Š: Special Characters, Sepedi Names with Š

http://www.pmg.org.za/node/29273

QUESTION 1079 / NW1199E

DATE OF PUBLICATION: Friday, 01 April 2011

INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO 10 of 2011
Mr S G Thobejane (ANC) to ask the Minister of Home Affairs:



Why does her Department not apply the use of the character Š in capital with regard to Sepedi names in line with section 6(2) of the Constitution?



NW1199E



REPLY:



The Department of Home Affairs implemented a project throughout the country, which incorporated all special characters, including this one. The project went live during the third week of March 2011. Therefore, all new applications received, in respect of birth, marriage, and death certificates will have these characters, when the certificates are printed.

Smart Card Project

 http://www.pmg.org.za/node/29273



QUESTION 1102 / NW1224E

DATE OF PUBLICATION: Friday, 01 April 2011

INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO 10 of 2011
Mr M Mnqasela (DA) to ask the Minister of Home Affairs:



Whether her Department intended integrating the stalled Smart Card project with the system used by the Department of Transport; if not; why not; if so, what are the relevant details?

NW1224E



REPLY:



The Smart Card project for the Department of Home Affairs will be designed in such a way that it is scalable, and expandable to accommodate other Government Departments, or interested stakeholders, on condition that the security of the card will not be compromised.

Agreements with other Departments

http://www.pmg.org.za/node/29273



QUESTION 1103 / NW1225E

DATE OF PUBLICATION: Friday, 01 April 2011

INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO 10 of 2011
Ms A T Lovemore (DA) to ask the Minister of Home Affairs:



What are the details of the commitments made by her Department on delivery agreements concluded with other Departments as referred to in the Stategic Plan (details furnished)?

NW1225E



REPLY:



The Delivery Agreements which have been signed are with:



·                       The Minister of Health (Outcome 1)

·                       The Minister of Basic education (Outcome 2) and

·                       The Minister chairing the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security Cluster (Outcome 3).



Respectively, the main commitments in these Delivery Agreements relate to the registration of births and deaths, and the provision of statistics, the registration and documentation of school children, and the protection of identity and citizenship.

ID Smart Card

http://www.pmg.org.za/node/29273

QUESTION 883 / NW964E

DATE OF PUBLICATION: Friday, 11 March 2011

INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO 6 of 2011
Mr J J McGluwa (ID) to ask the Minister of Home Affairs:



(a) With reference to her reply to question 923 on 25 May 2010, what progress has been made in respect of the programme to replace the Identity Document (ID) with the Smart Card and (b) when will this system be implemented?



NW964E



REPLY:



(a)        Due to its sophistication, the Smart Card system will be piloted for a few months towards the end of the 2011/12 financial year, before it can replace the current Identity Document (ID). Planning is in progress to ensure that infrastructure in front offices, like Live Capture functionality, is completed, prior to the Smart Card implementation.



(b)        The system is envisaged to be implemented, during the 2012/13 financial year, in a phased approached.

Turnaround times: ID, Temporary- & Permanent Residence

http://www.pmg.org.za/node/29273

QUESTION 1105 / NW1227E

DATE OF PUBLICATION: Friday, 01 April 2011

INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO 10 of 2011
Ms A T Lovemore (DA) to ask the Minister of Home Affairs:



(1)        With reference to her Department’s 2011/12 to 2013/14 Strategic Plan, why has (a) the turnaround time for issuing permanent residents’ permits increased from 6 month in the 2009/10 financial year to 8 months in the 2010/11 financial year, (b) the turnaround time for issuing temporary residence permits increased from 4 weeks in the 2009/10 financial year to 16 weeks in the 2010/11 financial year and (c) the turnaround time for the second issuing of identity documents increased from 40 days in the 2009/10 financial year to 47 days in the 2010/11 financial year;



(2)        why does the Strategic Plan not indicate any improvement on the 2009/10 turnaround times referred to for the years 2011/12 to 2013/14?



NW1227E



REPLY:



(1)(a)&(b)           In November 2010 the Department undertook a process to completely transform, and stabilise the issuance of permits to foreign nationals. It must, however, be known that we have to take into account security, as well, and not, just, speed.



(1)(c)                 With respect to identity documents, relatively, small fluctuations in turnaround times are to be expected. This is, usually, due to short-term operational challenges, or the introduction of new processes, such as those aimed at strengthening security. The overall trend, regarding turnaround times, over the medium, has been upwards.



(2)                    The Department adjusted the turnaround times in the 2011/12 to 2013/14 Strategic Plan to 8 months for permanent residence permit applications, and 16 weeks for temporary residence permit applications, respectively, as a result of the new centralised adjudication process.



                        Similarly, the turnaround times of identity documents have, also, been adjusted in the Department’s 2011/12 to 2013/14 Strategic Plan, as a result of specialised operational procedures, and security enhanced processes. Therefore, it is due to the current procedures, and in the interest of ensuring maximum quality, and security enhancement.

