems it is
essential that we all move at a very rapid pace to ensure that
HANIS can be delivered. We have lost a great deal of time which
translates into the loss of opportunities for South Africa as a
whole, and we can no longer afford to waste any time. We were a
world leader in 2002 and now we are lagging behind other
countries in respect of projects such as HANIS.
However, I am not the type of Minister who will rush ahead
knowing that there are unresolved issues. For this reason before
we move ahead I need to have the resolution of possible problems,
which have been identified. Throughout my life I have never
painted over any cracks. We need to look at the difficulties,
which have been created from a contractual and practical
viewpoint once the ID cards were taken out of the original
tender. We must also look at the difficulties raised by what
seems to be a lack of synchronisation in the development of AFIS
project within the broader parameters of HANIS, which seems to
have led to steps being taken ahead of AFIS having been duly
populated with fingerprints. I am not making these remarks to
point fingers at anyone, but rather to urge all of us to work
together in solving problems. We must also ensure that we learn
from whatever went wrong in the task. As the Executive Authority
of the Department of Home Affairs I really suffer when people
tend to make the same mistakes over and over again. I am much
more sympathetic when people have the ingenuity to make new
mistakes
I think that we also need to place great emphasis on developing
an infrastructure capable of supporting the development of any
subsequent stage of the HANIS project, as well as any other
aspect of the life of the Department. In fact at the end of the
day I am the one who carries the brunt of any mistake made. I am
the one who needs to justify money spent out of our budget on
various aspects of the HANIS project when I deal with Treasury. I
am the one who needs to report to Cabinet any shortcomings and
problems. Therefore, I plead with all of you that we work
together and that you don't let me down. I, for one, am committed
not to let any of you down and to work with you whenever and
however possible. I know that it is difficult for a Minister to
deal with each and every problem, but I have tried to be
available to all of you whenever problems arose. I worked very
closely with our Acting Director-General to deal with the
resolution of problems and I hope that most of you are feeling
the benefits of the inputs I have made in this process. If things
are not good enough on what I have done, I am ready to do more
and better, and I hope that through the channels or by directly
writing to me each of you will feel free to let me know if you
think I am not doing enough as the Minister of this Department.
However, as I commit myself to do more and better for any of you
if there is such a need, I must impress on each of you that we
must work together this year to ensure that, from all of us,
something more and better can indeed be achieved.
I am pleased that this conference really proves that we are
moving in that direction, I have informed that when all the bills
were added up last year, the strategic conference of the
Department cost us R1,2 million, and that this year we may be
able to undertake the same exercise with about R20,000. I regret
that you may end up not having the same level of comfort and
luxury as you had last year. But that is exactly what I mean by
trying to do things better, Working better calls for personal
sacrifices and those of you who have had any contact with me know
very well that I am the first one who will accept the discipline
of making sacrifices. I am sure that most of you know of my
schedule and that, unfortunately, my office often remains open
until 12 o'clock at night, to reopen at 7 o'clock the morning
after.
I know that our Acting D-G is putting in the same hours. However,
we must all share the sense of satisfaction that we are getting
something done of which we can all be proud. It is for that sense
of pride that I am putting in the effort of working such long
hours at my age. I know that I am older than anyone here because,
as a matter of law, none of you would be authorised to hold your
jobs if you were my age. Yet, I have come here to plead with all
of you that in this crucial year for our Department you match my
efforts, if not the length of hours that I am putting in, to
ensure that this Department can succeed, not for my sake, but for
the benefit of South Africa.
I feel sorry for those who need to work for me, because I now
that your work will not be recognised as easily as it would be
for those who work with other Ministers who are more politically
correct or more popular in the eyes of those who hold power. I
regret that you have to bear with me the brunt of this situation.
Unfortunately, because of this situation we are the target of any
cheap shot anyone wants to take at me or at the Department. Both
Buthelezi and the Department of Home Affairs are always fair game
for any Tom, Dick or Harry to pontificate over and criticise. It
is also for this reason that we must work harder than anybody
else to prove that this Department has the type of people who can
forge the new South Africa. South Africa can only succeed if
forged in real work ethic and commitment to Government and to the
State. I do not ask you to be committed to me. I do not ask you
to support my Party. I ask you to support the State and the
common good.
In this Department, because you are working for a Minister who is
not necessarily the one which all of you may wish to support in
the electoral polls, we have the possibility of developing a
culture which is essential to the future of South Africa; which
is the culture of service, not to a political party, not to a
political master, but to the State. South Africa will not succeed
unless the civil service becomes devoted to the State and refuses
to become a puppet of any political master. As I exercise my
functions as the Minister of Home Affairs, my greatest concern is
to serve the State and implement the law. I do not serve as the
leader of a political party and I have tried not to use my
ministerial platform to promote any party political policies. If
you look at everything I have done in migration control, in civic
affairs, or in respect of HANIS project, you can very well see
that there is just no politics attached to it, even though
mischievous people have tried their best to try to fit politics
into anything I do. I am here as a servant of the State amongst
other servants of the State, and I plead with you that we all
share this culture and that we, in this Department, give the
example by successfully managing to place the rule of law above
the rule of man.
As I have pleaded in past years at this strategic conference,
this year I also want to urge all of you to ensure that the
outcome of you deliberations is captured not in generic
statements, but in actual tangible plans. I was not terribly
pleased with what was done last year as it really lacked some of
the details of a plan which shows how much we are trying to
achieve, when how and where, I plead that you focus on actual
deadlines, targets and tangible objectives. You will have noticed
that in the Immigration Regulations we have made some of these
targets and objectives part and parcel of the law. In doing so,
we have given an extraordinary example of what Batho Pele is all
about, as we have tied our regional offices to issuing some of
the most simplified permits within stringent deadlines.
