Honourable Chairperson.
We are seeing an increase in the number of political killings in KwaZulu-Natal. On behalf of the DA, we extend our condolences to the families of ANC and IFP councillors who have lost their lives through political intolerance. Once again, we condemn this brutal act.
I also want to express our concerns regarding the seeming increase in religious intolerance towards the Muslim community, and the incident which saw a young man brutally murdered at a mosque in Verulam, Durban.
Honourable Chairperson, I raise these concerning matters, for the very specific reason of highlighting the simmering tensions between Somali shopkeepers and local community leaders in KwaMashu, Durban.
I hold in my hand, an ultimatum from the North Region Business Association, issued to all Somali shop owners in the area, to shut down their stores within 14 days or face the consequences. I want to draw to the attention of this House, that unless we take urgent preventative measures, we shall see the
repeat of xenophobic violence in our communities as we have seen in previous years. This is the same organisation, who issued a similar threat a few years ago, and that threat resulted in an all-out war between vulnerable foreigners and local leaders. Many lost their lives and possessions.
We are reminded of the work the Ad Hoc Joint Committee on Probing Violence Against Foreign Nationals were tasked to do in 2015 and ask the Minister to give us an update on which of the Committee’s recommendations have been implemented.
I call on the Minister to give this House the assurance that he will give this urgent matter the requisite attention to prevent a recurrence of that ghastly situation. We have a responsibility to protect vulnerable communities who are simply trying to live an honest and decent life.
Chairperson, when we met here two years ago, Minister Gigaba gave this house the assurance that his department is working hard to provide an efficient, professional and dignified service to the people of our country. Let me quote his words: “I am convinced that the leadership demonstrated by each and everyone of our employees is a critical ingredient to our success.”
He went on to say that: “we are committed to ensuring our customers consistently experience excellent customer service”
Honourable Members, when you visit a Home Affairs office anywhere in our country, on most occasions, the experience is very often anything but professional and excellent. Thousands of South Africans who visit Home Affairs offices everyday would rather visit their dentist. They dread going to
a Home Affairs office. Poor office conditions, long queues and the bad attitudes of some staff members have built us a reputation of being the department of ‘Horror Affairs’.
People wait for many hours in long queues and are often greeted by rude security guards who treat them like they are doing you a favour. Then they wait the entire day in the beating sun or rain, to reach the front of the queue, only to be told that they must return the next day because the office has
reached its quota for the day. Unscrupulous elements have now seen a business opportunity and are selling places in the queue, and the Department turns a blind eye.
And when you do eventually manage get inside the office, you are often met by unfriendly, underpaid and overworked staff. There is nothing more annoying to a customer than arriving at a packed Home Affairs office and finding only two out of 15 counters operating.
Let me pause at this point to mention that not every staff member at Home Affairs is guilty of treating the public with disrespect. There are many hard working and professional staff who go way beyond the call of duty to be daily ambassadors of the Department, but because there is very little recognition
for their hard work, the culture of professionalism in Home Affairs is on the decline. There is very little incentive for professionalism in the Department.
I want to call on the Provincial Managers who are present here today (because speaking to the political leadership doesn’t help anymore), PLEASE, for the sake of the people of our country, get rid of those unprofessional and rude staff members who give your Department a bad name. You know who they
are. Why are you still protecting them and keeping them in this Department? If they are not prepared to be servants of the citizens, then let them find other work.
Chairperson, the allocated budget to this department is clearly insufficient to meet the demands of effective service delivery, especially in immigration affairs where we need more immigration officers.
We have a situation in our country where an unknown number of people enter South Africa illegally every year. Many more enter legally but overstay or disregard the conditions of their visas. Meanwhile, we have fewer than 800 immigration officers in the country whose job it is to seek and arrest undocumented immigrants.
The situation has led to a loss of confidence in this Department’s ability to secure our porous borders. Some people in our country have even taken the law into their own hands, indiscriminately targeting properly documented and undocumented foreigners alike. In a country where 9.5 million people are
unable to find a job, Home Affairs’ failures only serve to inflame tensions between locals and foreigners.
One of the contributing factors of the long queues at Home Affairs’ offices countrywide is that there are too few live capture systems for smart ID and Passport applications. The DA has called for an appointment system to be introduced but even this is ignored. We could double the number of
applications per day if there was more money allocated. But the lack of funds, is making it very difficult for the department to operate effectively and efficiently.
But it also does not help the situation when we have a minister who spent almost R900 000 on flights and accommodation for his wife. How shameful!