ID Document Errors

QUESTION 1341 / NW1487E

DATE OF PUBLICATION: Thursday, 21 April 2011

INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO 12 of 2011
Mrs A T Lovemore (DA) to ask the Minister of Home Affairs:



(1)        How many applications to rectify errors in Identity Documents have been received by her Department since the beginning of the 2010/11 financial year;



(2)        whether her Department carries out checks against application forms to determine whether the error was made by her Department or the applicant; if not, why not; if so, how many of these applications have been the result of errors made by her Department?

NW1487E



REPLY:



(1)        A total of 36 438 applications were received for the rectification of errors in Identity Documents, since the beginning of the 2010/11 financial year.



(2)        Yes. The Department carries out checks by comparing an applicant’s original birth register with the application form to verify that the particulars on the application form correspond with the particulars on the National Population Register. Statistics on errors made by the Department are not available. It should, however, be noted that the majority of applications received are requests from applicants to rectify their personal particulars in the National Population Register.


 http://www.pmg.org.za/node/29273

Smart Card ID Project

QUESTION 3194 / NW3801E


DATE OF PUBLICATION: Friday, 21 October 2011
INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO 33 of 2011


Mr R B Bhoola (MF) to ask the Minister of Home Affairs:






Whether she has finalised a forensic investigation into the tender processes for the Smart Card ID project which was not completed by the State Information Technology Agency; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?


NW3801E






REPLY:






It is suggested that the Honourable Member refers this question to the Minister of Public Service and Administration as the State Information Technology Agency (SITA), which resorts under his jurisdiction, managed the Smart Card ID tender process.






http://www.pmg.org.za/node/26575

Fake IDs a matter of survival

MIA MALAN - Nov 18 2011 00:00

'I'm going to show you the names of the children in the book where I record them," says Ncedisa Paul, while walking to her car parked on a dusty gravel road in the former Transkei. "I've got one case of a woman who 'sold' all five of her children. But now there's a big fight. She has obtained an ID book and wants them back."

Paul works for the Mentor Mothers project in Zithulele, a rural village near the Wild Coast holiday haven of Hole-in-the-Wall. Every day she visits young mothers in the area to advise them on their children's health.

Paul is referring to a mother who needed child-support grants for her children but did not have an ID book. It is impossible to obtain a government grant without it. Paul explains: "The mother then faked her children's clinic cards and birth dates so that they fitted in with the details of a neighbour who did have an ID book. The friend has been collecting the grants for several years now as if it's her own children. The biological mother gives the neighbour part of the grant and that way both of them make money."

Paul goes to great lengths to try to get people in Zithulele to understand that fabricating your children's information to get state money is fraud and that they could be jailed. But she acknowledges she is often fighting a "lost battle."

Obtaining an ID book in this isolated part of the country, where tarred roads are luxuries, is extremely difficult, particularly if one does not have money.

"You need letters from the chief and school you attended, and an affidavit from the police station. You also have to go to the nearest town, Mqanduli, about 60 kilometres away, to collect a form," says Paul. "All of this involves travelling and therefore taxi or bus fares. But nine out of 10 people here don't have a job and therefore most have no cash."

In an effort to solve the problem of "hiring out" IDs, Paul says the Mentor Mothers project has arranged for government social workers to visit the area on set dates with the necessary ID application forms. "But people still need to travel to their schools and the police station, something that many are unable to do. So many of our mothers still don't have ID documents," Paul says.

Thandeka Bota is the woman who "sold" her children. For the past few years, they have belonged to her neighbour -- on paper, at least. Bota receives a total of R1 350 -- R270 a child -- in child-support grants, of which she used to pay R250 to her neighbour who collected the grants.

But now Paul has helped Bota to obtain an ID book by writing a letter to the chief and explaining which police station to visit.

"The woman who has been collecting the grants is upset and does not want to 'return' the children, as she would then no longer receive part of the grant," Paul says. "She argues that, for years, she was good enough to help her out but, now that Thandeka has an ID book, she's suddenly a burden and she feels that's very unfair. It's a mess."

Families at war
Bota says the two families have since been "at war". The feuding parties, says Paul, have little understanding of the legal processes involved in getting the children re-registered with their biological mother. But to many people here survival is more important than the law -- being able to feed and clothe their children simply weighs heavier than the finer details of government administrative procedures. Almost everyone here is dependent on child-support grants.

"It is parents' main form of income," Paul says. "People are unemployed and few have completed high school, which makes finding a job even harder."

According to Paul, some women in the former Transkei have as many children as possible to increase their grant income, although she concedes that there are other reasons for unplanned pregnancies in the region, which are far more complex.

"More than 65% of the mothers we deal with are teenagers of between 13 and 19 years old. It's nothing strange to see a 15-year-old with two or three kids in this area. It's not even frowned upon."

The Mentor Mother co-ordinator visits the morning clinic at the local hospital twice a week to talk to patients about reproductive health matters, such as contraception, and the importance of ensuring that their children are well informed.

But, says Paul, parents often refuse to talk about "sexual matters" with their children. "One vehemently complained to me that a nurse insulted her by talking to her teenage daughter about contraception and menstruation in front of her.

