Date: 12/11/2002
Source: Department of Home Affairs
Title: Buthelezi: Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs
REMARKS BY MANGOSUTHU BUTHELEZI, MP, AND MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS, TO THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON HOME AFFAIRS, Cape Town: 12 November 2002
(Note: This speech was not delivered but distributed to all Portfolio Committee Members) It gives me pleasure to meet with the Members of the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs before Parliament goes into recess at the end of what has been a turbulent and intense year for the Department of Home Affairs. Unfortunately, this meeting takes place under some unusual circumstances which may restrict its scope. Nonetheless, it is a pleasure for me that we meet in this fashion before the holiday season, which, I hope, may bring joy, serenity and rest to all the Honourable Members. The scope of this meeting may be somehow limited by the fact that it has been set up at such short notice and, indeed, does not have a real agenda. Therefore, I regard it to be primarily a further step in the dialogue which I have always meant to promote with the Portfolio Committee.
Especially now that the Portfolio Committee is under the leadership of a new Chair, I hope that we can pull together our respective strengths to deal in our respective capacities with the many problems and challenges confronting the Department of Home Affairs. In so doing we must have in mind, first and foremost the interests of our customers whom we serve and the interests of the State. If we keep our eyes firmly focused on the interest of our customers and the interests of the State there is no doubt that it is highly unlikely that any of us may run into any fundamental disagreement, for having known many of you for many years I know that you are equally committed to serving our customers and protecting and promoting the interests of the State.
As I indicated, this meeting takes place on the basis of a very short notice which did not give me an opportunity to know the agenda and purpose of this meeting over and above a general discussion between the Portfolio Committee and its Minister. In fact, I received the Chairman's letter only yesterday afternoon. As you know, the Chairman had previously written to me inviting me to speak to you about the progress in the process aimed at filling the vacancy in the position of Director-General of Home Affairs. I was somehow surprised by this request and from the pressure I received from the Portfolio Committee to fill this vacancy. In fact, it was relayed to me and I read in the press that during one of its meetings last month, this Portfolio Committee requested that the vacancy of the position of Director-General be filled as soon as possible. I do not know why, but it almost seems as if somebody in the press has sought to create the impression that I, the Minister, am dragging my feet on this issue, which could not be further from the truth.
As soon as the position became vacant I followed the governing prescripts in taking all the relevant steps. The position was advertised within a matter of days of it becoming vacant. Within a matter of days of it being advertised I invited two of my colleagues to serve with me in the selection panel which the relevant regulations require to be installed. Within a matter of days of the closing of the period within which applications could be received, candidates were short-listed. Finding a full day in which three Ministers could be available is always difficult. At times it takes months before three Ministers can set aside an entire day for interviews. However, on this occasion, both my colleagues and I managed to co-ordinate our respective calendars with relative speed. The short-list of candidates were interviewed. I have received a recommendation from the panel together with the relevant documentation which the secretariat is supposed to prepare to go along with the submission to a Minister, which documentation was also finalized within a matter of days. I have applied my mind to the issue and I am ready to take the process forward through the required Cabinet procedure.
Therefore, there is nothing unusual in this process other than, perhaps the intention of some people in the media, or some usual mischief-makers, to create problems where problems do not exist. After all, there are a number of Departments which have had an acting Director-General for extremely long periods of time and no one has raised an issue about it. At present, this is the situation with at least two of our Departments. What is important is to pursue and protect the interests of the State which, depending on the circumstances, may require an expedited filling of the position, or may suggest the advisability of delaying it. In the case of my Department there has been no such delay but I must take exception to those who feel qualified to double-guess how I serve the interests of my customers and that of the State and my competence to do so.
When the Chairman of the Portfolio Committee, the Hon Mpho Scott, wrote to me requesting that this meeting discuss the present process relating to the filling of this vacancy, I wrote back to him indicating that such discussion cannot take place at this point in time. In fact, if this Committee were to discuss candidates or in any way indulge in discussions relating to the ongoing process of the appointment of the Director-General, the entire process may become flawed and may need to be restarted anew. In fact, each of the candidates has a legitimate expectation protected in law that his or her application will be assessed and evaluated on the basis of prescripts and regulations and that the decision I make in selecting the successful candidate is not influenced by any factor other than the recommendation of the panel. I need to exercise my statutory discretion without influence, prejudice, bias and fear.
