The Department of Home Affairs would be adding 13 additional service points as well as improve the effectiveness of the 117 computerised mobile units that were used to service remote areas.

Home Affairs Minister Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said that the conditions existing at the refugee centres, and some offices, had to change, and the process should be streamlined.

"Working together with the Department of Public Works, we should do more to improve the infrastructure of Home Affairs, while increasing the number and improve the look and feel of our offices," she stated.

She noted that the department had to ensure that asylum seekers were assisted and that their status was determined timeously. "We are reviewing the structure, size and functions of the Refugee Appeals Board. The current status constitutes a significant bottleneck in the asylum seeker processing chain."

Dlamini-Zuma stated that government and Parliament had to develop a policy that would differentiate economic migrants from asylum seekers, which would allow the Department of Home Affairs to discharge its obligations towards both the asylum seekers and economic migrants properly.

She stated that in strengthening the regulations and control of the movement of persons at South Africa's designated areas of entry, the country was moving towards the provision of an integrated basket of services.

"We have prioritised the issuance of quota work permits to foreigners who fall within specific occupational classes or specific professional categories. In this context, details of specific occupational classes and specific professional categories and the applicable quotas are published annually in the Government Gazette after consultation with other stakeholder departments."

She added that the department would also explore the possibility of locating the adjudication process for students, scarce skills and some business permits in its diplomatic missions abroad in the country of origin of the applicant. "I believe that this will improve turnaround times."

As far as local documentation and services was concerned, Dlamini-Zuma stated that the backlog encountered with the new passport system would be cleared by the end of July this year.

She added that research was also being undertaken to determine whether the Department could delink the taking of fingerprints from the identification document (ID) application.

"If we can take the fingerprints before the age of 16 it means that at the point of application of the ID we can already verify that the person is in our population register and therefore can be given a temporary ID on the same day as we already do today for those who have lost their IDs. This will also ensure that IDs are issued to legitimate South Africans."

Dlamini-Zuma noted that although there were thousands of honest civil servants at Home Affairs, there were also several corrupt officials who work with syndicates, corrupt members of the public and sometimes corrupt private security members and some business.

"We are going to strengthen the anti-corruption unit (integrity unit). More effective and efficient measures need to be employed if we are to make a difference. For us to succeed it will have to be a national effort. Security companies, members of business, members of parliament and more importantly the public has to assist both in alerting us to the culprits and also resisting the temptation. We are of course grateful to some of the members of the public who have begun to assist in this regard. On our part we are determined to root out all the corrupt officials wherever they are."

She stated that the other area that the department was to focus on was reducing the number of repeat IDs that were produced every year.

"Every year, more than a million IDs produced are repeats. With the present global economic situation we cannot afford to keep reissuing IDs we have to look after our IDs as if our lives depends on them. We have to save the scarce resources. This certainly cannot continue."