Home Affairs backlog slashed
Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber yesterday committed to making his department ‘a powerful engine of economic growth’ and has taken urgent action to reduce the backlog of permit applications.
Business Day reports that a dedicated team was set up in April to reduce the backlog of 306 042 applications. It was cut by 92 886 or 30%.
Auditing firm Deloitte and FNB will provide extra resources for the visa backlog team.
‘I have asked to be provided with daily reports on the state of the backlog until it is eradicated,’ Schreiber said in his budget vote speech to a mini-plenary of the National Assembly.
‘Clearing this backlog is the only way to avoid another extension of the concession on visas, waivers and appeals that has already been granted three times. This is an abnormal situation, and we must get this problem under control so that extensions are no longer necessary,’ he said.
Long queues outside Home Affairs offices and system downtime would also be addressed.
Schreiber said his department would accelerate the implementation of the reforms of Operation Vulindlela, the unit in the Presidency responsible for implementing structural reforms.
The department will also intensify inspections at restaurants, spaza shops, farms and mines by more than 50% to take action, including deportations, against people who are illegally employed.
The Citizen reports that the initiative was started under his predecessor, Aaron Motsoaledi, who earlier this year called for harsher sanctions against business owners who knowingly employ undocumented foreigners.
Motsoaledi in February warned that ‘anyone who knowingly employs an illegal foreigner or a foreigner in violation of this Act shall be guilty of an offence and liable, upon conviction, to a fine or imprisonment not exceeding one year’.
Schreiber also announced that Home Affairs would urgently reactivate the Immigration Advisory Board.
It will provide him with ‘evidence-based advice’ on tackling matters, such as the process of consultation on the future of the Zimbabwean Exemption Permit (ZEP).
The Constitutional Court last month ruled that Motsoaledi unlawfully terminated the ZEPs.
The court found that Motsoaledi had failed to consult with ZEP holders.
Article disclaimer: While we have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of this article, it is not intended to provide final legal advice as facts and situations will differ from case to case, and therefore specific legal advice should be sought with a lawyer.
