Draft submission to the public protector: 15 March

If you have any suggestions about this draft complaint, please email homeaffairsinvestigation@gmail.com
The complaint will be submitted to the Public Protector on 15 March

Complaint:
To investigate maladministration in the permits section of the department of home affairs
Remedy:
To facilitate the fast-tracking of the permit backlog, and that applicants affected by the backlog are not deemed to be in contravention of the immigration act (so they are not deported or forced to leave their jobs)

Details:

Poor Service:
-investigate allegations of poor service i.e. queueing in the early hours of the morning e.g. 3 a.m
-investigate allegations that the department (Pretoria office) is not speaking to the public or attorneys


Investigation of permanent residency (PR) applications:- How many PR applications were received per annum in the last 5-10 years.
-how many (percentage of annual applications) were adjudicated within
8 months of receipt per year
-If the figure is less than 100% (as the adjudication time given by Home
affairs used to be 30 days but has gradually moved to 8 months at time
of writing) why are applications taking longer than 30days (as per the original processing time) to 8 months (as per home affairs web site)
- what percentage of annual applications were adjudicated unfavourably
(rejected) per year
-what percentage of rejected applications were successfully appealed per year
- if the successfully appealed rejections are more than 20%, why are
adjudications not being done properly initially
-what steps are being taking to improve the adjudication process
-what is the average turnaround time for an adjudication
-if it is longer than 30 days (as stated by Home affairs in their
receipt letters) why are there adjudication backlogs and what is being
done to correct this situation

Investigation of temporary residency (TR) applications (as for PR)

Confirmation of Residency
-how many incidences of incorrect residency have been lodged per year
(where the department says someone is not a PR, when they infact are.
This happens when someone needs confirmation of PR e.g. for a new
foreign passport to be issued).
-What was the range of turnaround times to rectify these incidences


Legal action
-How many court orders/legal action have been taken against home
affairs per annum in the last 10 years
- What percentage of these is relating to permits
- What is the cost of litigation relating to permits per year
-what is being done to improve the service so that people do not
resort to court action
Repatriation deposits- the value of repatriation deposits collected annually for the last 5-10 years
-the average deposit paid per person
-average deposit period per person
-what type of account the moneys are being held in
-what interest is being earned annually on these deposits (if any)
-if deposits are paid back to applicants with interest. If not, why not.
-If not, what explanation is given to depositors regarding the interest


Public Protector
-How many complaints have been filed against the department at the
public protector per year for the last 10 years
-What is the breakdown of complaints per department (e.g.immigration,
birth certificates, ids etc)
-what is being done to improve the service so that the number of
complaints starts to decrease

Parliamentary Questions
-how many parliamentary questions were submitted to the minister of home affairs in 2010
-what percentage of these were answered?
-if less than 100%, why were these not answered
-what steps are being taken to remedy this situation

Bilateral Relations-How many countries have tightened their visa requirements for south
africans in the last 10 years (per country per year)
-What reasons were given for tightening their visa requirements
-How many countries have discontinued bilateral agreements for south
africans e.g. for working holiday visas, short work programmes etc
-What reasons were given for discontinuing these agreements