1. DHA Budget Vote (2004/05)
Briefing of Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs & Select Committee on Social Services
1 June 2004

2. Introduction
Briefed Members of Portfolio Committee on Turnaround Strategy
Positive response
Today - indicate how Strategy has been operationalised and progress made to date
Introduction
Chairperson and Members of the Committee
Earlier this year we briefed Members on our Turnaround Strategy.
You responded positively, with the key request being that we should move quickly in operationalising the Strategy.
In this presentation I intend to highlight to Members what we have done to do exactly this. In addition, I would like to flag the progress that we have made since late last year. Because of time constraints I will concentrate on the most crucial elements of the Strategy.

3. The Turnaround Strategy
Wide range of interventions
Project Teams established
Programme Manager seconded from DPSA
Three external consultants appointed to provide project management assistance and change management advice
TA Strategy incorporated into 2004/ /07 Strat Plan & Bus Plan
Budget re-prioritised
Today highlight interventions re people, infrastructure, technology, service delivery, corruption, immigration and civic services
Our Turnaround Strategy was only developed in September last year. It includes a wide range of interventions across all the Department’s activities.
Our Turnaround Strategy has been established as a programme and project teams have been established for each of the focus areas - some 64 in total. The programme office and projects teams consist primarily of internal staff members, with some external support in the form of a programme manager seconded from the DPSA and three consultants who focus on providing project management and change management support.
We have incorporated our Turnaround Programme in our Medium Term Strategic and Business Planning – setting clear deliverables and timelines, as well as re-prioritising our budget.
I would like to focus on the progress that we have made in the three areas of critical capacity namely People, Infrastructure and Technology. In addition I will refer to the work we have and are doing in relation to Service Delivery, Corruption, Immigration and Civic Services.

4. People New structure and establishment approved
Increase from 7,500 to 11,700 posts
Key elements of new structure
National Immigration Branch
Service Delivery Branch
Chief Directorate Counter-Corruption and Security
Provincial management and support
Financial and logistical management capacity
Strengthening of strategic and integrated governance support
People
Our previous Minister approved a new organisational structure and establishment for the Department in March this year. It is designed to lay the basis for building the necessary capacity and focus for effecting the interventions we have planned.
Our new establishment provides for an increase from 7,500 posts to 11,700 posts. Key elements of the new organisational structure are the establishment of a National Immigration Branch, a Service Delivery Branch, responsible for co-ordinating the work of our frontline offices at home and abroad, the creation of a Chief Directorate Counter Corruption and Security, the establishment of provincial management and support capacity for the Department, the upgrading of our financial and logistical management capacity and the strengthening of our strategic management and integrated governance support.

5. People Urgent measures for capacity increase
Filling SMS posts – 3 Directors, 2 DDGs
Advertised additional management posts
Fill 1,000 posts within next couple of months
Introducing learnerships and internships in 2004/05
Revising our training curricula and capacity
Project to improve morale and organisational cohesion
Sporting and cultural programme
We intend populating this new structure over the next three to five years, but urgent measures have been put in place to significantly increase our capacity over the short term.
We have begun the process of filling long-vacant senior management positions. Already three director posts have been filled and we have completed shortlisting for two DDG posts. This weekend we advertised a number of additional management posts.
We have established a personnel recruitment and replenishment project. In this financial year we plan to complete the filling of close to 1,000 new posts. More than half of these are already filled.
We are putting the finishing touches on a plan to introduce extensive learnership and internship programmes in the Department during the course of this financial year. We hope to secure external funding for this purpose.
We have instituted a project to completely revise our training curricula and to strengthen our internal capacity. Our plan is to ensure that all members of the Department receive comprehensive training in all aspects of the Department’s work, as well as in a range of soft skills such as client service.
We have also established a project to improve morale and organisational cohesion, including a comprehensive sporting and cultural programme at local and national levels.

