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TimesLIVE reports that Department of Home Affairs (DHA) Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has appealed to President Cyril Ramaphosa for more money to employ staff as the department battles to clear visa backlogs.
Briefing a parliamentary committee this week, Mostoaledi blamed a lack of capacity for the delays in the finalisation of visas. The department has to redirect staff working in different fields to help the migration services as pressure mounts from those waiting to get into SA. According to Motsoaledi, the department was operating with a staff complement of only 39%. The National Treasury recently gave the department funds to hire 700 people, which could push the staff complement to 42%. This, however, meant little to visa permit staff. In further comment, Motsoaledi said: “We are attacked for having a backlog on visas; people say the economy will not move because of the backlog. But out of the 75,000 backlog, 35,000 are spousal visas. These are spouses who want to come to SA but want jobs. In a country that battles unemployment, how do you expect home affairs to respond? He added: “If the spouse applies for general work, the law states they must go to the department of employment and labour to check whether there is a South African who can do that work. That is another procedure and takes time. Home affairs gets stuck waiting for the department of employment and labour’s certificate.”
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Sinesipho Schrieber at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)
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