Durban: Standing in long queues at Home Affairs in Durban may somewhat be eased after the Department announced the opening of an office at the Pavilion Shopping Mall.
On Tuesday, Home Affairs Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi announced the department would open offices in shopping malls across the country and in KZN the Pavilion shopping centre has been allocated.
“It is hoped operations in the Pavillion mall will relieve the pressure on our Umgeni offices which are often not well spoken about,” said Motsoaledi.
He said the project would be piloted in Menlyn Mall in Pretoria in September.
This is part of government’s intervention to open 15 new offices and hire more staff members.
“Operating Home Affairs offices at malls will obviate the problem of queuing in the sun or rain. Malls will also provide convenient and safe parking for clients,” said Motsoaledi.
Over the years, residents in KZN have voiced their concerns over having to wait in long queues at home affairs offices, some as early as 3.30am and still receiving no assistance.
The Mercury reported a case of a Ballito woman who joined the queue at 3.30am to apply for her passport at the Tongaat home affairs offices.
She said she previously waited in vain for 12 hours for the network to come back online, adding the online application process was not working in KwaZulu-Natal.
More issues of people paying for spots in queues and systems going off-line were also reported.
However, the department said these were issues they had no control over and was a national problem.
Last month, some Home Affairs offices were destroyed in the floods.
At the time, national spokesperson Siya Qoza said death registration and issuance of temporary IDs would be a priority.
The Department deployed mobile trucks to bring services closer to its people.
“As a further relief measure, we have bought 10 extra mobile trucks for R15 million and will add another 15 for R20 million this financial year. Our trucks were very helpful during the recent floods in KZN, and hence we value them a lot.
“We will continue adding more trucks each financial year until we have increased our total tally by 100% i.e from the present 100 trucks to 200 trucks,” said Motsoaledi.
Will this ease the burden? Only time will tell.
The Pavilion Shopping Centre has been approached for comment.
IOL