6. Infrastructure
New establishment provides for significant increase in our offices and service points around the country
Audit of location, condition, equipping and staffing of all offices
Plan for relocation or refurbishment of all offices with DPW
Worst offices identified for immediate intervention
Volunteer campaign to give facelift to 50 offices
Infrastructure
The Department's old establishment provided for 10 regions, 33 sub-regions, 108 district offices, 123 permanent service points and 57 ports of entry. The new establishment has increased this to 12 regions, 39 sub-regions, 149 district offices, 656 service points/mobile units and 58 ports of entry. We intend phasing this in over a five-year period.
In order to address the poor state of our offices around the country, we have initiated an audit of the location, condition, equipping and staffing of all our offices. A condition assessment of the government-owned buildings where we are the majority occupant has already been completed. This will serve as a basis for a planned medium to long-term relocation or refurbishment of our offices throughout the country, in partnership with the Department of Public Works.
In the short term, we have identified the worst of our offices for immediate intervention.
We will be conducting a volunteer campaign in which our management and staff, together with local communities, and in partnership with DPW and the private sector, will take up paint brushes and screwdrivers to give a facelift to around fifty of our offices around the country.

7. Technology IT Lekgotla held in October 2004
Bring the IT systems of Home Affairs rapidly into the 21st Century in line with e-government strategies
Technology
In October last year we held an IT Lekgotla at which we planned an ambitious IT revolution with the aim of bringing the IT systems of the Department rapidly into the 21st Century and in line with government’s e-government strategies. We call our new IT strategy – ITingwe.
We highlight a few of the key elements of ITingwe here.

8. Extend HANIS into integrated biometric database of all persons – citizens, residents, asylum seekers, illegals
HANIS Reloaded
Reduce fraudulent status
Design with StatsSA
Comprehensive database for planning information and statistics
Incorporate PR, MCS, Refugee and Illegals databases
Firstly, we intend to extend the current HANIS system into a comprehensive, integrated, biometric database of all people the Department deals with – citizens, temporary and permanent residents, asylum seekers, refugees and illegal foreigners. We call this HANIS Reloaded.
HANIS Reloaded will play a key part in reducing the fraudulent acquisition or changing of status. It will be designed in partnership with Statistics South Africa and other departments, to ensure a comprehensive and reliable database of all information required by government and others for statistical and planning purposes. HANIS Reloaded will incorporate the National Population Register, Movement Control System, Refugee and Illegals Databases.

9. HANIS 1 Close to 2 million records captured
Fraudulent applications detected
Back record conversion to start soon – complete in 2006
Transaction Advice on National ID Card complete
Cab Memo soon on ID Card procurement
New ID card within this year – rolled out over five years
HANIS 1, as we now call it, is up and running, with close to two million records captured. Already the system has enabled us to detect fraudulent applications for citizenship from people already on the database as illegal foreigners or asylum seekers.
We are now fast-tracking the further development of HANIS. We have initiated the electronic back record conversion of the over 30 million hard-copy fingerprints in our system, thus enabling us to progressively introduce on-line verification of status for the government and private sectors. We expect to complete this project within two-and-a-half years.
In January this year we received a report from the Transaction Advisors contracted to look into the procurement model, technical and other options for the new electronic National Identity Card. We hope to initiate the procurement process shortly. We plan to be able to begin issuing the new ID card during the course of this year, and roll out the issuing of over 30 million cards over a five-year period.

10. Unique, permanent ID no. within 6 months
Will not change with status or date of birth
Preventing multiple identities
Smart passport
Increase passport security
Speedier processing of passengers at ports of entry
In the next six months we will be introducing a unique, permanent, 13-digit ID number to all people the Department gives status to. This number will not change when the person’s status changes, or when a date of birth is rectified, thus preventing people from acquiring new identity when on the run from the law, or from having more than one identity.
We are also planning to introduce within the next two years a smart passport, using similar technology to the new ID card, significantly increasing the security of our passports and allowing for more speedy processing of passengers at our ports of entry.

