The Minister stated the department’s dual mandate: (1) custodianship of the identity of all South African citizens, and (2) the secure and humane management of immigration.

The Minister reiterated the department’s 2010 objectives of ensuring that all South Africans have their identity documents and that the births of all infants are registered within 30 days of birth. In this regard she made mention of the Stakeholder Forums that have been established across the country. They represent 90% of municipalities in the country. They comprise leaders and members of the communities, Home Affairs and other related government departments. They improve the quality of service delivery by identifying needs in the communities, oversight of offices and resolving problems innovatively.

In addition, the department has responded to service delivery gaps by expanding its footprint and deploying more staff and mobile units. 189 hospitals offer online birth registration and 141 hospitals have Home Affairs officials collecting and processing documents daily.

The department’s priority for 2011 is immigration, specifically attracting critical skills and managing it effectively so as to protect the sovereignty of South Africa.

It would be advantageous for community-based organisations to establish if their local municipality is serviced by one of the 254 Stakeholder Forums. If it is, it would be valuable for as many ECD organisations as possible to participate in these forums to ensure the registration needs of very young children are visible and prioritised. If there is no such Forum, there is nothing preventing local ECD organisations from contacting the department of Home Affairs with a view to establishing such as Forum.

WEB LINKS FOR THIS ARTICLE

Click here to view Minister of Home Affairs’ speech