"I explain to them that it's good for their children to know how to prevent getting pregnant, that they must talk about these things. But it's new to them. They are so resistant … "

Paul says most of the pregnant girls her organisation deals with drop out of school, never to return, and join the "never-ending circle" of poverty. "Schools here can be a two or three-hour walk from home for children. Even if girls are not pregnant, or are not mothers, this discourages youngsters from completing their education," says Paul.

But Mentor Mothers has recently managed to persuade two 15-year-old mothers to return to school. "It's only two girls, so I am sure many people would laugh. But, believe me, in this area, having just two girls go back to school is a big victory."

The only forms of recreation for children in the rolling hills of Zithulele are a few barren football fields that sport sagging wooden goalposts and grazing cattle. The boys play; the girls watch.

But shebeens are plentiful. In fact, each hill seems to boast an informal tavern, on which the names of popular brews are scrawled in paint that's peeling off. "Girls go to the drinking dens to escape boredom. There, they meet boys, or men. Things move from there," says Paul.

The few men of Zithulele who do have jobs mostly work on mines in South Africa's northern provinces. When they return to their home district to visit, says Paul, it's like a "gift from heaven" for the area's teenaged girls.

HIV/Aids
The community worker explains: "These men bring hope to the girls. The men are rich compared with the people here. The men buy the girls cellphones and clothes, or food for their families, and the girls provide the men with 'fun' in the form of sex. Drinking, of course, helps to facilitate the whole process."

Paul says the girls have "almost no knowledge" of contraception. And, although condoms are available at local clinics, no one uses them. "The girls are scared the guys will leave them if they use condoms. The guys say 'they don't want to eat a sweet with a paper'," Paul says.

The men return to the mines. "The girls are left alone with the babies," says Paul. "But it's the grandmothers who mostly take care of the little ones. Then the young mothers go back to the shebeens to look for more men who have a bit of money."

Health workers in Zithulele and its surrounding villages say many of the girls also become infected with HIV.

Paul recently visited a hut where 14-year-old Zolelwa Sali had just given birth. "There the mother of this girl stood -- also pregnant," Paul sighs. "So were the girl's two sisters."

The hut is at the bottom of a hill. Rain streams through cracks in the structure. The family shares a single bed. On the day of Paul's visit, Sali is fortunate because it's her turn to rest on the bed, on which she now nurses her newborn baby.

None of the Sali family has ever had an ID book. Officially, they do not exist. Sali's two pregnant sisters, aged 19 and 22, wander around outside their tumbledown home.

"Both are infected with HIV," Paul says. "I'm not sure about the 14-year-old and the mother.

"You know, when I see situations like this, I just don't know where to start. You tell the people here, 'Please don't make crime; don't cheat with the grants.'

"[But] sometimes the words, they stick in my throat. Because what can I give them instead? A job? Food? Education? An ID book?"

Like the ubiquitous emerald hills of the former Transkei, there are plenty of questions to ask in Zithulele village. But the answers are like the spirits often invoked by the people here.

"They are invisible, like the ancestors," says Paul," But we know they are out there -- somewhere."

*Some names have been changed.



Sex education goes far beyond the basics
The highest rates of teenage pregnancies occur in the poorer provinces, such as the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo, according to the national education department.

Marion Stevens from Women in Sexual and Reproductive Rights and Health Associates attributes it largely to the fact that youngsters in underprivileged areas, without decent education, transport or housing, have little to aspire to.

"Such districts also have little recreation to offer and teenagers often end up having sex, often without meaning to, as they have little idea of how to manage new feelings and desires," she says. "Teenagers may also think that a baby will bring more meaning to their lives or let them 'graduate' as women, although the reality is that their already tough lives become much more challenging with a child."

Stevens says that there is also a serious lack of information. "Their poverty is increased by the poverty of information on how their bodies and sexuality work."

She says the onus is on the government to deal with privacy at rural clinics, where often the same nurse attends to an entire family and a teenager is not in a position to obtain contraception from a clinic as the nurse is likely to tell her parents.

She believes parents often think that sex education comprises "teaching your children how to have sex" and don't understand that it equips youngsters with information about their bodies, feelings and relationships. "We need better sexuality education training for teachers, which will help them first to deal with their personal sexuality issues and then equip them to share that understanding with learners and parents," she says.

The effects of migratory labour are well documented, says Stevens. "Many mines have invested in local HIV projects in the Transkei because of the increased HIV-infection rate associated with men not living with their families.

"But we also need investments in teenage sexual and reproductive health projects that will address the lack of comprehensive sexuality education among young people and the wider community."

Mia Malan works for the Discovery Health Journalism Centre at Rhodes University
Source: Mail & Guardian Online
Web Address: http://mg.co.za/article/2011-11-18-fake-ids-a-matter-of-survival

Banks, Home Affairs join forces

November 8 2011 at 08:53pm

---

Ziphoznke Lushaba

Banks can now directly verify their client's details online with the home affairs department in an attempt to curb fraud. Sabric chief executive Kalyani Pillay said the initiative was an opportunity to improve security.

