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RUEHDU/AMCONSUL DURBAN 1524
RUEHJO/AMCONSUL JOHANNESBURG 9815

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 
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¶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