SAG'S HOME AFFAIRS MINISTRY IN OPERATIONAL OVERHAUL

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 PRETORIA 002622 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PREF PHUM PGOV SF SUBJECT: SAG'S HOME AFFAIRS MINISTRY IN OPERATIONAL OVERHAUL REF: PRETORIA 1983 -------------- Summary -------------- ¶1. The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) is a notoriously dysfunctional bureaucracy long due for an overhaul. Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, formerly Foreign Affairs Minister and ex-wife of the President, is leading a "Turnaround" project aiming to increase efficiency, tighten security, cut out fraud and corruption, and improve customer service. For the 2010 World Cup, Home Affairs has begun piloting traveler screening, both domestically and in overseas airports on flights bound to South Africa. The Minister is also conducting a review of migration instruments to rationalize the intake of non-nationals, without altering the SAG's progressive policies toward migrants and refugees. End Summary. -------------- The Mess at Home Affairs -------------- ¶2. Home Affairs is a notoriously dysfunctional bureaucracy long due for an overhaul. Essentially a document factory, DHA is responsible for registration of South Africans (births, marriages, deaths, ID cards, passports) and non-national residents (work and asylum permits) within the country, plus tracking of tourist visitors (visas) at its borders. The department is historically seen as the SAG's "basket case" -- plagued by operational inefficiency, massive processing backlogs, unskilled staff, indifference toward the public, rudeness to migrants, and petty corruption. Bribes could procure faster service, or an authentic passport for a non-national. The latter problem prompted the U.K. in 2008 to introduce a visa and interview requirement for SA passport holders. When the USG's 2008 Terrorism Report sparked a media storm in May 2009 over its reference to poor controls of identity documents, newly appointed DHA Minister Dlamini-Zuma candidly admitted that a SAG passport could not always be trusted, and this needed to change. -------------- "Turnaround" -- for Efficiency... -------------- ¶3. Dlamini-Zuma, nicknamed "Dr. Fixit," has taken up with relish her predecessor's "Turnaround" project, a multi-year and multibillion rand overhaul of operations aiming to remake DHA into a model of efficiency. Led by a local affiliate of U.S. consultancy AT Kearney, the initiative aims to cut processing time and increase accuracy through automation. Individuals' records are being transferred from paper files to computerized data bases, with DHA's provincial centers eventually being connected real-time, saving the public from having to travel across the country to their original registration points. Queues outside DHA migrant reception centers are markedly shorter than a year ago, and there is anecdotal support among Embassy staff that turnaround times for nationals' IDs are faster. Redressing a historic lack of birth certificates among blacks born under apartheid (including herself),Dlamini-Zuma has launched a registration campaign to close the gaps of undocumented citizens. -------------- .. And Security / Anti-Fraud... -------------- ¶4. Several measures aim to increase security controls, prevent fraud, and eliminate corruption. Real-time and nationwide data networks, combined with the online capture of applicants' personal data including biometrics, will help eliminate false IDs obtained via multiple applications under various names to different registration centers. The campaign to register babies at birth, and to catch up with registration of all citizens, aims to phase out late birth Qregistration of all citizens, aims to phase out late birth registrations within two years, making it more difficult in future for foreigners to obtain false documents. (Note: the problem remains widespread. On a single day this month, the U.S. consulate in Johannesburg encountered a Malawian, a Nigerian, and a Zambian all with genuine SAG passports obtained fraudulently. End Note.) Alongside systems safeguards, DHA is introducing process controls to block corruption by officials, such as randomized assignment of applicants to officers, eliminating the opportunity for advance pay-offs. DHA is cracking down on wrongdoers, with 59 arrests in a recent six-week period. These steps will improve document integrity and help to eliminate graft. PRETORIA 00002622 002 OF 003 -------------- ... And Customer Service -------------- ¶5. The Turnaround also aims to provide better customer service through staff training, both for development of core skills as well as overall sensitization to clients' points of view. Since taking office, the Minister has made unannounced visits to DHA centers nationwide to see for herself how they perform. One of Dr. Fixit's first steps was to insist that DHA officers wear name tags, to begin to instill a mentality of personable service and accountability. Performance metrics are now visibly posted on the cubicles of individual officers. The Minister has been especially committed to changing staff's attitudes of indifference or rudeness toward the public. Famously, she wept publicly over the case of an applicant who hanged himself when he could not get a job after being abusively denied an ID by DHA officers. Vowing to punish those officers, she railed at small-minded bureaucrats "who think they rule the world" and do not share the SAG's espoused values of batho pele (people first) in service delivery. -------------- World Cup Border Entry Controls -------------- ¶6. Responsible for management of ports of entry, Home Affairs is integral to security plans for 2010 World Cup. Prior to the December draw, DHA piloted its Advanced Passenger Processing (APP) system, working with 31 airlines to screen passengers from the points of departure to remove "undesirable elements" (such as designated hooligans) prior to boarding flights. A 24x7 Operations Centre to manage APP was also tested. Of eight countries identified as especially large sources of travelers (whether by origin or transit), the Minister has said that six have allowed the deployment of SAG Airline Liaison Officers to validate travel documents before boarding. (Note: we believe that most of those countries are in Europe or the Mideast. According to DHS, the USG is still considering whether it will participate. Americans are reportedly the leading overseas buyers of World Cup tickets. End Note.) -------------- New Tools for Immigration -------------- ¶7. Beyond process re-engineering, the Minister is also conducting a review of immigration instruments, to rationalize the intake of non-nationals. Dlamini-Zuma has affirmed DHA will go ahead with a plan inherited from the previous Mbeki administration to issue identity cards to Zimbabweans, but only after a full consideration of operational logistics and policy ramifications. Going further, the Minister has undertaken a thorough review of immigration documents, aiming to expand the range of entry and residence permits to differentiate economic migrants from asylum seekers. Currently the asylum-seeker's permit is abused as an all-purpose entry ticket for all immigrants; separating Zimbabwean flows from other jobseekers and asylees promises to unclog the asylum channel, in a move welcomed by refugee rights advocates. (Note: DHA is currently previewing its plans to 'stakeholders' like leading trade union COSATU, with whom clearer data on migrant workers could be a source of friction. End Note.) -------------- Operations Improve; Policy Stays Steady -------------- ¶8. Note: This review of immigration processing is an operational one and does not imply policy changes. New tools should facilitate immigration, not restrict it. Deputy Minister Malusi Gigaba, who is responsible for the portfolio QMinister Malusi Gigaba, who is responsible for the portfolio of migrants and counter-xenophobia, continues to reiterate to domestic and international audiences (reftel) that the SAG maintains its progressive posture, intent on "managing" migration not attempting to combat it. South Africa allows documented foreign nationals full mobility, with access to work, education, and health care, rather than confining them to camps. This stance is unique in Africa and has survived the challenges of xenophobic violence and the crisis in Zimbabwe. The U.N.'s High Commissioner for Refugees has praised the SAG's immigration policies as being among the best in the world, and DHA's operational review does not threaten those fundamentals. End Note. -------------- COMMENT: A Long-Term, Long Haul -------------- PRETORIA 00002622 003 OF 003 ¶9. As mentioned, some improvements in efficiency are already evident to applicants. Others, like massive systems upgrades, will take months to implement across DHA offices nationwide. Corruption is deep-rooted, and the Minister warns that more arrests and suspensions lie ahead -- further compounding her staffing gaps and training burden. Attitudes and service ethics may take the longest to change, over years of persistent effort if DHA remains committed. That said, Dlamini-Zuma is certainly trying to do the right things with this effort and deserves our support. End Comment. GIPS