Banks can now directly verify their client's details online with the home affairs department in an attempt to curb fraud.

The SA Banking Risk Information Centre (Sabric) launched the initiative in Pretoria on Tuesday in partnership with home affairs.

The system allows banks to determine whether an identity document presented by a client matches the records of fingerprints at home affairs.

Banks will in turn, have access to the home affairs national identification system (Hanis).

“This partnership underlines the confidence the banking industry has in the department as a partner in defence our identity,” Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said.

She said the launch laid a firm basis to deal a blow against fraud, corruption and identity theft.

“Banks will not have full access to all information stored on the home affairs system. They can only check the validity of information given by a client. We are only giving them facility to verify with us.”

Sabric chief executive Kalyani Pillay said the initiative was an opportunity to improve security. It was not a commercial venture and no banks would pass the charges on to clients.

“This is one of many crime prevention measures we have. We want to get confirmation whether a person presenting documents to do a transaction is indeed the owner.”

The verification would be done before individuals performed transactions. Pillay said banks would contact their clients and inform them about the procedure.

Absa, African Bank, FNB, Capitec Bank, Nedbank, Standard Bank and Mercantile Bank were at different levels of implementing the systems. - Sapa 

http://www.iol.co.za/dailynews/news/banks-home-affairs-join-forces-1.1174085

Duplicate ID battle continues

2011-10-12 21:57

 

Cape Town - Home Affairs eliminated more than 84 000 illegal "duplicate" identity documents (IDs) over the past year, but a further 130 000 remain to be tracked down, the department said on Wednesday.

"The resolved duplicates for the year in question [2010/11] were 84 500," deputy director-general of civic services Vusumuzi Mkhize told journalists at Parliament.
Responding to questions on the department's 2010/11 annual report, he said people with duplicate IDs fell into one of two categories: those who had two ID books; and those who "shared" or had the same ID number.
The 84 500 total included both.
On the scale of the outstanding problem, Mkhize said the department had a problem tracing people.
"We have a challenge tracing people who have the same ID number. There are still 37 000 people we are trying to track."
There were many more with multiple IDs.
"There are also 99 700 people with multiple ID numbers," he said.
According to the annual report, the duplicate ID problem "will require more than one year to resolve".
It found two main causes of the problem: "reference book holders issued with ID numbers during the apartheid regime without consultation and confirmation of their birth registration details"; and the wrong classification of fingerprints in the manual fingerprint system.
On illegal foreigners in South Africa, director general Mkuseli Apleni said 55 825 were deported during the past financial year.
Asked how many illegal foreigners the department estimated were still in the country, he said South Africa's porous borders made it impossible to determine the number undocumented foreigners.
Earlier, the department briefed members of Parliament's home affairs portfolio committee on its 2010/11 report, the first in 16 years to receive an unqualified audit opinion.
In a statement on Wednesday, committee chairperson Maggie Maunye said MPs appreciated the "hard work and dedication" of the department in managing a clean-up of its finances.

- SAPA

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/Politics/Duplicate-ID-battle-continues-20111012

Mistakes in IDs

Is your ID free of mistakes?
June 23 2011 at 11:03pm


Comment on this story


Independent Newspapers

Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has confirmed that more than 36 000 people applied to have errors in their IDs fixed during the past year. Photo: Sizwe Ndingane



Cape Town - Over the past year, more than 36 000 applications were received from people seeking to correct mistakes in their IDs, Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said on Thursday.

“A total of 36 438 applications were received for the rectification of errors in identity documents since the beginning of the 2010/11 financial year,” she said in a written reply to a Parliamentary question.

The question, posed by Democratic Alliance MP Annette Lovemore, included a query on how many of the errors were the results of mistakes by Dlamini-Zuma's department.

“Statistics on errors made by the department are not available,” the minister replied, but noted that the majority of applications were requests from applicants to “rectify” their personal particulars in the National Population Register.

Responding to a separate question, she said all new identity documents would be issued in English only.

“When the security features of the identity document were reviewed, the department did consider the utilisation of the 11 official languages, as enshrined in the Constitution.

“It was, however, not practically possible to accommodate all official languages, and, therefore, it was decided to only issue identity documents in English,” Dlamini-Zuma said. - Sapa




http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/is-your-id-free-of-mistakes-1.1087916

Ghanaian arrested for fake everything

Ghanaian arrested for fake everything

Jun 20, 2011 | VUSI XABA and FRANK MAPONYA
A Ghanaian has been arrested for allegedly setting up his own Department of Home Affairs.



He was taken into custody in an operation involving the police's crime intelligence unit and the Johannesburg metro police after being found in possession of Department of Home Affairs equipment.

He allegedly used it to produce fraudulent documents, including passports, visas, identity documents, driver's licences, marriage, birth and death certificates - and US dollars.

The 44-year-old, who was arrested in Yeoville, Johannesburg, on Friday, was expected to appear in the Johannesburg Magistrate's Court today.

