{"id":2276,"date":"2021-03-04T18:05:13","date_gmt":"2021-03-04T18:05:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ipan.co.za\/?p=2276"},"modified":"2021-03-04T18:18:58","modified_gmt":"2021-03-04T18:18:58","slug":"media-statement-on-the-establishment-of-a-task-team-to-review-certain-permits-issued-by-the-department-over-the-years-and-a-committee-to-advise-on-the-amendment-of-the-electoral-act-73-of-1998-by-the","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.ipan.co.za\/?p=2276","title":{"rendered":"MEDIA STATEMENT ON THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A TASK TEAM TO REVIEW CERTAIN PERMITS ISSUED BY THE DEPARTMENT OVER THE YEARS AND A COMMITTEE TO ADVISE ON THE AMENDMENT OF THE ELECTORAL ACT 73 OF 1998 BY THE MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS DR AARON MOTSOALEDI."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>My\ncolleague, Deputy Minister, Mr Njabulo Nzuza<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The\nDirector-General of the Department of Home Affairs, Mr Tommy Makhode.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Members\nof the public listening through various platforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Members\nof the media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ladies\nand gentlemen,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Good\nday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thank you for honouring our\ninvitation to update you on the work the Department of Home Affairs is doing to\nensure a more rigorous and consistent implementation of our immigration laws as\nwe pursue our national interests, guided by our Constitution and international\ncommitments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Three weeks ago, in a meeting of the Portfolio Committee on Home\nAffairs,\nI announced my intention to set up a\ntask team to review some permits that were issued by the Department over the years.\nI identified the need to review the permits after realising a trend emerging\nfrom the outcomes of cases involving prominent people investigated by the\nDepartment\u2019s Counter Corruption Unit, which investigates wrongdoing by\ndepartmental officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Over the years, the Counter\nCorruption unit has established that 66 percent, or nearly two out of every\nthree reported cases, involved permitting. The allegations are reported by\ndifferent whistle-blowers using different avenues to reach the Counter\nCorruption unit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In November 2020, during a high powered investigation, I was\nalarmed when 14 members of the permitting\nsection signed a petition demanding\nthat the Counter Corruption\nunit should stop investigating their errors. This admission\nstrengthened my resolve to have a more transparent permit issuance regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As\nI announced last week, I hereby wish to inform the country that a Ministerial\nCommittee has been established to review all permits and visas issued\nsince 2004, in the following categories;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Permanent Residence Permits (PRP), which are\njust a step away from citizenship<\/li><li>Corporate visas, especially in the mining\nsector<\/li><li>Business visa <\/li><li>(Professional)\nCritical\nskills visa<\/li><li>Retired persons visa <\/li><li>Citizenship by naturalisation<\/li><li>Study\nvisa<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>We chose 2004 as the cut-off\ndate because that is the year the Immigration Act, Act number 13 of 2002, came\ninto operation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This\nCommittee is expected to present an interim report in three months.\nThe three months period is not an indication of the lifespan of this Committee but this target communicates our\ndesire for a speedy conclusion of the review because most of the information to\nbe reviewed is already held within the Home Affairs Department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We are undertaking this review\nto ensure that each permit has been issued to a qualifying person because our\nimmigration laws have to be implemented in a manner that facilitates economic\ndevelopment and encourages social stability. The expeditious and accurate\nissuance of these permits can contribute to growing the economy as we emerge\nfrom the impact of Covid 19. The Committee will also identify loopholes in our\nsystem and recommend improvements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We\nhave\nalready met\nthe Committee, which has already started its work. We have agreed that the\nCommittee will indicate to us how much time it will need to complete this task\nafter taking into account various considerations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Members of the Committee are;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr Cassuis Lubisi \u2013\nChairperson, with extensive\nexperience in governance as a Director General in Government <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Advocate Sesi Baloyi \u2013 A\nSenior Counsel who is the Chairperson of the Johannesburg Society of Advocates.\nHer specialisations\ninclude Administrative Law as\nwell as Employment and Labour Law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mr Peter Bishop \u2013 A forensic investigations specialist with\nvast experience in both the public and private sector locally and\ninternationally. Also formerly with the Special Investigating Unit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ms Kathleen Dlepu \u2013 Is the Chairperson of the Legal Services Council, formerly\nLaw Society. She\u2019s a lawyer with vast experience and expertise in\nAdministrative Law. