Corruption dogs Home Affairs
2007-09-04 13:38
Johannesburg - Corruption continues to be a "serious" problem at the Department of Home Affairs, its director-general said on Tuesday.
Speaking after his first 100 days in office, Mavuso Msimang said he hoped to root this out by motivating staff, and putting in place better technology and improved facilities.
He conceded that the department continued to be "sick" and computers servers were "a disaster waiting to happen".
At the moment it took more than 100 days on average to produce an ID book and there were more than 600 000 of them in backlog.
An electronic tracking system to speed up this process and make it less vulnerable to corruption was being rolled out at present.
Msimang said preparations were underway for the introduction of a national ID card.
He said the Zimbabweans streaming into the country illegally were not "clients" of Home Affairs as they did meet internationally agreed definitions of refugees.
"In so far as they come to South Africa to seek economic help, they are a client of the people of South Africa".
- SAPA