Johannesburg police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Lungelo Dlamini said the man would face charges of fraud, malicious damage to property, contravening the Counterfeit Act and bribery. He allegedly tried to pay the officers on the scene a R3000 bribe.

Other charges include possession of Home Affairs property and impersonating a department official.

Dlamini alleged that the man removed bar-codes and identity numbers from genuine identity books and pasted them into fraudulent ones.

Also found on his property were blank visas, security tapes for new passports, blank Lesotho passports, original Home Affairs documents, traffic department documents and rubber stamps for the Johannesburg and Germiston offices of Home Affairs.

Credit cards and driver's licences from countries that included Zambia, Angola, Brazil and Namibia were also found at the premises.

Dlamini said more people were likely to be arrested.
Three Home Affairs officials are expected to appear in the Lebowakgomo Magistrate's Court, near Polokwane, today on charges of fraud.

They were arrested in a joint operation by the Department of Home Affairs and the Hawks.

~ o O o ~

Passports 1: Birth Certificates 0

Jack up birth certificate process

July 14 2011 at 09:00am



The Minister of Home Affairs has certainly done a good job when it comes to the issuing of passports.

It generally takes two weeks from application to get your passport. She must be given credit for turning this section of her department around.

Unfortunately, this is where efficiency stops.

I applied for an unabridged birth certificate for my son on January 24. The application process was quick and easy.

I was told, at the Randburg office, that the process would take eight weeks. It is now 24 weeks later and still nothing.

I personally visited the Randburg office four times between March and April – each time the clerk marked my application as urgent on the computer system.

On April 12, I met a senior employee called “Gift” who said he would take up my case with the head office in Pretoria.

He assured me that on April 19, my certificate would be ready for collection. Needless to say, nothing arrived.

On May 5, I called the head office call centre, and was given a reference number and told to call back in a week. I phoned again on June 10 and was given a new reference number. This time a woman named Pam said I could fetch the document in Randburg in three weeks.

I phoned again today, July 8, and the woman on the line said my application was marked as urgent and somebody worked on the file on June 6 according to the system, but nothing had been done. I was told to call back again in three weeks.

Dear Minister, your department’s inefficiency is wasting people’s time. May I remind you that time is money?

You need to pull the birth, marriages and death registration sections of your department in line, just as you have done with passports.



Cliff Jackson

Randburg

http://www.iol.co.za/the-star/jack-up-birth-certificate-process-1.1098784

Hayibo! Home Affairs

****a piece of satire****

DIY Home Affairs man worked too hard to be mistaken for real thing


PRETORIA. The Ghanaian man arrested in Yeoville for setting up his own Department of Home Affairs office, complete with rubber stamps and men who stood outside and sold pens, says he is confident he will escape charges. “They have accused me of impersonating an official but I was awake and working when they busted me,” he said, “I am not sure how they see any resemblance.”

The man, who has yet to be named, was reportedly making good money by offering a faster and more user-friendly service than the one available through official channels, a task described by experts as ‘one in which it was impossible to fail’.

Senior officials at the real Department of Home Affairs say they have asked detectives interrogating the suspect to find out how he was able to process a passport within a day or produce a marriage certificate within a week.

“We suspect his claims are baseless,” said department spokesperson Edblow Sithole. “In our experience it takes a team of eight people a minimum of six months to process one residency application, so if he is churning out ten in a day then he is clearly a fake.

“Or he really enjoys his work – in which case we will give him a crash course on our procedures and formally ask him to run our office in Arcadia.”

Asked what training was required to work at Home Affairs, Sithole said it could be summed up by three simple rules. “When in charge, blame; when there’s work involved, delegate; and when spoken to, grunt and gesture.”

Sithole said it was no surprise that the arrested man came from Ghana. “That’s the problem with foreigners,” he said. “They do everything faster and cheaper and they end up making South Africans look bad.”

He added that he wouldn’t be surprised if the weekend’s arrest was the first of many. “We suspect the Ghanaians will seek to own the fake ID market in the same way Somalians found their niche with spaza shops, Nigerians as 419 scammers and South Africans as loafers.”

He said it was no surprise that so many South Africans were forced to live and work in England as it was one of the few countries where people were even lazier than here.

Meanwhile a lawyer for the detained man, Atticus Ndlovu, said he was doing his best to get the trial date moved forward.

“The Johannesburg Commercial Crimes Court has postponed proceedings until the 28th of June,” he confirmed. “But we are doing our best to get the matter switched to an earlier date.”

He added that he was also trying to get the matter moved to a ‘court’ run by a Rwandan magistrate from his bedroom in Observatory.

http://www.hayibo.com/diy-home-affairs-man-worked-too-hard-to-be-mistaken-real-thing/

FICA and Freezing of bank accounts

IMCOSA AUGUST NEWSLETTER
Fica and the Freezing of Bank Accounts


More and more foreigners with local bank accounts are experiencing problems when they apply for an extension or change of permit and do not receive their new permits before expiry of the original one. Certain banks have started, systematically and as a matter of policy, to freeze the bank accounts of foreigners on the day that their permits expire. The freezing is done irrespective of whether applications for extensions have been made to Home Affairs, and whether such applications were made well in advance of the expiry date. No intervention has been found to stop or reverse this and letters issued by the regional office of Home Affairs acknowledging responsibility for the delay, or even written support by the Banking Council, have fallen on deaf ears.





