The Department of Home Affairs is owed R16,923-million in penalties and administrative fines, Auditor General (AG) Terence Nombembe said in a performance audit report released on Friday.
The audit — a follow-up to that undertaken in 2000 — found that R8,548-million had been outstanding for more than three years and was subject to prescription under the Prescription Act.
The report noted that the computerised system used to administer penalties and administrative fines was last fully updated in July 2005.
”Although some entries were captured since then, it could not be determined which fines had been updated on the system as no record had been kept,” the AG said.
He had recommended that action be taken to recover the money owing, said his spokesperson, Africa Boso.
The audit also found that a R2-million computer system designed and installed in October 2004 to manage information about detainees had not been used since the end of 2005.
It discovered that R477 010-worth of computer equipment bought in March 2006 had not been installed and properly recorded in the asset register at the holding facility, nor had R375 668 of OR Tambo Airport equipment received in April and May last year.
When it came to immigration, the AG reported that the process was still not being managed effectively.
Although it was not taking as long to deport prohibited people as in 2000, when they spent on average 157 days in holding facilities, deportations were still not being made fast enough.
The audit found that, at June 2006, 106 people had been detained for 30 days or more, 42 of them for 90 days or more and five for more than 200 days.
In addition, those deported people who returned were not prosecuted under the Immigration Act, but simply deported again.
As far as asylum was concerned, the report found that Home Affairs did not know how long it took for asylum-seekers to apply for refuge after entering the country.
Indeed, it ”did not know if such persons presented themselves at all”.
While the department had indicated in 2000 that pending asylum applications would be finalised by January 2001, the follow-up audit showed applications dating back to 1992.
”It was also noted that the backlog of refugee applications as at May 30 2006 was 97 097 and that not all applications had been adjudicated within 180 days as required by the regulations to the South African Refugees Act.”
It was hoped ”corrective measures” would flow from the report, said Boso.
He said the department had undertaken to review its existing procedures to ensure effective and timely collection of outstanding amounts, and to continue trying to ensure compliance with legislation and prescripts.
It also intended designing and implementing an updated refugee system for timely and accurate reporting of refugee information, and conducting regular verification of its assets. — Sapa