Passport tech woes over?

Johannesburg, 05 Aug 2009

The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) has cleared its passport backlog and production levels have returned to normal, it says.

Following promises made by minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, to resolve passport production problems by July, the department has met its deadline.

In May, the department released a statement saying it was experiencing IT-related problems in achieving the required passport output. At the time, Dlamini-Zuma promised there will be no backlog by end of July, and that the department “would be back to our normal flow”.

Department spokesman Ronny Mamoepa confirmed the backlog has been cleared and passport production had returned to its previous three-week turnaround times.

The department implemented a new passport system to replace the outdated printing system that had become dysfunctional. The new passport printing machine was commissioned on 8 April to issue passports with high-security features.

The department previously stated a team of technical engineers and IT specialists had been working to resolve the glitches in the interface between the new passport production system and the department's data capturing system. The DHA also noted additional resources had been allocated to speed up passport production.

Siobhan McCarthy, director of communications at the department, says all additional resources were labour-related. While not disclosing how much the department spent, she said the DHA had spent additional money on paying staff overtime to ensure the problem was fixed.

Human error

The new passports were introduced as part of the DHA's transformation strategy and contain several high-security features, which the department says make them tamper-proof. The passport-holder's biographical data is laser-engraved on a polycarbonate page and the paper used for the other pages of the passport includes a watermark of Chief Albert Luthuli. Fine line security background designs, depicting the Big Five, are also printed on the pages.

DHA director-general Mavuso Msimang previously stated the move from old technology systems to new improved systems had caused the production backlogs. He said it was the interfacing of these systems that created some delays in the production of the passports.

The minister, however, blamed the problem directly on incompetent staff, saying: “Unfortunately, official tardiness in putting in place an effective personal information processing system that matches the high-security requirements of the passport resulted in the creation of a backlog in the issuance of passports to citizens.”

McCarthy concedes the department was not adequately prepared for the new printing systems and a lot of work had to be done to upgrade its systems.

“The technology upgrades are key in our programme to improve service delivery and ensure the security of the passport and all problems have been resolved,” she notes.

Improving features

In April, the DHA officially opened the printing facility, in Pretoria, which houses the new passport manufacturing machine. The introduction of the new process improves the integrity and security of South African passports, and aligns them with the International Civil Aviation Organisation's standards for technology and security.

The department says it will further improve security in the passport production process and recently introduced its online fingerprint verification system, which will confirm the identity of applicants.

“We are doing this to positively verify the identity of the applicant, as well as to minimise risks of identity fraud. Along with the introduction of the new passport, we will improve customer service and stamp out forgery of the passport,” explains McCarthy.