Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research Deputy Director, Prof. Keith Breckenridge, said unlike many of the other administrative systems in South Africa, the Harness administrative system was well-designed and had managed to work through a decade of real difficulty between 1995 and about 2006.
The Live Capture administrative system then took over from Harness, after being introduced along with other two new systems such as the branch appointment booking system and e-Visa through the modernisation programme in 2012.
The department’s Deputy Minister, Njabulo Nzuza shared that the department started the digitisation project as a way of adapting to the digital era by digitising its paper records.
In an interview, Nzuza has confirmed:
The department has began the process to digitise documents
According to reports, these are records of death certificates, marriage certificates, ID documents, and passports.
The digitisation of the Home Affairs records was the responsibility of SARS in the past, but the Department of Home Affairs has opted for unemployed youth this time around.
It is for this reason that the department had announced the recruitment of 10 000 unemployed IT graduates to digitise these records.
DHA Minister Dr. Aaron Motsoaledi said that this cohort will be required to sign a three-year contract linked to the duration of the project, running from November 2022 until October 2025.
The successful youth will receive a stipend ranging from R5 000 for entry level positions to R9 500 for Technical Support level positions and R14 250 for Manager level positions.
Home Affairs confirmed that it will be working hand-in-hand with relevant stakeholders in both the recruitment and training phase of the project.
Motsoaledi emphasised that is not an internship but rather a programme aimed at addressing youth unemployment, and inclusive of persons with disabilities.