I also clarified with the Chairman that in performing this administrative function I, like any other Minister in my position, am exercising statutory authority which has been delegated to me by the President. The administrative function really consists in the performance of two distinct but concurrent stages which are my appointment of a Director-General and the concurrence of Cabinet. Only once these two stages are completed is there an administrative action which may form the basis on which Parliament may exercise its oversight function. Oversight, by definition, requires an object which, at present, has not yet been formed, and which, in law, can only be formed on the basis of the process set out in the applicable law, regulations and prescripts which must be shielded from any possible outside influence if it is to remain legal and valid.
In going through this process I need to keep in mind the interests of our customers and that of the State. I can assure this Committee that I shall do so, and I am sure that Cabinet will also have the same priority in mind. Therefore, I would like to shift emphasis to discussing the present situation of the Department in general terms without the need to focus on this issue of its administrative leadership. There is no doubt that the Department is undergoing an extremely difficult and almost destiny-determining time. We are at the crux of a delicate process meant to transform what the Department was in the past into what it is meant to be to become one of the flagships of the new South Africa.
After the passing of the Immigration Act by Parliament an intense and extremely delicate process of administrative adjustment has begun within the Department and is expected to be completed by February next year.
This process includes having to retrain a great number of our officials for new tasks, procedures and attitudes. We had to develop new forms to be used throughout the Republic and, indeed, throughout the world wherever Home Affairs functions are performed in our foreign missions. People have to be trained throughout the world in the use of these new forms and procedures. This process also requires changing the way several Departments operate and the tasks that many of our officials perform. During the past months consultations have taken place with the Department of Trade and Industry, Labour, Foreign Affairs, Defence, Safety and Security and Justice, just to mention a few. I hope that before the end of the year I may begin the process aimed at the establishment of an Immigration Advisory Board which, as you know, calls for a public notice inviting interested parties to make nominations for the appointments of the relevant people or the selection or the relevant stakeholders over and above the many representatives of various Departments which serve on such Board. The process of the implementation of the Immigration Act should now be ready to begin and I expect that the switchover day to the new system should be no later than 1 March 2003.
Undoubtedly, there are going to be teething problems. I would appreciate it if this Portfolio Committee could exercise its oversight function to identify teething problems as they occur and assist the Department in working through them. We will need to give at least one year to let the new system settle in before we can gain a clear understanding of what may need to be changed and how the system can be improved. We need to realise that everything is subject to improvement. It is often said that the only law which has never been amended was the Ten Commandments. However, before we apply our minds to how anything can be improved, we need to give a chance to whatever will be put in place to prove how it works in practice and reality. Only the practical test can give us real guidance on the way forward. We will need to test customer satisfaction, see how things work from an administrative viewpoint and assess how well the interests of the State are actually being served. In so doing we will fulfil our task without falling prey to ideological temptations which may force solutions which do not work in practice or are neither in the interest of the State nor that of our customers.
We will need to maintain the same attitude in respect of the other two major processes of transformation in which the Department is presently involved and which have been presented to this Committee on several occasions. As you know, the first process is that of the planned devolution of the delivery of our civic affairs functions to municipalities. This project is not developing as fast as one would wish. I am liaising with my colleague, the Minister for Public Service and Administration, to ensure that any step taken in this direction does not get ahead of administrative capacity requirements. This plan wants to be part of the solution of the real problem which is that of the unequal distribution of our resources, offices and capacity throughout the territory. However, in order to avoid that this plan may create new problems in itself, it is necessary that its implementation follows very pragmatic guidelines which may include a staggered phasing in which begins with certain but not all municipalities and may be accompanied by transfers of resources or financial incentives for municipalities. These are matters which I will be discussing with my colleagues, the Minister of Public Service and Administration and the Minister of Provincial and Local Government. I will keep this Portfolio Committee apprised of developments and I am ready to receive any input which the Committee may wish to make.
