Home Affairs carries the load
Members of the public say the local branch has been offline of late
THE Richards Bay Department of Home Affairs has once again come under the spotlight from disgruntled members of the public, who say the systems are constantly off-line, whether during load-shedding or not.
People wanting to make use of the department’s services, including obtaining ID books or smart cards, birth and death certificates or passports, are left standing in the late summer sun when the systems are down, sometimes with no time frame as to when they will be online again.
One member of the public said this issue has been ongoing for the past two weeks.
‘People come from far and wide, spending a lot of money on transport to get to Home Affairs, only to be told they cannot be helped.
‘Many people do not have the money to make the trip numerous times.’
The department acknowledged that load-shedding has contributed to some downtime experienced at the Richards Bay branch, but that this is not continual, nor has the system been offline for two weeks.
‘Last Wednesday during load-shedding we experienced some problems with our generator, but this was rectified by midday on Friday,’ said a spokesperson.
‘Apart from that, there is a problem with the central IT server at the department’s Pietermaritzburg head office.
‘This is causing intermittent downtime throughout KZN and is affecting all branches.’
The spokesperson said there is nothing that each individual home affairs branch can do to rectify the problems with the central server, but that the Richards Bay technicians are hassling the technicians in Pietermaritzburg in their bid for feedback.
Five things to do before going to Home Affairs:
1. Phone the branch beforehand to ensure it is operational
2. Find out the quietest time of day or quietest day of the week
3. Do as much of your application online as possible
4. Apply for your document in good time
5. Ensure you arrive at the office early in the morning
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