Obviously, they are not mandatory deadlines if the Regulations
indicate that offices shall only endeavour to issue certain
permits within a certain number of days. However, I plead with
you that we really do our best to meet those deadlines,
otherwise, by setting those targets for ourselves, we have done
nothing but create benchmarks by which to measure our failure.
There are great difficulties which hold us back, which we must
overcome. Unfortunately, our management has allowed our
establishment to reach a point of great crisis, if not disaster.
We are working on an establishment developed in 1995, which was
inadequate even for that time. Eight years later, that
establishment is totally insufficient to meet our present and
future needs. But to make matters worse, we have allowed 1,500
posts to become and remain vacant, even in respect of the 1995
establishment. We must make a concerted effort to fill these
vacancies and to rethink our entire establishment and
organisational diagramme. We need to fill primary posts, like the
Chief Director of Migration and the Chief Financial Officer of
the Department. Eight of the top management posts have been
filled in the past month with acting staff and we need to move
expeditiously towards making appointments which are permanent.
I feel that together in this Strategic Conference we must also
address the issue of discipline within the Department. I am not a
disciplinarian and I do not believe that in the Department we
should promote a repressive and oppressive culture which inhibits
individual expression. I believe that the threat of discipline
should not be imposed to prevent people from exercising their
duty of providing a constant critical contribution. The
functional hierarchy on which the Department is based should not
prevent people from speaking up and interacting with one another
on the same level. In this sense, I am not a disciplinarian.
However, I strongly believe that there must be disciplined within
the Department. I do not want to preside over an organisation
which is not based on discipline. Discipline is about doing one's
own job punctually, properly, and completely. Discipline is about
ensuring that all telephone extensions have answering machines
and that one does not leave the office until all the calls for
the day have been returned.
Too often I receive complains of telephone not being answered,
and complaints that verbal and written request from colleagues,
superiors or even the public remain unattended to for a long
time. I have been an Executive Authority for more that 30 years
and have survived enormous workloads by applying a very simple
rule: I never leave my office until there is no more work to be
done and no submissions on my table. I always make sure that I
finish all my submissions for the day and complete the entire
list of tasks which I set myself at the beginning of the day.
This accounts for the fact that often I do no leave my office
until midnight. Nonetheless, every morning I have the pleasure of
not seeing yesterday's work still waiting for me on my desk. This
is an effort which can only succeed if each and every one of us
embraces such discipline.
As top management we need to propagate this culture of discipline
and efficiency in all levels of the Department through training.
Unfortunately, many people have not been trained on how to work.
People are often trained on what they are required to do in their
workplace, but they are not trained on how to do it and on how to
develop the individual skill and sense of responsibility and
discipline required to perform to the best of heir capabilities
everyday, and to continue to do so day after day, week after week
and month after month. We need to empower people with this type
of skill, and show that our Department can become a leader within
Government and within society in teaching people how to work. We
must also increase our culture of responsiveness to our clients.
If we do not do so, all the great things we have strategised in
our vision, such as the reform of migration control, the
devolution of powers to municipalities and the HANIS project, are
bound to fall flat.
We must understand that it is not enough to get it right 99% of
the time. We must get it right 100% of the time. If any of us
gets it wrong 1% of the time, the Department ends up making an
enormous amount of mistakes for which all of us are going to be
collegially blamed. I have been informed that too often it is
necessary for many people and several stages to be involved in
the drafting of a single letter, because the original drafter did
not take the necessary care to write it properly and accurately
the first time around. I suffer when I learn that the Department
operates on this type of hierarchy that one level need to review
the work done by another level, which in turn has reviewed the
work one by a lower level. This is a great waste of time and
efforts. We need to empower the first level to get it right the
first time, but this can only be achieved if there is a
commitment at that level to get it right and not to send it out
until and unless one has the pride of ensuring that his or her
work product is indeed up to the required standards.
I also wish to plead with everyone to work together as a team and
as a family. Let us avoid anyone drawing their own little
enclaves and engaging others in power struggles over personal
turf. There are no enclaves in the Department. There are no areas
in which anyone is a king to the exclusion of others. We all work
together and we are all accountable to one another for what we
do. We need to respect people's professionalism and recognise
that each person working in the Department carries his or her own
responsibilities and should be empowered to do so with the
required capacity and support. However, this cannot lead to
people rejecting other people's inputs, supervision and
accountability. We have often spoken about increasing the morale
of the Department and I hope that on this occasion your thinking
can go beyond mere declarations of principle, to begin dealing
with the nitty-gritty of how to achieve this fundamental goal.
We must also root out corruption. We receive too many reports of
Government waste, which must stop at once. It is not our money
that we spend and we must ensure that we spend as little of it as
possible. We cannot spend money just because we are capable of
justifying the expenditure from an administrative viewpoint. We
must shift to a culture where the money we spend is indeed what
we feel is strictly necessary to do what is required of us and to
benefit our clients, and that such expenditure produces the best
value for money. Records of expenditures must be maintained and
made available. Theft of funds must stop. I am giving notice that
I will no stand for what seems to be becoming an endemic
situation with theft of funds, stealing of equipment, corruption,
negligent loss of equipment and damage to equipment, vehicles and
other State properties. We have talked about rooting out
corruption for many years and I hope that 2003 will indeed be the
year in which enormous progress will be made in this respect.
In conclusion, I urge the top management to focus on both the big
pictures as well as the smaller details. One should not lose
oneself in the details without considering the broader picture
and one should not dealt with issues of strategy without making
sure that all the bolts in the machinery are properly tightened.
We will look forward to reading the strategic plan that the
Department will produce this year in the hope that it will
address some of my concerns. I wish all of you success in you
deliberations.
Released by The Ministry of Home Affairs