(Budget vote debate in Parliament: Home Affairs)
The Minister of Home Affairs, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, today essentially admitted that his Department is in trouble and going nowhere fast if extraordinary measures are not implemented.
These measures are not visible and they are also not budgeted for in the coming financial year.
This Department is probably the biggest contributor to creating equality in the South African society as the entire nation finds itself on a level playing field in having to endure the same poor service.
At the Department's local branches, citizens with young children, pensioners, people with expensive cars and people without cars, people of all races and all ages have to stand together in queues and wait for hours, sometimes even days, for a service that may never realise.
What is so terribly complicated about processing, producing and issuing ID documents and passports? If it is utterly unable to manage something as simple as this effectively, how does the ANC want to manage a sophisticated economy and state?
The Department is supposed to be the custodian, protector and verifier of the identity and status of citizens and other persons resident in South Africa; and control, regulate and facilitate immigration and the movement of persons through ports of entry.
In June 2021, it was announced in the Government Gazette that applications for permanent residency permits will resume on 1 January 2022 seeing as no such applications were processed since March 2020 when the Covid-19 State of Disaster was announced.
This suspension of services left ordinary permanent residency applicants in limbo, which seriously disrupted their lives.
Some applicants have not heard from the Department since 2017.
The FF Plus receives requests for assistance from desperate applicants on a daily basis. The backlog with permanent residency applications currently stands at more than 33 700.
In addition, inadequate border control and illegal immigration cause serious challenges in the provision of basic services and temporary emergency accommodation.
Eskom's inability to supply electricity also has a detrimental impact on the functioning of Home Affairs and border control offices.
Last week, vehicles and trucks were stranded for hours on end at the Nakop border post between South Africa and Namibia because there was no fuel for the generators during load shedding.
The Department has, furthermore, asked the Constitutional Court for an extension to finalise the Electoral Amendment Bill, because it will not be able to meet the initial deadline of 10 June 2022.
This is just another example of its failure to fulfil its mandate.
It is clear that the only measure that will save the Department of Home Affairs from utter ruin is a change in government.
Under ANC rule, Home Affairs will simply keep hobbling along the same old path of destruction. South Africa deserves better than the ANC.
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