The effect of this is that law-abiding persons, apart from having to endure the stress of their new permits not arriving in time and them not being allowed to continue their work or other activity, now have the added pleasure of not being able to access their own funds, of debit orders not being processed, etc.





Fortunately, there are alternatives to this scenario and there are respectable banks who very well understand the problems caused by Home Affairs delays. The freezing of your bank account is therefore avoidable, provided that the necessary steps are taken in advance. Please approach our team if you have questions in this regard or require assistance.






http://imcosa.co.za/en/news/147-immigration-news-aug-2011.html

Home Affairs Deals Decisively With Corruption

Cape Town — The Department of Home Affairs has received 78 cases of staff misconduct in the first quarter of the current financial year, and of that figure, 54 have been dealt with.
This comes as the department aims to ensure ethical conduct and a "zero tolerance approach to corruption."
In its quarterly report presented to Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs on Tuesday, the department said they aimed to finalise 70 percent of misconduct cases within 60 days.
In a media briefing following the tabling of the report, Department Director General Mkuseli Apleni said they needed more human resources to win against corruption.
With the mechanisms they have put in place, he said they hoped to get an unqualified financial report from the Auditor-General.
In the Medium Term Strategic Framework (MTSF) of government's 12 priority outcomes, the department contributed three of the outlined outcomes.
These were ensuring the safety of all in the country; a skilled and capable workforce to support the New Growth Path and providing an "efficient, effective and development oriented public and inclusive citizenship."
Apleni said they had signed a performance agreement with President Jacob Zuma. The agreement, he said, included ensuring "effective and efficient refugee management strategies," registration of "every child within 30 days of birth" and issuing IDs to "every South African aged 16 and above."
He said that in this quarter, they had received 31 795 ID applications and 10 758 IDs had since been issued to matric learners, accounting for 33.8%.
On another issue, Apleni said they wanted to integrate key systems and upgrade IT infrastructure for improved security and data integrity.
To that end, the annual target was to have 67% of Ports of Entry (POE) equipped with Enhanced Movement Control System (EMCS).
However, Apleni said this quarter they had missed their target on EMCS as it was dependent on "the rationalisation of the ports of entry as well as the further enhancement of Movement Control System."
Some of the challenges faced by his department included improving asylum-seeker and refugee management, fighting human trafficking and smuggling, and establishing and maintaining consistent standards for security and service delivery.

Pastor at end of his tether over invalid IDs

Sep 19, 2011 | Alex Matlala

The pastor has been unable to get the department to correct mistakes in his identity document since 2004.

A LIMPOPO pastor for the Assemblies of God Church has accused officials at the Department of Home Affairs in Polokwane and Tzaneen of failing to do their job.
The pastor has been unable to get the department to correct mistakes in his identity document since 2004.
Pastor Sevha Cassias Shikweni, 40, from Xihoko village outside Tzaneen, applied for a new ID in 2004 after he lost his original book.
Shikweni has been applying for a new document every year since 2004 because the ID books contained either the wrong picture or name.
"Last year I was forced to register my car with my wife's ID book details because I could not prove my identity," said Shikweni, who currently has six different ID books.
Shikweni said his problems escalated in December 2007 when he wanted to open an account at a furniture shop in Tzaneen.
"I was baffled when the officials told me that my name was at the credit bureau and that I owed several shops money for clothes I had purchased on credit.
"When I went to Home Affairs in Tzaneen they always advised me to apply for a new ID but always came up with the same mistakes."
The provincial Home Affairs manager in Limpopo, Nthoriseng Motsitsi, said Shikweni needed an affidavit from the police stating he had lost his ID.

http://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/2011/09/19/pastor-at-end-of-his-tether-over-invalid-ids

Serious about tackling corruption

Officials ‘hit in full view of public’

August 27 2011 at 01:31pm
By SHAUN SMILLIE

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INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPERS

A convoy of Home Affairs and police vehicles rolled into the border post at just after 8am. Photo: Doctor Ngcobo

They hit them in full view of the public.

On Friday, 13 Home Affairs officials and six policemen were arrested in raids across Mpumalanga – handcuffed and arrested, while travellers and those wanting to cross the border watched. All were charged with corruption.

“They all co-operated and no one gave us problems,” said police spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Leonard Hlathi.

These were just the latest successes of Operation Mahlabandlovu.

In the early hours yesterday, police and Home Affairs officials gathered at the remote Tonga police station.

At 8am the operation got under way, with some investigators travelling as far as 200km to make their arrests.

One of the raids focused on the Lebombo Border Post on the Mozambique Border.

A convoy of Home Affairs and police vehicles rolled into the border post at just after 8am yesterday. To the surprise of everyone working at the post, the first woman to be arrested was processing passports.

She went quietly. Another woman burst into tears.