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Prof Somadoda Fikeni \u2013 An academic with extensive experience at University level and a\nCommissioner at the Public Service Commission\n<strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Appointment of an advisory committee to advise on the\nElectoral Act, 73 of 1998 amendment <\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In July 2020, the Constitutional Court, in the application\nbrought by New National Movement NPC in 2019, ruled that the Electoral Act (Act\n73 of 1998) is unconstitutional to the extent that it requires that adult\ncitizens may be elected to the National Assembly and Provincial Legislatures\nonly through their political parties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Several meetings and briefings were held by the\nPortfolio Committee on Home Affairs in regard to this issue. In the meeting of\nthe Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs of 09 February 2021, a programme was\nset on how to take this matter forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As Minister of Home Affairs, I announced to the\nPortfolio Committee that I will be putting up a team of experts to advise me as\nwe work towards complying with the Constitutional Court judgment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This team includes lawyers,\npolitical scientists, social scientist, and architects of electoral systems who\nhave extensive experience. We have also met this Committee and it too has\nstarted its work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Committee consists of; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Mr Mohammed Valli Moosa \u2013 Chairperson. He is\nthe former Minister of Provincial Affairs and Constitutional Development.<\/li><li>Advocate Pansy Tlakula \u2013 the former Chairperson\nof the Independent Electoral Commission and the longest serving Chief Electoral\nOffice.<\/li><li>Advocate Vincent Maleka \u2013 a Senior Council with extensive experience in\nrepresenting several clients up to the Constitutional Court.<\/li><li>Dr Mike Sutcliffe \u2013 former member of the\nDemarcation Board and former Ethekwini Municipal Manager.<\/li><li>Dr Sithembile Mbete \u2013 political scientist and senior lecturer at the University of\nPretoria.<\/li><li>Mr Norman du Plessis \u2013 former Deputy Chief\nElectoral Officer with extensive\nexperience in electoral operations and electoral systems.<\/li><li>Prof Daryl Glaser \u2013 political scientist and Head of Department: Political Studies at\nWits University. He has extensive\ninternational experience on electoral systems and electoral reforms.<\/li><li>Dr\nNomsa Masuku \u2013 Commissioner of the Independent\nElectoral Commission, an academic and a champion of civic and democracy\neducation. She is a former Deputy Chief Electoral Officer responsible for\nOutreach.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Two more nominations, one from the Minister of Finance\nand another one from the SA Law Reform Commission (SALRC), through the Minister\nof Justice and Correctional Services, are still being awaited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I am grateful to members of\nboth Ministerial Committees for\navailing their collective skills and time as we build the South Africa we want.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Resumption\nof services at Home Affairs offices<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Following the President\u2019s\nannouncement that the country has moved to Alert Level 1, we have decided that more services will be\nresumed tomorrow, Thursday, 04 March 2021. The Citizenship service remains\ntemporarily unavailable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Online services through eHome\nAffairs and our partner banks will be resumed on Monday, 08 March 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The\nfollowing services were offered during Adjusted Lock Level 3;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Births Registration<ul><li>Re-issuance of Births Certificates <\/li><\/ul><ul><li>Late\nRegistration of Birth (LRB) for learners and pensioners only;<\/li><\/ul><ul><li>Death registration<\/li><\/ul><ul><li>Applications temporary Identity certificate (TIC) <\/li><\/ul><ul><li>Collection of Identity cards or documents <\/li><\/ul><ul><li>Applications\nand collection of passports for those who are exempted to travel <\/li><\/ul><ul><li>Applications\nfor identity (Smart ID) Cards or documents for matriculants only&nbsp; <\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>In\naddition to those mentioned above, we are resuming the following services during\nLock Level 1;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Re-issues of Smart ID Cards and identity\n       documents <\/li><li>Registration and Solemnization of\n       Marriages<\/li><li>Amendments and rectifications<\/li><li>Late\n       Registration of Birth (LRB) for all categories<\/li><li>Applications\n       and collections of passports for all categories <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>I would like to remind South\nAfricans that Covid-19 is still with us and we need to remain vigilant in our\nfight against its spread. We do not want our offices to be super spreader\nsites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We urge everyone who visits\nour offices to observe social distancing, sanitise their hands regularly and to\nwear their masks properly, covering their noses and mouths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nobody will be allowed into\nour offices if they are not wearing their masks properly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thank you very much.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My colleague, Deputy Minister, Mr Njabulo Nzuza The Director-General of the Department of Home Affairs,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2142,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home-affairs"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ipan.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Home-Affairs.jpg?fit=756%2C426","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ipan.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ipan.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ipan.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ipan.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ipan.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2276"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.ipan.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2276\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2278,"href":"http:\/\/www.ipan.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2276\/revisions\/2278"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ipan.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ipan.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ipan.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ipan.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}