Ladies and Gentlemen of the media
It is with pleasure that I can report to you on some of the envisaged highlights for 1997 in the Department of Home Affairs.
As the time available is rather limited I will restrict my presentation to a few issues, thus allowing more time to respond to your questions.
You will recall that my Department has, in consultation with other government departments concerned, investigated the possible introduction of the Home Affairs National Identification System (HANIS) which will include an Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS).
Home Affairs was appointed as the principal of civil AFIS systems in the State, by the Public Service Commission during the first half of 1995, and subsequently invited all interested departments to join the technical committee which is responsible for implementing the proposed system. The project was formally launched with an inter-departmental meeting on 20 July 1995, and currently has representatives from Welfare, Health, SAPS, Transport, Housing and the Department of Public Service and Administration serving on the technical committee. Cabinet approval to proceed with the project was obtained early in 1996 and the Department has compiled a comprehensive functional tender document in consultation with the other departments and the private sector.
HANIS will offer enormous benefits to the State through a structured multi level identification service. Firstly, the systems will restrict persons to a single unique identity number which will be used as the key to identify individuals on numerous systems that are used within the Public and Private sectors. The identity card will allow three levels of verification to ensure that the person is who he/she claims to be. This verification service will be used extensively for services to individuals. To this extent it is expected that HANIS will ensure proper governance within for example the pension payment systems, unemployment and health systems and many more.
Another decision was that the country will implement two fingerprint systems, namely a civil system and a separate criminal system implemented by the criminal justice departments.
The official tender document of the civil system was published in the State Tender Bulletin on 6 December 1996 with a closing date of 20 March 1997. Evaluation is expected to be finalised before the end of 1997, with implementation starting early in 1998. The first citizens to be registered in the proposed system will be senior citizens receiving social grants from the State. It is expected that registration of pensioners will begin towards the end of 1998 or early 1999. Thereafter various drives will be launched to register the rest of the citizens within an eight year period.
A further issue in Civic Affairs to be addressed in 1997, is the proposed new Marriage Act.
In this regard the South African Law Commission has been requested to investigate the introduction of a marriage law that will apply throughout South Africa (the Marriage Act, 1961, only applies in the former RSA region), and to investigate the advisability of regulating all forms of marriages in one marriage measure.
I would like to introduce legislation in this regard to Parliament as soon as possible, hopefully still during this year's Parliamentary session. The Law Commission has therefore been requested to deal with their investigation on a priority basis. As this is a very sensitive matter it is my intention to publish the bill for public comment before passing it through Parliament.
Immigration remains one of the important functions of the Department of Home Affairs and in this regard there are very important ventures envisaged for 1997.
The Government realises that a properly managed immigration programme can be of great economic, social and cultural benefit to the country. The policy is therefore aimed at allowing entry only to those persons who can contribute substantially towards the needs of the country in the form of personal skills or investments leading to industrial expansion and job creation for the local population. This policy is in line with the objectives of the Reconstruction and Development Programme.
As you may probably be aware, I have appointed an independent task team to investigate all migration matters and to compile a Green Paper with recommendations. This Green Paper will be made available to all interested parties as soon as it is completed and this process will eventually lead to new immigration policy.
The members of the new, restructured Immigrants Selection Board consisting of a Central Committee in Pretoria, which has reviewing powers, and one regional committee for each province, have been appointed by the with effect from 1 January 1997. These appointments were made in accordance with the principles of transparency and openness and all nominees were screened by an independent selection panel.
Whilst an autonomous Immigrants Selection Board has in fact been in existence since 1937, the Aliens Control Act was amended in 1995 to make provision for the appointment of a Board and its committees. Government officials will render an administrative support service. In the past the regional committees of the Board consisted of officials of the Department of Home Affairs and it can now be said that the new Board is in every way independent, though it will still be bound by the legal provisions of the Act.
The names of the appointed members have already been made public by means of a media release.
The matter of illegal aliens remains high on the agenda of my Department. You will recall that between July and November 1996 citizens of Southern African Development Community (SADC) member states who had been in the country at least five years prior to 30 June 1996 and who qualified in terms of certain conditions, were afforded the opportunity to apply for exemption in terms of which permanent residence in the RSA may be legally acquired. More than 200 000 applications have been received and are still being processed. In addition, an opportunity was also given to migrant labourers to apply for exemption and refugees from Mozambique were also granted permanent residence.
South Africa has extended a gesture of goodwill to its neighbouring countries by granting these exemptions. This gesture should not be construed as a softening of our approach to illegal immigrants. To the contrary, it provided the moral high ground, after a period of discrimination, to deal with this problem stricter according to the Aliens Control Act.
I would, therefore, appeal to the various service departments such as Welfare, Education, Housing, etc, as well as Provincial Governments as well as private employers, to request the identity documents or passports of all foreigners requesting services subsidised by the government and in this way ensure that they do not gain access to services in short supply to our own people.
There is also an increase in foreigners who enter South Africa and then apply for asylum.
Asylum seekers who qualify in terms of international instruments to which South Africa is a signatory, are granted refugee status. Although the Department is still drafting legislation to regulate refugee issues, genuine refugees are granted the necessary permits authorising their sojourn in the country and these persons have all the rights and privileges as those of foreigners with permanent residence in the country.
In conclusion, may I mention that the Department of Home Affairs places a high premium on the government's policy of promoting greater gender and population representivity in its staff composition. To further this, a transformation unit has recently been established in the Department to drive this process.
Despite the loss of expertise of staff taking severance packages and the presence of many new, less experienced staff, the Department is striving at all times to fulfil its variety of functions with utmost diligence and sincerity, thus ensuring that the most efficient service possible is rendered to the public of South Africa. The staff should be complimented for their dedication and loyalty.
Issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs, 13 February 1997