Those who had been waiting in her line had to find other queues. As in the case of others who were arrested, investigators seized her cellphone, documents and passports. Cars were also searched.

Investigators recovered several passports and fingerprint-capturing equipment – including ink pads and rollers – in the vehicle of one suspect.

Home Affairs director of investigative services Connie Moitse said yesterday at the scene officials were not supposed to have individuals’ passports in their vehicles.

Another suspect was found with a bundle of Pakistani passports.

Investigators suspect those they arrested yesterday were taking bribes from foreigners entering South Africa without proper entry visas.

It appears to be a lucrative source of income. One Home Affairs investigator said they made as much as R10 000 a day.

A total of 15 people were arrested at the border post. Over the past couple of years Lebombo has gained a reputation for corruption.

“Several of our staff were detained in an ongoing operation. This shows we are really serious about fighting corruption,” said Moitse.

The arrested Home Affairs officials were suspended from the department, pending an investigation. Those arrested will probably appear on corruption charges in the Komatipoort Magistrate’s Court on Monday.. - Saturday Star 

http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/mpumalanga/officials-hit-in-full-view-of-public-1.1126178

Sexual favours for an ID

South Africa: Intomboxolo Nyendwana's Home Affairs Torment

Mandy De Waal

14 September 2011

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analysis

A Port Elizabeth seamstress living in a poverty stricken squatter camp in KwaNoxolo in the Eastern Cape city speaks out about the years of suffering she's had to endure after trading sexual favours to a Home Affairs official in order to get an ID document she hoped would enable a better life.
Ntomboxolo Nyendwana has always dreamed of being a teacher, studying at college, and getting a paying job so she could create a better life for herself and her children. The 41-year-old seamstress currently exists on social grants and what she makes from sewing and selling pillows. She also does needle work and clothing repairs for cash.
"In 1991, I was studying Matric and went to Home Affairs to make my first application. After that I got a letter to say I didn't write my postal address (on the forms). I went back. They said I must apply again. They told me I must pay again. But when I went back they had scratched my ID number out and told me that my number was wrong," says Nyendwana.
The seamstress was contacted by Home Affairs once more, and they told her that her fingerprints on the documentation had changed. By this time Nyendwana had gone back and forth to Home Affairs many times, but it was only in 1993 when she was at the government offices that she was advised that she was one of two people with the same ID number.
"Home Affairs called me and said that there is a person posing as myself. Or I am posing as her. They said I must bring my birth certificate. By that time I was studying for a BA in Education and the university told me if I didn't get my ID sorted out I will be expelled. I wouldn't get my degree."
When Nyendwana went back to Home Affairs she was standing in a queue when a government official said he could help her. She says she knew this man as a child, and that he knew her family. The official told Nyendwana he had powerful connections in Pretoria that would quickly help resolve the mess. "I spoke to this man. He said he knew people where the IDs were made and that he would sort everything out if I slept with him. I was afraid and I was desperate. I didn't want to sleep with him, but I didn't want to be expelled."
"He said to me I must come with him. I followed him and he took me to the toilet and there he slept with me. He just gave me a toilet paper to wipe myself. After that we moved back to the queue. Instead of calling my name to help me he called someone else. I was so angry and frustrated with myself. I stood up, walked out and went home."
Feeling ashamed, Nyendwana never went back to Home Affairs for a while, even though 1994 brought democracy to South Africa and enabled her to vote for the first time. "I had to vote with a temporary ID because I had no ID book."
Eventually Nyendwana went back to Home Affairs where the same official told her she shouldn't have her photographs taken outside, but inside.
As she was having her photographs taken the official again asked her for sex, saying he would assist her with her ID process. "He kept asking me why I did not want to sleep with him again. I said I was asking other people to help me instead. I said to myself I would not sleep with him again. But I didn't get any help with my ID, so I did sleep with him again a second time. But it hurt me."
A year later in 1995, Nyendwana still had no ID book. She returned to Home Affairs where another official told her to go to her elders and slaughter a goat. "This person said there was so much darkness on me. I took it as an insult. Another lady working at Home Affairs asked me to bring her Coke. She said I was such a regular I was supposed to bring something for her." Each time Nyendwana returned to Home Affairs, the same official that she alleges was trading sex for favours, pestered her for sex.
In 1996, Nyendwana returned to Home Affairs demanding pen and paper. "I told them I am going to write a letter to Pretoria to state my case." Nyendwana wrote to Home Affairs in Pretoria but did not get a response.
In January 1997 she received her ID book in the post, but with the wrong ID number. "My other name is Patience. But in my book they wrote 'Patient' instead of Patience. I didn't want to go to Home Affairs again because I had suffered so much. I would keep this ID safe with me."
Nyendwana resumed her studies but in 2005 when she went to draw funds from her bank account which her social grant was paid into, she discovered her bank card was blocked. "The bank told me there was another person in Grahamstown who had my name, surname and a temporary ID with my number. They said she got my money. The bank said I had to go to Home Affairs to get them to do an investigation."
And so Nyendwana was forced to return to Home Affairs again, a place she says has brought her enormous hurt, shame, anger and frustration. "They gave me a letter for the bank. I asked them to look what is happening and on the computer they showed me this other person in Grahamstown with my name and ID. They said her children were eight, my children are four.
I went to the SASSA offices and this person had made a grant for her eight children. They had changed the address for my social grant to Grahamstown."
"I was sick with worry. At Home Affairs, the women said they will get me a new number. But I was worried that if I get another number I would still suffer." And so Nyendwana had to apply for an ID document yet again. She was forced to do so after her bank account was frozen.
Nyendwana says each and every time she has had to go back to the Home Affairs offices it has been a shameful, tormenting experience for her.
After applying for her ID document again earlier this year she wrote a six-page letter to Home Affairs in Pretoria to tell them what had happened and to describe her suffering. "I got a response from an assistant manager who said he was shocked and told me to write a statement. I got a phone call from a Mrs Naidoo to say she had spoken with this official."
Nyendwana says she didn't know what further to expect from Home Affairs.
"I was thinking they would call me again but they didn't phone." A couple of months later Nyendwana got notification that her ID book was ready. "The first person I met when I went to Home Affairs was the same officer. I was shocked. I got my new ID but I was so angry. I went to this man and I said: "Do you know what you have done with me?" He said he was going to beat me. I said he could beat me because he had hurt me and the beating would not pain me more."
The seamstress started scolding the government official and attacking him. The police were called, who tried to intervene and protect the government official from Nyendwana. A few days later Nyendwana had a court protection order filed against her by the official.
Nyendwana says she has made a case against the police and is waiting for a case number. "Now that I have spoken out I feel better, but I am not better. To be honest I am suffering. If I had my ID, I would be somewhere. I would be living in a decent place compared to where I am living. This official was there to serve us. He took me and made my life miserable. I am hurt. Very hurt. I wish men didn't take women for granted. I feel I was taken for granted. How many people are in my situation like this? I am not the first person. I am not the last person."
Daily Maverick was first alerted to this story by the Daily Sun.
Journalist Mkhuseli Sizani who wrote the story says he often gets calls from foreigners who complain about corruption and Home Affairs officials who demand bribes in order to secure documents. In August Daily Maverick ran a story about Zimbabweans who say they had to pay officials at the Marabastad Refugee Centre in Pretoria bribes to secure papers.
"I spoke to Sonto Lusu, the Home Affairs regional manager for Port Elizabeth and Ronnie Mamoepa the national spokesperson who said they will follow this up. I am also going to continue writing on this matter, but I am just waiting for the arrest to happen and for the case number," says Sizani. Mamoepa says he views the allegations in a serious light and that Home Affairs will investigate and "deal harshly" with the official if the complaint is proven true.
"This woman's life has been shattered. Because of this ID problem she hasn't been able to become a teacher and the officials abused their power which is a bad habit for our country." Sizani says if the matter is proved to be true, the real question will be how many other people were victimised by the man. "It is terrible. What I want to know is was the delay in her ID intentional so as to make her vulnerable?"
The alleged sex offender's name has been given to Daily Maverick but is being withheld until a thorough investigation into Nyendwana's complaint has been conducted.
iMaverick is South Africa's first daily tablet newspaper and includes coverage from the Daily Maverick and Free African Media. To subscribe, go to: www.imaverick.co.za

