The Department of Home Affairs is deliberating the possibility of building a national identification system that can be used to access public and private sector services.
The department said yesterday its role was “widely misunderstood” to be that of an administrative department that delivered routine services of low value.
Instead, it proposed elevation to a strategic and crucial national security, service delivery and economic development unit.
This is according to director-general Mkuseli Apleni, who briefed the media in Pretoria on proposals to reposition the department within the state security cluster.
The statement comes after an ANC discussion document on peace and stability stated that the department was “wrongly positioned”.
Apleni said developments and related challenges affecting social and economic relations in the country and abroad made it urgent for the country to recommit unflinchingly to the repositioning of the department. This was necessary to safeguard both the country and its citizens, he said.
This month, the cabinet approved the proposed measures set out in the business case to reposition the Department of Home Affairs to enable it to contribute to national security while protecting the citizens, systems and data.
“One priority is to put in place the key elements of a comprehensive national identity system and the modern immigration systems that will interface with it,” said Apleni.
He added the department was neither in a position to adequately defend itself from threats like criminal syndicates and cyberattacks, nor play its full role of working with other departments.