Public Protector meets with Minister of Home Affairs

Public Protector Adv Thuli Madonsela and the Minister of Home Affairs, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, have agreed on a framework to inform the interface between their respective offices.

This follows their meeting, which took place on Tuesday 14 September 2010 and aimed to take stock of the Home Affairs matters the Public Protector has dealt with up to so far. They also looked at the manner of cooperation the two institutions have had until now and identified areas of improvement.

During the meeting, the Public Protector was informed of the current vision of the Department of Home Affairs, interventions made to improve the delivery of services, progress made to date and challenges hampering delivery.

The meeting decided that a response protocol be drafted to improve the level of cooperation and a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to address all identified problematic areas be prepared to be signed by the two institutions. A task team has been formed to look at the technical aspects relating to the cooperation framework, including the MOU.

The Public Protector indicated to the Minister that she regretted the fact of the comments she previously made about Home Affairs as only the ones relating to problems observed got publicity.

“I am satisfied and encouraged with the work that the Department of Home Affairs is doing to improve service delivery. As the Public Protector my role is to ensure that there is justice and prompt remedial action for each complainant,” she said. “My mandate also includes managing demand by addressing the systemic administrative challenges that cause regular service challenges.”

The Public Protector receives complaints of the same nature relating to Home Affairs on an ongoing basis. These include duplicate IDs, marriages and stateless children, among other things. A systemic intervention is being considered to address the recurrence of such cases.

The two institutions have agreed on a collective and cooperative approach to address the systemic administrative failures that breed the recurring service challenges that have been jointly identified.

For more information, contact:

Kgalalelo Masibi
Senior Manager: Communications
Tel: (012) 366 7006
Fax: 0866 261 143
Cell: 079 507 0399
E-mail: kgalalelom@pprotect.org