HOME AFFAIRS WANT EXPOSE' TAPES

Here we go again! Every time there is a problem with corruption in the Home Affairs Department (or any other one for that matter), we have to change our ID's/vehicle registration number plates/whatever, at great cost to ourselves in terms of a fee that needs to be paid as well as the time it takes for the process to take place.

What makes anyone think for one moment, that changing from the green ID book to card system is going to make it any different? The fact of the matter is that we were given the same story when we had to change our Driver's Licences to the card system and we all know how corrupt that is too - perhaps it is time to deal with the actual problem and not the sympton!

Finding someone quilty of fraud and dismissing them is not enough! These individuals should be prosecuted, fined and/or jailed - the consequences do not fit the crime! They are essentially stealing someone's identity.

Regards
Nikki


The beleaguered department of home affairs has asked the SABC to provide it with the footage in which its Special Assignment programme recently exposed widespread corruption relating to identity documents. In a written reply to a parliamentary question, Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said the department wanted the footage to determine the dates on which the offences were committed before criminal charges could be laid against individuals and departmental officials. She said only one individual had been identified as a departmental employee. "The said employee has been suspended pending an investigation," said Mapisa-Nqakula.

In the documentary, the Special Assignment crew, working with a Zimbabwean citizen, went to six home affairs offices in different parts of the country and easily bought South African IDs and birth certificates for the woman. Shortly after the exposé, Mapisa-Nqakula said the green ID books had to make way for the card system as a matter of urgency because they were "contaminated" by criminals. She told MPs it was embarrassing and the challenge was "to tighten our systems in the department".

The department fired 122 officials between July 2005 and October this year. She said all had disciplinary hearings, were found guilty and dismissed. - Political Bureau