The other project of which you are aware relates to the implementation of the HANIS project and the fine-tuning of the technical details relating to smart cards. Also in this respect I am in the process of reporting to Cabinet and I would appreciate it if this Portfolio Committee would give me the opportunity to do so before I discuss the matter publicly and in this venue. It shall suffice to say that my intuition of taking a second and independent look at what we were doing by establishing the independent Haysom Commission has proven right. Through the very fruitful, intelligent and meaningful interaction between the Haysom Commission, the Department of Science and Technology and the Advisory Council for Innovative Technology, it emerged that there are better ways to go about establishing a system based on smart cards than the one which we originally envisaged and such new ways will have massive savings for the State while reducing the risk of technological obsolescence and the vast range of daily practical problems which can be encountered by the wide-spread use of sophisticated technology. I just want to mention this matter to you to prompt you about future developments, but I would really appreciate it if you would allow me to discuss it first in Cabinet before you engage me in discussion.
In conclusion, I think it is important that we all work together as a team focusing on real issues and discussing real solutions. You must believe that this is my only and earnest desire as I fulfil my duties and responsibilities as the Minister of Home Affairs. When I point out problems, it is because I feel that they are real. When I seek solutions, I only think about the interests of our people and our country. There are many individual agendas running throughout Government, not least that of enrichment and personal power. None of these agendas should find place in the Department. You will remember that when I brought to this Committee the real issue relating to the failure on the side of Mr Masetlha to comply with the legal requirements applicable to his contract, there was suspicion that I was pursuing a personal agenda, rather than exposing a real problem for the State.
I came to you in humility and at the request of this Committee but I was treated with suspicion. Now we all deal with the report of the Auditor-General which highlights how the incident in respect of which I cried for assistance, in fact constitutes one of the major breakdowns in our administration and a possible source of major liability for the State. The Standing Committee on Public Accounts may be able to address some of the issues raised by this major failure in the functioning of our administration. However, other matters may need to be addressed by an ad hoc law. I have directed for this law to be drafted and it will be tabled before Cabinet as soon as possible. In this fashion we will be sure that the State is protected from the liability which may arise in respect of third-party actions. It is a painful step to take but it seems to be an unavoidable one.
I hope that as we prepare for the holiday season Members of this Committee may focus on the problems and challenges of our Department so that as we start our work next year we can, indeed, pull our strengths together and, in our respective roles, join forces to do the best we can in promoting customer satisfaction and serving the Republic we all equally love.
Issued by the Department of Home Affairs
Source: Department of Home Affairs
Title: Buthelezi: Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs
REMARKS BY MANGOSUTHU BUTHELEZI, MP, AND MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS, TO THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON HOME AFFAIRS, Cape Town: 12 November 2002
(Note: This speech was not delivered but distributed to all Portfolio Committee Members) It gives me pleasure to meet with the Members of the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs before Parliament goes into recess at the end of what has been a turbulent and intense year for the Department of Home Affairs. Unfortunately, this meeting takes place under some unusual circumstances which may restrict its scope. Nonetheless, it is a pleasure for me that we meet in this fashion before the holiday season, which, I hope, may bring joy, serenity and rest to all the Honourable Members. The scope of this meeting may be somehow limited by the fact that it has been set up at such short notice and, indeed, does not have a real agenda. Therefore, I regard it to be primarily a further step in the dialogue which I have always meant to promote with the Portfolio Committee.
Especially now that the Portfolio Committee is under the leadership of a new Chair, I hope that we can pull together our respective strengths to deal in our respective capacities with the many problems and challenges confronting the Department of Home Affairs. In so doing we must have in mind, first and foremost the interests of our customers whom we serve and the interests of the State. If we keep our eyes firmly focused on the interest of our customers and the interests of the State there is no doubt that it is highly unlikely that any of us may run into any fundamental disagreement, for having known many of you for many years I know that you are equally committed to serving our customers and protecting and promoting the interests of the State.
As I indicated, this meeting takes place on the basis of a very short notice which did not give me an opportunity to know the agenda and purpose of this meeting over and above a general discussion between the Portfolio Committee and its Minister. In fact, I received the Chairman's letter only yesterday afternoon. As you know, the Chairman had previously written to me inviting me to speak to you about the progress in the process aimed at filling the vacancy in the position of Director-General of Home Affairs. I was somehow surprised by this request and from the pressure I received from the Portfolio Committee to fill this vacancy. In fact, it was relayed to me and I read in the press that during one of its meetings last month, this Portfolio Committee requested that the vacancy of the position of Director-General be filled as soon as possible. I do not know why, but it almost seems as if somebody in the press has sought to create the impression that I, the Minister, am dragging my feet on this issue, which could not be further from the truth.
