Pretoria – The problems that have plagued the Marabastad Refugee Reception Office in Pretoria are soon to come to an end as renovations at the offices are near completion.
The branch of Home Affairs, where asylum seekers apply for asylum in terms of section 21 of the Refugee Act, has long received complaints of corruption, long queues, overcrowding and criminal activities.
These issues will be a thing of the past Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba assured after he toured the Refugee Reception Office on Sunday to assess progress in the renovations which form part of the department's Modernisation Programme.
Renovations started on 15 September 2015 and the project is expected to be completed in October 2016.
On 29 January 2016 the department introduced a new process to improve access and customer experience, discourage queues, reduce corruption and bribery, destabilise syndicates operating outside the office as well as reclaim the space and image of the department.
Among the innovations being implemented include improved security, new IT infrastructure, off site interpretation services as of 1 September 2016, a paperless process has been introduced and registry and filing has been improved.
The office also has an automated booking system which captures newcomers with two fingerprints, it makes provision for capturing family units, makes new bookings or allows for a change of booking for existing clients, printing of booking slips for clients and family units and extends section 22 permits.
The Minister said through the online booking system, people can come and be captured and see their refugee status.
“Among the advantages of the new system is that it will enable the person filing the application to have their file established and not to get lost as soon as the application is done,” said Minister Gigaba.
The paperless environment will reduce and eliminate bribery and corruption, as well as organised crime associated with the centre.
“We’ve introduced a completely paperless process to improve efficiency and professionalism of the centre, ensure that they manage asylum seeker processes with professionalism and in accordance with the human rights ethos of our Constitution,” Minister Gigaba said.
The Minister said the department is going to introduce more efficient translation services, which will ensure that neither the applicant has an influence on the translator nor does the translator have influence on the applicant.
“This also could make our officials vulnerable to participating in the processes of corruption involving translations. We want this processes to be extremely credible to have integrity so that they can be trusted.”
Ten arrested for bribery, corruption
Last year, 10 people were arrested for involvement in bribery and corruption. However, none of them were officials of the department.
“I want to emphasise that the department is undertaking extensive management upscaling of our officials in terms of the country’s information so that the decision they take are well informed and credible.” – SAnews.gov.za
