TRANSCRIPT : INTERACTION WITH MEDIA BY MINISTER DLAMINI ZUMA ON CONCLUSION OF DISCUSSIONS WITH ZIMBABWEAN STAKEHOLDER FORUM, 23 November 2010

Comments by Minister Dlamini Zuma

Thank you very much for your patience. I will not elaborate anymore since Ronnie has assured me he has explained.

Well, as you know, we have this process with the Zimbabweans to document them and try to regularise their stay in South Africa. So, we felt that since the deadline for this process is the 31 December 2010 it is important to meet with them to hear from their perspective if there are challenges that might create problems for them to comply with this by the 31 December 2010. So this is basically what we have been doing - discussing the challenges. And there are challenges but we are trying to resolve them.

The challenges are around getting documentation - whether it is around passports, birth certificates, Zimbabwean identity documents - because some of the Zimbabweans say they do not have their Zimbabwean identity documents so they have to apply for them before they can be issued with a passport. This is a similar situation to what we have in South Africa, unless you are a minor. So there are challenges, but we are working closely with the Zimbabweans. We have a database of those who have applied but are awaiting their passports so that we are able to deal with this even after the deadline passes because we will know the quantum and the real numbers of people who have applied for documents.

On our side, we have to deal with the delays that are caused, in part by fingerprinting and police clearance because this takes a bit of time so we are discussing how to expedite this matter. But also, we are putting together a database of people who are in the system but are still awaiting police clearance so that if the 31 December arrives before they are done it will be like any other business where you will be assisted even though the door has closed at the end of business. However, this must be very clear. We are not moving the deadline. The deadline remains the 31 December 2010. Let us not have deadlines saying the deadline has been moved. The deadline is very firm. It is the 31st December 2010 so we will only assist those who are in the system at the end of December 2010, including those who are awaiting their passports from Zimbabwean. Anyone who has not reported to us or who is not awaiting a passport will not be assisted after the 31 December 2010.

The second part is the amnesty of those who acquired South African documents fraudulently. You will remember we announced an amnesty provided they surrender their fraudulent documents so they can get their Zimbabwean documents. So, we are dealing with that - ensuring that they get their Zimbabwean documents so they can surrender ours.

However, there are consequences to this that we are dealing with. Because it means that if there are bank accounts, drivers licences must be changed, passports must be surrendered - there are a number of complicated issues that must be dealt with. There are children who were born here and are now adults. They now want to know what to do because they have been registered under their parents fraudulently acquired IDs. This is why the meeting is so long, we are discussing all of these issues that are arising from someone who would have acquired a fraudulent ID, started a business, acquired property, had children, registered them under the fraudulent ID. We have to then look at what happens and how we interact with the other stakeholders so that they understand and transfer to the Zimbabwean identity documents and passports.

We are also trying to understand the blockages in the system. We also have someone from the Zimbabwean consulate so some of the questions are being directed to them and they are answering so that we can see how we can together, expedite some of these issues.

We do not want to wait until the 31 December and people come to us with all these complications and it will be too late to deal with them. Our officials have been meeting with the Zimbabweans but I thought I should deal with some of these issues myself with the Zimbabweans. If it is necessary we will have another such discussion before the end of December.

I will now take questions.

Questions and Answers

Question Minister, you have made it quite clear that the deadline will not be extended. Am I correct in understanding that if you have approached the Department by the 31 December 2010 Zimbabweans will be helped?

Answer Yes, we will take the process through to its natural conclusion.

Question Minister, will consideration be given to extending this process to other nationalities, including the Ethiopians, Somalis, Pakistanis?

Answer Well when we announced this, we said that we will extend it to the neighbouring states after Zimbabwe. It is not a global thing, we will not be extending this globally, only to our neighbours.

Question Minister, do we know at this stage how many people have applied? How many have applied for amnesty? How co-operative has the Zimbabwean government been in this process?

Answer In excess of 70000; at this stage just over a thousand although it is less than 2000.

Well, I know the Zimbabwean government has received about 30000 applications for documents, just over 6000 have been issued. Others are still being processed. They have agreed that they might also open an office in Beit Bridge which is outside their normal consulate and embassy to try to expedite this process. Off course, there are challenges because some people do not have their documents in South Africa to support their applications for passports. But I think they are doing their best but the reason we met together is that I can also hear what they are saying are their challenges so we can try and resolve them, just as we can try and resolve the things that refer to ourselves.

Question Minister, we have already been receiving reports that Zimbabweans are being harassed even before the end of the deadline. I would like to understand what will be done about this?

Answer The mood of the meeting is very conducive. The parties are very pleased the minister has made time to meet with them to discuss these issues including the problems and challenges they are encountering.

The question of harassment, I said to them it is difficult to talk about generalities to the police. If they have names of those who are being harassed, I will be happy to receive such information and discuss with the police. So I cannot just talk generalities. So the ball is in their court.

This was not a widespread issue. It was raised by only one NGO, not by the Zimbabweans. So, I said fine, they must please present the evidence. Sometimes NGOs exaggerate issues to receive donor money because they are dealing with this big problem. I am not saying this is not happening, I have asked for the information so I could discuss with the Minister of Police if this is happening.

But the rest of the participants in the meeting have raised their concerns and challenges.

Question Minister, in your discussions, did any raise any political impediments to the process?

Answer They only raised the issue of those who had acquired IDs fraudulently. But none raised issues of political impediments to the process.

Question Minister, we have been talking about fraudulent documents. What plans do you have to deal with Home Affairs officials who have issued these documents?

Answer The problem with fraudulently acquired documents is that the documents are legitimate, it is the information used to produce such documents that is fraudulent. We have no way of assessing how such documents were issued or processed. In some instance people have paid others to say they are the son or brother. So, it is the information that is deliberately incorrect. The document itself is an authentic document.

However, we have now implemented systems that will enable us to tell, to some extent who has issued documents. Firstly, the functions given to certain officials. Not everyone has all the functions. Some have the function to register, others not. We have also implemented a system where people log in with numbers and also biometric fingerprints. However, we did not have this system in the past so we will not be able to tell who processed which documents.

Question Minister, we believe you are travelling to Mexico this week for a climate change meeting. What message will you be taking from South Africa to the Summit?

Answer I am not going to the Climate Change Summit. I will be attending a meeting in Mexico City that will be dealing with climate change ahead of the Cancun Summit. I just want to clarify this. I am a member of a commission that has been doing work on climate change in the Social International. This Commission will be meeting in preparation for Cancun. I think we began meeting in 2007. We prepared a document for Copenhagen, we will now meet to update this for Cancun. The commission is co-chaired by the former President of Chile President Lagos. He has also been appointed the UN Special Envoy on Climate Change. We have had several meetings thus far, even in South Africa. We meet in countries that have members on the Commission. We are meeting in Mexico for two reasons, because we have a Mexican member on the Commission but also because Mexico is hosting COP16.

Basically I will be taking the same message to this meeting as our delegation will be taking to COP16 in Cancun on the various aspects beginning from the issue of the Green Fund which was committed to at Copenhagen but now needs to be concretised. We will be talking about the issues of specific targets on carbon emissions, obviously using the differentiated responsibilities of developed and developing countries. We will raise the issues of deforestation, technology exchanges to the developing countries. We will raise all the issues South Africa will raise at Cancun because most of the world is united around these issues. What we now need is an agreement. I am sure the Minister of Environment will make a statement when the delegation leaves for Cancun.

Issued by Department of Home Affairs

Pretoria

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23 November 2010