Pretoria - The Department of Home Affairs seems to be steadily overcoming its challenges.
Its Director General Mkuseli Apleni briefed the Parliamentary Committee on the Department's 2009/2010 Annual Report, where he reflected on the priorities, achievements and challenges still facing the department.
He said that in this financial year, the department received one audit qualification related to capital asset management. This is a significant improvement compared to the four qualifications received in 2008/09 financial year.
"We are confident that we will surely achieve our goal towards an unqualified audit within two years," said Apleni.
He told the committee that the department met its key priorities in the reporting period. These included improvements in the National Population Register (NPR), guarantees for the 2010 Soccer World Cup and the turnaround strategy addressing the transformation of service delivery.
Apleni said the turnaround programme, launched in June 2007, resulted in a number of gains that have been consolidated during 2010.
These included improved security features on key documents such as IDs, the ongoing documentation process of asylum seekers and refugees, and a strengthened organisational design.
Apleni counted the new passport production system and the online fingerprint verification in banks as some of the other success.
"However, despite significant improvements, the uneven quality of front office service delivery and staff attitudes remains a serious challenge.
"In addition, unequal access to services, especially in rural areas, outdated IT infrastructure and systems, including the lack of a functioning document management system, impacts negatively on operational efficiency and security," he said.
The department has launched an onslaught against corruption and fraud.
Apleni said issues pertaining to quality of staff, policy, legislation and regulations needed amendment to effectively address corruption.
