Is a more competent Home Affairs department on the horizon?
President Cyril Ramaphosa’s newly announced Cabinet has had to accommodate ministers and deputy ministers from six former opposition parties.
The post of Home Affairs Minister has gone to Leon Schreiber from the Democratic Alliance, who takes over from the ANC`s Aaron Motsoaledi who returns in the guise of Health Minister.
Schreiber was appointed the DA Shadow Minister of Public Service and Administration in 2019, and has since served as a member of the Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration, and as an Alternate Member of the Ad Hoc Committee to Amend Section 25 of the Constitution.
Considering the scale of the problem he faces at Home Affairs, Schreiber tells John Maytham, the key will be to prioritise.
`I think every single South African understands the scale of the challenge - you just have to go and stand in one of those queues that sometimes start at four in the morning and maybe even end with people not being helped by the end of the day.`
`I think this phrase of `system offline` has become almost a South Africanism... We can add to the list the issues around processing times for critical skills visas or people who want to invest and help us grow the economy who act can`t do so because they`re dissuaded by the inefficiency of the system.`
Leon Schreiber, Home Affairs Minister-designate
Schreiber has hit the ground running with discussions at the Department on Tuesday, ahead of his inauguration.
He will continue these meetings with various stakeholders including banks helping the Department, and immigration lawyers.
Along with the practical challenges that need to be addressed at Home Affairs, there are also issues of policy reform awaiting the new Minister.
`We have to make sure that we have a clearly defined and understandable set of priorities that includes things like shortening the queues if not defeating them entirely...`
`...but then you can include among those key priorities some of the policy reforms that we need to look at that can include things like simply regulation that sometimes tie down the processes, looking at the attractiveness of the critical skills list, of the visa process itself..