I want to ask Minister Gigaba, does he believe that this is acceptable in our current economic climate, to spend such vast sums of money for your wife’s travel and accommodation, when this department is struggling to meet its targets because of a shortage of funds. Even the Independent Electoral
Commission (IEC) has indicated that they need more funding to conduct effective registration programmes for free and fair elections.
Honorable Chairperson, a few years ago, a company named Fireblade made an application to the Department to operate a private VVIP terminal at OR Tambo International Airport. Initially, it seemed that everything was going as planned. The Minister and senior officials had meetings with the company pursuing the feasibility and exploring the possibilities.
There is on record a wealth of back and forth correspondence between this company, the Minister and officials in his Department. At no stage whatsoever, did the Minister ever say to anyone that permission for such a facility couldn’t be granted because of a lack of existing government policy. In
fact, both him and senior officials, held many meetings with many departments, working to make the VVIP terminal at OR Tambo a reality.
But suddenly something happened. In February last year, the Minister had a very sudden change of heart and the matter eventually ended up in court, where the Minister lost miserably. In fact, the court even expressed serious concern about the Minister’s lies.
So what exactly happened? Why did the Minister change his mind? Was there something sinister happening behind the scenes? Well, let me share with you the version filed in court papers.
Reports indicate that an associate of the Gupta family rocked up at Fireblade with a message from Rajesh Gupta. The message was clear. Fireblade will never be granted approval for the VVIP terminal application because they had the wrong empowerment partners and if they agreed to choose an “appropriate” partner, Mr Gupta could guarantee that the application will receive ministerial approval.
When Fireblade turned down the offer, their battle with the Minister started. Is this just a coincidence?
Honourable Chairperson, when we quizzed the Minister last week about why he had a sudden change of heart, his response was that he did not think a family should own their own private terminal at the airport. Yet he engaged them, met with them, instructed officials to make progress, and even asked
Fireblade to allow Jacob Zuma to do the official opening. But now he suddenly behaves like he was opposed to it from the very beginning.
The Minister will naturally deny this. However, Honourable Chairperson, today we call on this committee to include in its probe into State Capture, the involvement of Minister Gigaba in this whole Fireblade saga and invite persons who have the relevant information to assist us, to come and give evidence before this Parliament.
In addition to our request for an investigation into the Guptas citizenship affair, we want this matter of Fireblade to be included in the probe so that we can get to the bottom of the secret dealings with the Gupta family.
Honourable Chairperson,
A serious and worrying trend is developing in this Department. The Department of Home Affairs continues to show complete disregard for court orders. It has a reputation of giving our courts the middle finger. The Supreme Court of Appeal ruled in September last year that the Cape Town Refugee
Reception Office must be re-opened by the 31 March 2018. The Minister’s appeal to the Constitutional Court was dismissed. In 2015 already the Constitutional Court had ruled that the Port Elizabeth Refugee Reception Office be re-opened. To date, these centres remain closed.
The department shows scant regard for the difficulties asylum seekers have to face, by travelling from Cape Town, all the way to Durban or Pretoria to renew their asylum seeker permits. While Home Affairs claims to respect international agreements on the treatment of refugees and asylum seekers,
in practice, they make it impossible for asylum seekers to abide by the rules, so that they can be found guilty of breaking our immigration laws and then deported without trial.
Minister Gigaba in his response must please tell us: when are these reception centres going to be reopened?
And then you have the very embarrassing ruling by the constitutional court against the Department, for detaining and deporting undocumented immigrants without first granting them their Constitutional right to a fair trial. The same kind of activity the apartheid government used, to detain people illegally. This ruling was handed down more than a year ago and up until today, the department has not even started to make the necessary amendments to the Immigration Act. Once again, another middle finger being waved at our courts.
But then what else do we expect from a department when its political head was himself found to be lying to a court. In fact, so egregious was his lie, it led the court to express that his conduct amounted to a serious violation of the Constitution.
Honourable Chairperson, although the Department of Home Affairs has been making some good progress under very difficult circumstances, the political leadership of this department undermines all efforts to rebuild its reputation.
This Department has made some progress over the years. But our job here is to remain focused on the areas that require attention, so that the people of our country can get what they rightfully deserve: a decent, efficient and professional service. But for as long as we have this kind of political leadership,
the situation will remain unchanged.
This is why we are asking South Africans to consider the following questions:
- Do you want a Department of Home Affairs that works for you and delivers to expectations?
- Do you want to be treated with respect and dignity when you arrive at their offices for assistance?
- Do you want a fast, efficient and professional Department that operates with excellence and professionalism?
If yes, then there’s really only one way to get this: get rid of this government, and replace it with one that knows how to deliver.