Media advisory                                                                                                           18 November 2016

Home Affairs partners with Stats SA for the digitisation of South Africa’s civil records for improved service delivery

The Minister of Home Affairs, Honourable Malusi Gigaba, together with the Statistician-General of South Africa, Dr Pali Lehohla, will launch a project on the digitisation of Home Affairs civil records on Wednesday, 23 November 2016.

The digitisation project follows a close collaboration between the Department of Home Affairs and Statistics South Africa and signifies a transition from the old systems of record keeping to a modern, efficient and secure storage method. It further signals progressive systems that will ensure speedy retrieval of records for processing applications such as birth certificates, irrespective of location in the country. Media will be taken through the precinct where records are kept and digitised. The digitisation process will also be demonstrated. The details of the launch are as follows:

Session 1: Walk-about at Home Affairs Offices

Time        : 07H30 (Media Arrives at Home Affairs Ministry, 909 Arcadia Street, Hatfield and ferried to             Home Affairs New Corporate Building)

Date         : 23 November 2016

Time        : 08H00 Walk-About starts

Venue      : Home Affairs, New Corporate Building, Cnr. Jeff Masemola & Bosman Streets, Pretoria  

Session 2: Walk- About and briefing at Statistics South Africa

Date          : 23 November 2016

Time          : 09H00

Venue        : ISIbalo House, Koch Street, Pretoria

Please note that the Departments of Home Affairs and Statistics South Africa buildings are secure environments thus journalists are required to bring with proper identity documents (green identity book or smart card id) as form of identification.

RSVP by 21 November 2016: Ms Felicia Sithole on 076 430 0693,  E-mail: felicias@statssa.gov.za  or Thabo Mokgola on 060 962 4982, E-mail: thabo.mokgola@dha.gov.za