11. Integrated Client Services Console
Electronic live capture of fingerprints, photos, signatures, supporting documentation and applications
No more dirty fingers
Immediate capture into HANIS Reloaded
Time and cost savings on transport and scanning
Roll-out to all offices over MTEF
Pilots at Lindela, Refugee Reception Centres, mobile units and selected hospitals and morgues this financial year
At the front end of our ITingwe systems will be what we call our Integrated Client Service Console. This will enable us to electronically capture applications live at the point of service - including digital capture of fingerprints, photographs, signatures, supporting documentation and the applications themselves. This will mean, amongst other things, no more dirty fingers, and the immediate capture of applications into HANIS Reloaded, saving on the inordinate time and costs of transporting and scanning applications into the system at Head Office.
We plan to roll out these ICSCs to all our offices and ports of entry over the MTEF period, but over the next six months plan to introduce them on a pilot basis in Lindela, thus improving our recording of illegal foreigners, at our five refugee reception centres around the country, in the fully-equipped mobile units we will be introducing in this financial year, and at selected hospitals and morgues to enable the electronic registration of births and deaths.

12. Electronic Document Management System
On-line application processing
Reduced time to issue documents
Digitising of microfilm citizen records complete
Digitising of black population records to begin soon – completed by 2006
In between the ICSC front-end and the HANIS Reloaded back-end will be our Electronic Document Management and Workflow System enabling on-line processing of applications, dramatically reducing the processing time for documentation. We estimate that we will eventually be able to issue an ID in 48 hours. We have already completed the process of digitising our microfilm citizen records and will shortly be beginning a project to computerise the paper citizen records, giving priority to records of the black population which, due to apartheid, are in a state of chaos, often not linked to ID numbers or to any other indexes. We expect to complete this within two years.

13. Service Delivery ‘The Client is Always Right’ Campaign
Education programme
Award system
Publishing of letters of thanks and complaint
24-hour Client Services Centre
Check progress of applications, unblock blockages and fast-track processes
Immigration emergencies
Best-practice project
Queue management, signage and workflow
Impose on all office within six months
Service Delivery
We recognise that the success of the whole range of our turnaround interventions will ultimately dramatically improve the Department’s standard of service delivery. But we have introduced a number of urgent interventions to begin making a difference immediately.
We have introduced a ‘The Client is always Right’ campaign, designed to inculcate in our members the attitude that our clients must be treated on the basis that they are entitled to the service they are asking for, and in the quickest and most convenient manner. This campaign will include educational and communication programmes, but will also involve an award system for excellent service delivery, and the publishing of letters of thanks for good service delivery and letters of complaint for bad service delivery in our internal publications and website.
Within the coming financial year we will institute a 24-hour Client Services Centre that will enable the public, other government departments, as well as the private sector to make enquiries about the progress of applications, and which will have the power to unblock blockages and fast-track processes. It will also serve to handle immigration emergencies, such as high-profile visitors who have arrived at a port of entry without visas.
We have also instituted a project to identify best practice in the management of queues, signage and workflow in our offices, and to impose these standards on all our offices around the country. It is planned to complete this project within the next six months.

14. Corruption Holistic approach needed NIA-led assessment completed
Counter-Corruption operational plan being finalised
Partnerships with security community for tackling corrupting syndicates
Improving security at offices
MOU with NIA on vetting
SMS by Oct 2004, middle management by 2005, all other members of staff by 2007
Capacitating new Counter-Corruption and Security Chief Directorate
New management vacancies advertised
Acting Director: Security seconded from NIA
Corruption
Our Turnaround Strategy identifies the need for a holistic approach to dealing with corruption.
With the help of the National Intelligence Agency we have completed an assessment of the main causes of corruption in the Department and the interventions needed to tackle it decisively. Many of the broader elements of this assessment are already taken care of in our Turnaround Strategy. We are now in the process of translating this assessment into a concrete counter-corruption operational plan.
We are developing our partnerships with the security and enforcement community to ensure an effective programme to tackle the corrupting syndicates.
We are in the process of significantly improving access, physical, information and personnel security at our offices. We plan to complete the vetting of all our senior management by October this year, our middle management by October next year, and all other members of staff by In addition, we will ensure that all new members recruited as part of our urgent recruitment project are vetted before assumption of duty.
We have also prioritised the capacitating of our newly created Counter-Corruption and Security Chief Directorate, and the vacant management posts in this Chief Directorate are part of those that we advertised this weekend. NIA has seconded to us as a person who is acting as Director: Security.