http://allafrica.com/stories/201109141074.html

'Smuggled' Zimbabwean children taken home

Sapa | 11 August, 2011 10:18

 

A group of 21 children who were allegedly smuggled into South Africa from Zimbabwe on Wednesday have been taken home by the Department of Home Affairs.

Limpopo police spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Mohale Ramatseba said on Thursday that a 32-year-old Bulawayo man had allegedly helped the children to cross the Limpopo River into South Africa on Wednesday morning.
"The children were referred to Home Affairs and taken back to Zimbabwe," Ramatseba said.
"The Bulawayo man paid a R2000 admission of guilt fine for smuggling illegally."
Ramatseba said the man had "apparently" been hired by children's parents.
He was to have transported the children, aged between one and 16, to Johannesburg from Bulawayo.
He was apprehended in South Africa at around 6am on Wednesday while loading the children into a car in a bushy area between the South African side of the border and Musina.
The man paid a fine and was handed over to the Zimbabwean police.
"More charges will be preferred against him upon completion of investigations," Zimbabwean police officer commanding Beitbridge Chief Superintendent Lawrence Chinhengo told the country's Herald Online newspaper.
The children were taken under the care of Save the Children Centre in Zimbabwe while investigations continued.
"We are yet to verify the suspect's claim that he was taking them to their parents," Chinhengo said.
"The suspect will soon be sent to court and we want to strongly warn all those involved in such criminal acts that their days are numbered."
Seven other men who were travelling in the same vehicle were also arrested for contravening the Immigration Act.
Among them, five had valid travel passports though they had opted to leave the country through an illegal crossing point, said Chinhengo.

http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/2011/08/11/smuggled-zimbabwean-children-taken-home