Home affairs plays open cards with VFS contract details

Source: The Citizen, 03/04/2018

The department said when visa applications were internally, there was
gross incompetence that resulted in adjudication delays.
The department of home affairs has come clean on information
regarding the service-level agreement contained in the contract it
has signed with visa application service provider VFS.
Among a raft of allegations were that Rajesh Gupta and Duduzane Zuma
are shareholders in the company, and that VFS provided outsourced
services that should be performed by departmental employees.
“The department of home affairs entered into a contract with VFS
Global on 27 October 2010 for management of visa and permit
applications intake at the South African Missions abroad. On 2
December 2013, the department entered into a similar contract with
VFS for management of visa and permit applications intake in South
Africa. The contract with VFS will expire on 31 December 2018,” said
departmental spokesperson Mayihlome Tshwete.
Tshwete told The Citizen in an emailed response that VFS was not
entitled to any payments in terms of the contract and thus no monies
were paid to the service provider since 2010.
“The service is rendered at no cost to the department. The appointed
company invested in the project by securing all visa centres at their
own expense. The technology has been deployed without home affairs
being liable to its costs. The staff members of the company are also
at the company’s expense.
“The company charges clients management fee and also what is due to
the state. Money to the state is collected by the company
electronically and paid to the national revenue account. The
department receives regular reconciliation of received revenue. What
companies charge to clients has been agreed between the department
and VFS,” Tshwete said.
The department is satisfied that since the service provider was
brought on board, “there has been a marked improvement on the
delivery of performance targets”.
The department believes that in the last quarter of 2017/2018
financial year, “96% of permanent residence applications were
adjudicated within eight months for applications collected within the
country, 97.5% of business and general work visas were adjudicated
within eight weeks”.
Speaking to The Citizen earlier today, director-general Mkuseli
Apleni denied that the department had the capacity to provide the
outsourced services, arguing if the department was burdened with the
responsibility of receiving visa applications, that would likely
affect the adjudication period timelines.
“The service that VFS provides is the management of application
intake and handing over outcomes of visas on behalf of the
department. This is an international practice in the world that aims
to bring about efficiency in the visa application process.
“Countries such as the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ivory
Coast and Ghana use similar services, but not necessarily the same
service provider. Home affairs does not have adequate funding to
capacitate front offices with staff, offices as well as equipment in
order to provide effective and efficient services to the clients,
hence this business partnership with VFS,” Tshwete explained.
Tshwete said this function was previously performed by regional
offices with less capacity, which resulted in “incomplete
applications, delayed capturing of applications, delayed capturing of
outcomes and lack of uniformity of applications management throughout
the offices”.
“The offshore contract was a closed bid process and the award was
presented and approved by the Bid Adjudication Committee on 11 March
2010. The Chairperson of the Bid Adjudication Committee was the then
Chief Financial Officer and current Director-General Mr. Mkuseli
Apleni.
“The local service contract was an open bid process and the award was
presented and approved by the Bid Adjudication Committee on 07 May
2013. The Chairperson of the Bid Adjudication Committee was the then
Chief Financial Officer, Ms. Rudzani Rasikhinya,” Tshwete wrote.
On the contentious question of who really owns the company, the
department pointed out “VFS Global is a wholly-owned subsidiary of
Kuoni Group, headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, whose principal
owner is EQT, a leading global investment firm, headquartered in
Stockholm, Sweden”.