15. Immigration
Committee already briefed on Immigration transformation project
New structure approved
DDG post to be advertised shortly. Other key management vacancies already advertised
Urgent recruitment
41 Immigration Officers for JIA, 29 for CT, 23 for Maseru Bridge, 50 for Lindela, 69 Refugee Status Determination Officers
Funds reprioritised for urgent equipping
Project established
Report due in August 2004
Funding implications to be incorporated in MTEF submission
Immigration
I have already briefed members on our project to transform our Immigration capacity into an effective law enforcement agency.
Since our last appearance before the Committee the Minister has approved the structure and establishment of the new National Immigration Branch. We will shortly be advertising the DDG post. The other management posts are among those advertised this weekend.
As part of our programme to fill around 1,000 new posts in the Department, we will be filling an additional 41 Immigration Officer posts at Johannesburg International Airport, 29 at Cape Town International, 23 at Maseru Bridge, 50 at Lindela and 69 Refugee Status Determination Officers.
Through the reprioritisation of funds in 2003/04 we have acquired significant amounts of specialised equipment for our current immigration capacity.
We have appointed a full-time project manager for our Immigration Turnaround Project. The project team’s report on the recruitment, training, equipping and organising of our new Immigration Branch is due to be completed in August this year.
The funding implications of these recommendations will be incorporated in our MTEF submission.

16. Immigration Partnership arrangements being finalised
IOM, UNHCR, foreign governments
Bilaterals with neighbouring countries
Visa and border control
Partnerships on reception and re-integration of deportees
Review of Immigration Act and its implementation
We are also in the process of finalising partnership arrangements for assistance in the creation of this new Immigration Branch with with the International Organisation for Migration, the UNHCR and with the Immigration Services of a number of other governments.
We are engaged in bilateral discussions with our counterparts in neighbouring countries from which the vast majority of illegal foreigners come to review our visa and border control arrangements, as well as to enter into partnership with themselves and with the multilateral organisations and the NGO sector to introduce the proper reception and re-integration into society of deportees in their countries of origin.
This weekend we brought a small team together to review the Immigration Act. As announced by the President, we intend submitting proposed amendments to the legal framework shortly. We will also be focusing on implementation problems in both the enforcement and immigration facilitation aspects of the new dispensation.

17. Civic Services Permanent citizen registration campaign
Outreach campaign in partnership with all sectors
Register new births immediately and find those unregistered or without IDs
Market ID as ticket to government and private sector services
Ensure more accurate statistics
Proposals shortly for urgent amendments to marriage legislation
Reviewing business processes
Speedier and more efficient processing of applications
More effective tracing of applications in process
Civic Services
Obviously our Turnaround interventions in terms of overall capacity and infrastructure development, and especially our IT strategy, will play a key part in improving our services to citizens. Nonetheless, we have identified a number of urgent projects to tackle critical challenges in this area.
We have decided that this should be the last time that we go into panic mode in the year before an election to issue IDs to potential voters. We have resolved to introduce a permanent citizen registration campaign to reach out to all our people who are not registered.
This will involve a massive communication and outreach campaign in partnership with other government departments, with provincial and local government, as well as with the private and NGO sectors. This campaign will seek to ensure that all new births are registered immediately and all those who have never registered their births or received IDs will be found and registered. The campaign will centre not just around getting an ID to vote, but on the value of the ID in accessing government grants and other services, as well as in accessing employment, education, healthcare, and financial and other private sector services.
The campaign will also ensure that the Department has accurate population statistics for government planning purposes.
In the next few months we will also be putting forward proposals for urgent amendments to marriage legislation in order to enable us to deal more effectively with fraudulent marriages.
We will also be reviewing all our Civic Service business processes to ensure speedier and more efficient processing of applications, as well as introducing measures to allow for the more effective tracing of applications in process while we are waiting for the full implementation of our new IT systems.