As soon as the position became vacant I followed the governing prescripts in taking all the relevant steps. The position was advertised within a matter of days of it becoming vacant. Within a matter of days of it being advertised I invited two of my colleagues to serve with me in the selection panel which the relevant regulations require to be installed. Within a matter of days of the closing of the period within which applications could be received, candidates were short-listed. Finding a full day in which three Ministers could be available is always difficult. At times it takes months before three Ministers can set aside an entire day for interviews. However, on this occasion, both my colleagues and I managed to co-ordinate our respective calendars with relative speed. The short-list of candidates were interviewed. I have received a recommendation from the panel together with the relevant documentation which the secretariat is supposed to prepare to go along with the submission to a Minister, which documentation was also finalized within a matter of days. I have applied my mind to the issue and I am ready to take the process forward through the required Cabinet procedure.
Therefore, there is nothing unusual in this process other than, perhaps the intention of some people in the media, or some usual mischief-makers, to create problems where problems do not exist. After all, there are a number of Departments which have had an acting Director-General for extremely long periods of time and no one has raised an issue about it. At present, this is the situation with at least two of our Departments. What is important is to pursue and protect the interests of the State which, depending on the circumstances, may require an expedited filling of the position, or may suggest the advisability of delaying it. In the case of my Department there has been no such delay but I must take exception to those who feel qualified to double-guess how I serve the interests of my customers and that of the State and my competence to do so.
When the Chairman of the Portfolio Committee, the Hon Mpho Scott, wrote to me requesting that this meeting discuss the present process relating to the filling of this vacancy, I wrote back to him indicating that such discussion cannot take place at this point in time. In fact, if this Committee were to discuss candidates or in any way indulge in discussions relating to the ongoing process of the appointment of the Director-General, the entire process may become flawed and may need to be restarted anew. In fact, each of the candidates has a legitimate expectation protected in law that his or her application will be assessed and evaluated on the basis of prescripts and regulations and that the decision I make in selecting the successful candidate is not influenced by any factor other than the recommendation of the panel. I need to exercise my statutory discretion without influence, prejudice, bias and fear.
I also clarified with the Chairman that in performing this administrative function I, like any other Minister in my position, am exercising statutory authority which has been delegated to me by the President. The administrative function really consists in the performance of two distinct but concurrent stages which are my appointment of a Director-General and the concurrence of Cabinet. Only once these two stages are completed is there an administrative action which may form the basis on which Parliament may exercise its oversight function. Oversight, by definition, requires an object which, at present, has not yet been formed, and which, in law, can only be formed on the basis of the process set out in the applicable law, regulations and prescripts which must be shielded from any possible outside influence if it is to remain legal and valid.
In going through this process I need to keep in mind the interests of our customers and that of the State. I can assure this Committee that I shall do so, and I am sure that Cabinet will also have the same priority in mind. Therefore, I would like to shift emphasis to discussing the present situation of the Department in general terms without the need to focus on this issue of its administrative leadership. There is no doubt that the Department is undergoing an extremely difficult and almost destiny-determining time. We are at the crux of a delicate process meant to transform what the Department was in the past into what it is meant to be to become one of the flagships of the new South Africa.
After the passing of the Immigration Act by Parliament an intense and extremely delicate process of administrative adjustment has begun within the Department and is expected to be completed by February next year.
This process includes having to retrain a great number of our officials for new tasks, procedures and attitudes. We had to develop new forms to be used throughout the Republic and, indeed, throughout the world wherever Home Affairs functions are performed in our foreign missions. People have to be trained throughout the world in the use of these new forms and procedures. This process also requires changing the way several Departments operate and the tasks that many of our officials perform. During the past months consultations have taken place with the Department of Trade and Industry, Labour, Foreign Affairs, Defence, Safety and Security and Justice, just to mention a few. I hope that before the end of the year I may begin the process aimed at the establishment of an Immigration Advisory Board which, as you know, calls for a public notice inviting interested parties to make nominations for the appointments of the relevant people or the selection or the relevant stakeholders over and above the many representatives of various Departments which serve on such Board. The process of the implementation of the Immigration Act should now be ready to begin and I expect that the switchover day to the new system should be no later than 1 March 2003.
