Andrew Stegmann

Home Affairs Needs To Change Old Systems

JOHANNESBURG – Newly appointed Home Affairs Minister Hlengiwe Mkhize says while there are a number of challenges facing her department, they are looking at immediate issues.

The minister is doing a walkabout at the Randburg branch to ensure services continue as normal this Easter weekend.

Mkhize took over the department from Malusi Gigaba, who is now the finance minister.

Mkhize says the systems in her department are old and they needs to change.

Mkhize say she received a mixed reaction from community members trying to get their documents at the Randburg branch.

“We have a challenge to digitise information.”

She says people have basic challenges of not knowing how to navigate the space and she says that can be fixed.

“There has been new improvements in terms of staff capacity following a Cabinet decision to open the branch over weekends.”

Mkhize says the Home Affairs branch in Randburg is particularly important as it attracts people coming from other provinces as well.

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Andrew Stegmann

Lesotho’s Home Affairs Minister Appeals to SA to Delay Penalties

Lesotho’s Home Affairs Minister has appealed to South Africa to delay penalties for overstaying, until all eligible Lesotho Special Permit holders are processed at the end of June.

This as the main Maseru border post between Lesotho and South Africa says it is ready to handle the thousands of travellers expected to cross during the Easter holidays.

Many Basothos working or studying in South Africa are undocumented. More than 100 000 have applied for the Lesotho Special Permit that closed at the end of March.

Immigration Manager at the Maseru Border, Malefane Mojakhomo says the challenges they come across are people who have lost their documents or who might try to cross at undesignated ports of entry.

“If they have lost their documents, we urge them to come to our officers to get help because they might end up getting mugged at the unauthorised ports of entry” he adds.

Mojakhomo also warns that those who still don’t have the Lesotho Special Permit may face penalties.

Advocate Lekhetho Rakuoane Lesotho Minister of Home Affairs says their appeal is that there is still a lot of confusion especially with people who have pending applications.

“Our fear is that they are going to be penalised by their employers. So we thought we need some kind of moratorium while we are processing the pending applications. But the main port of entries say they will open extra service points and hours to handle the traffic and challenges expected to peak between Thursday and Monday” he added.

Source

Andrew Stegmann

Children born in SA do not automatically qualify for citizenship

Cape Town – The SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) is to review why children born in South Africa to foreign parents are not automatically awarded citizenship by the Department of Home Affairs.

Advocate Priscilla Jana, deputy chairperson of the SAHRC, said she been unaware that unabridged birth certificates were not issued to children born to foreign parents. “We will look into this matter,” she said.

Department of Home Affairs spokesperson Thabo Mokgola said the department’s policy was that “for record purposes a notice of birth” would be issued instead.

Cape Town attorney Joy van der Heyde said she had filed nine notices against Home Affairs in the Western Cape High Court. They related to the department’s alleged refusal to issue unabridged birth certificates to foreign parents.

In another matter, Van der Heyde accused the department of failing to issue an unabridged birth certificate to a refugee whose daughter was born in the country.

Source

Andrew Stegmann

Xenophobia: Nigeria, South Africa set up call centre

Foreign Affairs Minister Geoffrey Onyeama says Nigeria and South Africa have set up a 24-hour call centre to serve as an early warning system to protect Nigerians from xenophobia.

Onyeama said at the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum in Abuja that Federal Government was ready to intervene wherever any Nigerian is threatened or in difficulty,

“We will always intervene quickly. An example of this was in Italy, you will recall last year or the year before there was a Nigerian who was attacked and killed.

“We quickly engaged with Italian Government and really took all the necessary steps, arresting people and paying compensation to the family. So we will always engage to protect Nigerian lives wherever they may be.

“We are hoping now to set up a 24-hour call centre so that Nigerians anywhere in the world can call a particular number whenever they are in distress,”

He said that the Nigerian High Commission in South Africa has been directed to facilitate legal support to help the victims of recent xenophobic attacks in the country to get their compensations.

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