18. Funding
Detailed business planning done - required re-prioritisation of 2004/05 allocation
Detailed costing over next MTEF cycle in progress
Sympathetic hearing from Treasury
Fiscal constraints to Turnaround dream
Concern with capacity to utilise and manage additional resources
Funding
As I’ve indicated, we have developed a detailed business plan for the current MTEF period. A copy will be made available. Because this plan took its final shape only over the last few weeks, we had to re-prioritise our budget for the current financial year. The CFO will provide the details.
Over the next few weeks we’ll be doing detailed costing for the coming MTEF period. This will include our projections for the expansion of our establishment and the extension of our physical infrastructure.
In our interaction with Treasury over the past ten months we have received a sympathetic hearing and recognition that the Department is severely under-resourced. Obviously, the severe demands and constraints on the fiscus, especially at present, have meant that we could not hope to receive the kind of funding necessary to achieve all our turnaround dreams. In addition, we understand that Treasury needs to be convinced that we have the capacity to effectively utilise and manage any additional resourcing.

19. Funding Measures to fast-track quick wins 2004/05 allocation
More effective budgeting processes
Monitoring of expenditure patterns
Treasury approval in January 2004 to reallocate savings to Turnaround projects
2004/05 allocation
Anticipate good progress in realising plans within allocation
Urgent need for additional capacity to drive and implement Turnaround plans
Additional R250 million needed for personnel in 2004/05
Agency appointed to assist with recruitment aspects
In this spirit we have taken measures to squeeze every drop out of our existing allocations to ensure we begin to the put the capacity in place and to fast track the achievement of our turnaround quick wins.
We have introduced a more effective and realistic budgeting process. We have also introduced measures to continuously monitor our expenditure patterns in order to rapidly reallocate savings to turnaround priority projects.
In January this year we received permission from Treasury to reallocate anticipated savings in the previous financial year to Turnaround projects. We have gone all out to ensure we utilise these reprioritised funds before the end of the financial year.
We believe that, in the main, we will be able to make significant progress with the allocation we have received.
However, for us the key area of capacity-building lies in the urgent acquisition of additional personnel, in order to put in place the leadership to drive our Turnaround Programme and the critical staff to implement it. Our preliminary calculations indicate that for this purpose we would need an additional R250 million in this financial year for personnel expenditure. We intend raising this as part of the Adjustments Estimate.
We have appointed a staff recruitment agency to augment our existing HR capacity to recruit new members of staff - but our personnel expenditure in 2003/04 shows that we have turned the corner.

20. Funding Turnaround Strategy will have significant financial benefits
Improved revenue-generation
Significant savings to fiscus
Reduction in frequency of population censuses
Rationalisation of expenditure on identification systems across government
Alternative resourcing through partnerships
Business Against Crime
Foreign governments
Multilaterals
Financial, in-kind and capacity-building assistance
Fellow depts and agencies to assist with techn support
We believe that the achievement of our Turnaround Strategy will have significant financial benefits. Firstly, increased efficiencies will improve our revenue-generation capability in the fines and tariffs we levy for our various services. Secondly, the implementation of key elements of our strategy, especially in relation to our IT Programme, will in the medium to long-term generate significant savings to the fiscus through, inter alia, the reduction of the frequency of population censuses and the rationalisation of expenditure by other government departments on a plethora of identification systems with the introduction of the new National ID Card.
In addition, we are engaged in a process of seeking alternative resourcing through partnerships with a number of organisations. This includes Business Against Crime - who’s Board just last week approved a package of proposals to provide us with urgent support. As I’ve mentioned in relation to the transformation of Immigration, we are also engaging foreign governments and multilateral organisations for the provision of financial, in-kind and capacity-building assistance to key elements of our Turnaround Strategy.
We have also approached a number of departments to provide technical assistance & advice in a number of areas. These include Stats SA, DPSA, the Office of the Public Service Commission & the Centre for Public Service Innovation. We also intend drawing on the experiences and databases of the Department of Justice, SAPS and the IEC.

21. Conclusion Turnaround Strategy ambitious but necessary
Positive impact on government effectiveness and image in second decade
DHA can’t do it alone
Request Members to support resourcing requirements
Conclusion
Our Turnaround Strategy is ambitious but absolutely necessary. Its successful implementation will make a significant positive impact both on government’s effectiveness and image in the second decade of freedom.
It is a strategy that the Department of Home Affairs cannot achieve alone.
We therefore request you to support the resourcing of the Strategy, and to work with us as we seek creative ways of leapfrogging into the 21st century and making a real difference to the lives of our people .
We thank you.
Siyabonga.
Realeboga.