Undoubtedly, there are going to be teething problems. I would appreciate it if this Portfolio Committee could exercise its oversight function to identify teething problems as they occur and assist the Department in working through them. We will need to give at least one year to let the new system settle in before we can gain a clear understanding of what may need to be changed and how the system can be improved. We need to realise that everything is subject to improvement. It is often said that the only law which has never been amended was the Ten Commandments. However, before we apply our minds to how anything can be improved, we need to give a chance to whatever will be put in place to prove how it works in practice and reality. Only the practical test can give us real guidance on the way forward. We will need to test customer satisfaction, see how things work from an administrative viewpoint and assess how well the interests of the State are actually being served. In so doing we will fulfil our task without falling prey to ideological temptations which may force solutions which do not work in practice or are neither in the interest of the State nor that of our customers.
We will need to maintain the same attitude in respect of the other two major processes of transformation in which the Department is presently involved and which have been presented to this Committee on several occasions. As you know, the first process is that of the planned devolution of the delivery of our civic affairs functions to municipalities. This project is not developing as fast as one would wish. I am liaising with my colleague, the Minister for Public Service and Administration, to ensure that any step taken in this direction does not get ahead of administrative capacity requirements. This plan wants to be part of the solution of the real problem which is that of the unequal distribution of our resources, offices and capacity throughout the territory. However, in order to avoid that this plan may create new problems in itself, it is necessary that its implementation follows very pragmatic guidelines which may include a staggered phasing in which begins with certain but not all municipalities and may be accompanied by transfers of resources or financial incentives for municipalities. These are matters which I will be discussing with my colleagues, the Minister of Public Service and Administration and the Minister of Provincial and Local Government. I will keep this Portfolio Committee apprised of developments and I am ready to receive any input which the Committee may wish to make.
The other project of which you are aware relates to the implementation of the HANIS project and the fine-tuning of the technical details relating to smart cards. Also in this respect I am in the process of reporting to Cabinet and I would appreciate it if this Portfolio Committee would give me the opportunity to do so before I discuss the matter publicly and in this venue. It shall suffice to say that my intuition of taking a second and independent look at what we were doing by establishing the independent Haysom Commission has proven right. Through the very fruitful, intelligent and meaningful interaction between the Haysom Commission, the Department of Science and Technology and the Advisory Council for Innovative Technology, it emerged that there are better ways to go about establishing a system based on smart cards than the one which we originally envisaged and such new ways will have massive savings for the State while reducing the risk of technological obsolescence and the vast range of daily practical problems which can be encountered by the wide-spread use of sophisticated technology. I just want to mention this matter to you to prompt you about future developments, but I would really appreciate it if you would allow me to discuss it first in Cabinet before you engage me in discussion.
In conclusion, I think it is important that we all work together as a team focusing on real issues and discussing real solutions. You must believe that this is my only and earnest desire as I fulfil my duties and responsibilities as the Minister of Home Affairs. When I point out problems, it is because I feel that they are real. When I seek solutions, I only think about the interests of our people and our country. There are many individual agendas running throughout Government, not least that of enrichment and personal power. None of these agendas should find place in the Department. You will remember that when I brought to this Committee the real issue relating to the failure on the side of Mr Masetlha to comply with the legal requirements applicable to his contract, there was suspicion that I was pursuing a personal agenda, rather than exposing a real problem for the State.
I came to you in humility and at the request of this Committee but I was treated with suspicion. Now we all deal with the report of the Auditor-General which highlights how the incident in respect of which I cried for assistance, in fact constitutes one of the major breakdowns in our administration and a possible source of major liability for the State. The Standing Committee on Public Accounts may be able to address some of the issues raised by this major failure in the functioning of our administration. However, other matters may need to be addressed by an ad hoc law. I have directed for this law to be drafted and it will be tabled before Cabinet as soon as possible. In this fashion we will be sure that the State is protected from the liability which may arise in respect of third-party actions. It is a painful step to take but it seems to be an unavoidable one.
I hope that as we prepare for the holiday season Members of this Committee may focus on the problems and challenges of our Department so that as we start our work next year we can, indeed, pull our strengths together and, in our respective roles, join forces to do the best we can in promoting customer satisfaction and serving the Republic we all equally love.
Issued by the Department of Home Affairs
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