Cabinet reshuffle could clear the obstacles to border agency Customs and excise collection at the centre of a row between home affairs and the finance ministry

Source: Business Day, 21/04/2017

The Border Management Agency could soon assume all functions of border
control and customs and excise collection, courtesy of President Jacob
Zuma’s recent cabinet reshuffle.
The issue of customs and excise collection was the subject of a
dispute between the home affairs ministry and finance ministry, with
the latter wanting the function to remain under the South African
Revenue Service (SARS). The Treasury imposed a staff ceiling on
government departments in the medium term, hampering efforts by the
Department of Home Affairs to set up the agency.
When former finance minister Pravin Gordhan was at the helm of the
Treasury, the department’s expenditure ceiling for employee
compensation was pegged at R3.146bn in 2016-17, R3.233bn in 2017-18
and R3.328bn in 2018-19.
The cabinet reshuffle has resulted in the former home affairs minister
and a key proponent of the agency, Malusi Gigaba, taking over the
finance ministry. He was replaced at the Department of Home Affairs by
Prof Hlengiwe Mkhize, who told Business Day on Thursday that she hoped
Gigaba’s appointment would lead to a softening of the Treasury’s
stance on these issues. So tense was the stand-off over the customs
collection function of SARS at borders that former deputy minister of
finance Mcebisi Jonas wrote a letter to Parliament’s portfolio
committee on home affairs, insisting that customs and
revenue-collection should remain the function of SARS after the agency
was established.
Mkhize told Business Day that before her first consultation with
director-general Mkuseli Apleni, she met Gigaba, who stressed the
importance of finalising the alignment of all functions at ports of
entry to an authority under home affairs, in line with the Border
Management Authority Bill.
"We must have a clear line of authority around border management as
home affairs. He seemed very committed to its establishment and said
we will talk in our next meeting.
"Cabinet is clear on the vision of how to strengthen this authority,"
said Mkhize.
Treasury spokesman Mayihlome Tshwete confirmed that the two
departments were in talks over the agency and that an announcement
would be made on the matter in due course.
Kathryn Hoeflich from migrant welfare organisation Scalabrini Centre
said hiring more staff at home affairs to manage migration was a good
way to spend some state resources. "Hiring qualified workers to
resolve backlogs or address complex issues would be less costly and a
better deterrent for illegal migrants than building detention centres
or buying guns for border guards," said Hoeflich.
Independent analyst David Peddle said the establishment of the Border
Management Agency appeared to be the result of efforts as far back as
1994 "to effectively take over the border environment and order
budgets of the borderline departments".
He said the first plans to do this came from former home affairs
minister Mangosuthu Buthelezi and were met with "great uproar".