Date: 09/09/2011

Source: The Department of Home Affairs

Title: SA: Apleni: Address by the Director-General, at a weekly briefing, Pretoria

Ladies and gentlemen of the media,in our weeklybriefing today, we will be looking at the support the department will be extending to matriculants who are preparing to write their final examinations, the status of the Zimbabwe Documentation Project and processes related to the late registration of birth.

Matriculants

Pupils in Grade 12 will shortly begin their final examinations which will not only signal the end of the school careers but will herald future opportunities for their education and employment.

In this regard, the department reiterates its commitment to ensuring that all matriculants are in possession of ID documents. This also comes within the context of the National Population Registration (NPR) Campaign which aims to ensure that all those who turn 16 years old are issued with IDs.

The department therefore, on behalf of Home Affairs Minister Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, reminds those scholars in matric who are now earnestly engaged in earnest preparations for their final examinations to ensure they are in possession of ID documents. Should matriculants not be in possession of ID documents, they are invited to do so immediately at their nearest Home Affairs office.The office manager should also be informed of such applications so the processing thereof can be expedited.

Zimbabwe Documentation Project

We are currently in the process of collating outstanding documents submitted by Zimbabwean nationals who have applied for work, business and study permits under the Zimbabwe Documentation Project. As you would remember as at the 31 December 2010, we had received 275 762 applications from undocumented Zimbabwean nationals who took advantage of the opportunity to apply for permits to regularise their stay in South Africa.

Overview of statistics as at 9 September 2011

Total applications received
 

275 762

Total permits approved and issued
 

134 264

Total applications pre-adjudicated and check listed
 

141 952

Total smses sent to applicants
 

121 807

Applicants responded to smses
 

43 133

Amnesty applications received
 

6 243

Amnesty applications confirmed
 

1 706

Asylum permits surrendered
 

49 255

With a view to closing the project we have in the last three weeks increased capacity within the department including the secondment of 274 members of the South African National Defence Force to assist with the finalisation of outstanding applications.

We reiterate that since the closure of the project on 31 December 2010, no new applications for work, study and business permits under the Zimbabwe Documentation Project will be accepted and processed.

We continue to reiterate our appreciation to members of the Zimbabwe Stakeholder Forum of which the Zimbabwean government and the Consular-General are part. We will, going forward, be convening regular meetings with the Zimbabwe Stakeholder Forum as we move towards the closure of the project.

Process of late registration of birth

You will be aware that the Department of Home Affairs, led by President Jacob Zuma and Minister of Home Affairs Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, launched the National Population Registration (NPR) Campaign in the Eastern Cape in March 2010.

This campaign is intended to:

1. Encourage all South Africans to register their babies within 30 days of birth
2. Encourage all 16 years old to apply for IDs
3. To bring the late registration of birth process, as it is currently implemented, to an end.

Through this, the department is really striving to change the national psyche with regard to the registration of babies. Failure to register the births of babies within 30 days is to break the law.

Compliance with the law to register babies within 30 days must be seen within the context of the benefits, both to citizens and to government:

* If babies are registered within 30 days, there can be no future claims that births have been incorrectly registered and must therefore be changed
* Government will save funds and resources if birth details do not have to be rectified
* It will be easy for government to plan to issue 16 years olds with IDs and will ensure an accurate budgeting process
* The country’s population register will be secure, accurate and credible
* Finally, since there will be only one entry point to the population register, government will be able to plan accurately to meet the needs of its citizens and will therefore be able to fulfill its social contract with the people of this country. Government will also know without doubt who is in the country and why they are here.

Registration of babies within 30 days will therefore assist government to become more effective in its service delivery to the nation and will enhance our social partnership with all South Africans.

We reiterate however that the right to citizenship is a constitutional right to which all South Africans are entitled. Therefore, in terms of the amendments to the Births and Deaths Registration Act, should parents not register their babies within 30 days must follow the late registration of birth process. Applicants will be subjected to stringent screening processes which will now be conducted at head office.