19/05/2020 â€` News24

`The department had an estimated backlog of 81 650 [registrations]
at the beginning of Level 4 lockdown,` its acting director-
general, Jackie MacKay, told the committee.
`Of the aforementioned backlog, the department registered 46 541
births which represent 57% of the above, estimated backlog.`
MacKay said this meant the department was left with 35 109 births
to be registered from the backlog, but during that period, 8 989
births for newly born babies were registered at health facilities.
`To date, the department has registered a total number of 55 530
births within a period of seven working days.
`The department is likely to clear the estimated backlog on birth
registrations within five days, should the situation remain
unchanged.`
The department started registering births again from 1 May. During
the first phase of the lockdown, it only offered death
registrations, temporary identity certificates and the re-issue of
birth certificates.
MacKay said the demand for the re-issuance of birth certificates
and temporary identity certificates remained high.
People were, however, less enthusiastic to pick up their smart ID
cards. Of the reported 412 686 uncollected cards only 29 475, or

7%, were collected.
`The department will intensify its communication strategy to
encourage clients to collect identity documents that are currently
in front offices,` he added.
The committee was generally impressed that the department had
managed to make substantial inroads into the backlog.
MacKay said there was a growing demand for the department`s
services and a need to identify areas to be relaxed during further
stages of the lockdown.
The department proposes to allow the registration of marriages
during Level 3. This will take place per appointment.
It also proposes opening applications for the late registration of
births. This is an extension of birth registration.
Adjudication of applications will be per appointment as per the
birth and death registration regulations.
Last Wednesday, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the country
would drop to Level 3 of the nationwide lockdown by the end of
May, but some parts of the country with higher Covid-19 infection
rates would remain at Level 4.
On Friday, the Presidency said the country could move to Level 3
before the end of the month.
www.samigration.com V.3063

There are fears that more people will be separated by the introduction of a minimum salary level for those wanting UK family visas. Families living in the UK and abroad have raised concerns about what new rules will mean for them as they try to reunite with foreign spouses. In December, the Home Office, which says migration to the UK is too high, announced a package of measures to reduce net migration, following a spike in arrival numbers. V.5318
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An Ethiopian asylum seeker, who does not speak English, claims he was duped by a senior immigration official into paying an admission of guilt fine when he thought he was paying for bail.Two Western Cape High Court judges have condemned the official`s `deplorable` behaviour, set aside the fine, and ordered the immigration official be taken off the case. Tsegaye Esyas claims Annelise van Dyk treated him like an animal which led to him attempt suicide while in police cells. V.5320
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EREMY MAGGS: I want to stay with crime now. Individuals with a criminal record may be faced with significant challenges when seeking employment, I think that’s a given. Here in South Africa, employers may legally exclude an applicant from consideration for a position if having a clean criminal record is what is termed an inherent requirement of the job. That phrase, inherent requirement, is important, but what exactly does that mean, and when can an applicant be lawfully excluded for having a criminal record? V.5321
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As a South African who has adopted a nomadic work lifestyle alongside my wife, Ingrid Lotze, I’ve been an interested observer of South Africa’s snail-pace digital nomad visa (DNV) development process. Despite the optimism surrounding its introduction, the visa seems to miss several crucial marks for digital nomads like us. V.5322
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DA MP says hours lost continue to result in persons being unable to collect their ID documents due to unmanageable queues The DA has been inundated with complaints that the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) systems are offline, resulting in long queues and delayed processing of documents. Through questions posed to the Minister, the DA can now reveal that the DHA has lost over 77 years’ worth of working hours due to system downtime and load-shedding from 2019 to date. Concerningly, this data only relates to hours lost for the application of smart IDs, meaning decades more of working hours could have been additionally lost in other spheres such as passport or visa applications. V.5314
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Home Affairs’ seemingly endless court battles set the department back more than R110-million between April 2023 and the end of February this year. This was revealed in a written parliamentary response by minister Aaron Motsoaledi. He said the department accumulated a litigation bill of R117 692 996.3, higher than the R72 637 944.51 spent the year before. V.5315
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Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) this week revealed that Cape Town International Airport (CTIA) has achieved a ground-breaking milestone by processing more than 10 million passengers over a single financial year. This is the highest number of regional and international passengers processed since COVID-19 V.5316
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In recent years, South Africa has seen a significant influx of immigrants from various African countries, as well as other parts of the world. This has raised important questions about the country`s immigration policies and their impact on job creation for both locals and immigrants. The South African immigration system, like many other countries, is a complex and ever-evolving process that aims to balance the country`s economic needs with its social and cultural interests. Let`s take a closer look at how this system intersects with job creation in South Africa. The South African government implemented the Immigration Act of 2002, which outlines the country`s immigration policies and procedures. Under this act, foreigners are required to obtain a visa or permit to enter, work, or study in South Africa. The type of visa or permit required depends on the intended purpose of the individual`s visit and their country of origin. V.5312
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Due to system downtime and load-shedding, the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) lost nearly 141,000 hours of Smart ID application and production time between the 2019/20 and 2022/23 financial years. Minister Aaron Motsoaledi revealed this figure in a recent response to questions raised in Parliament by Democratic Alliance MP Adrian Roos. Motsoaledi provided a breakdown of smart ID production and application hours lost to technical difficulties and load-shedding per province for each financial year from 2019/2020. These disruptions hit home Affairs offices in the Eastern Cape the hardest, with over 34,000 hours to rotational power cuts and system downtime. Mpumalanga offices lost the next-highest number of hours at 17 V.5313
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Home Affairs Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi has said the public has shown great support for the final White Paper on citizenship, immigration and refugee protection which appeared in the Government Gazette on Wednesday. Briefing the media, he addressed what he saw as a long-overdue need to replace an outdated Citizenship Act, as well as enact proposed changes to existing legislation. V.5306
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