Public complains about poor service delivery

RECORD has received many complaints from irate residents who claim to be experiencing very poor service or often no service at all at both Home Affairs and the Labour Department.

One resident, who would like to remain anonymous, says she has been to the Alberton office several times, and each time it has been chaotic and disorganised. “I went there when they were supposed to open, according to their office hours, and they only opened an hour after that. I was there for hours and eventually gave up when they turned everyone away, saying their system was down and that we should all come back another day.”

“When I came back, and after a few more hours of standing in a line, which often stretches a long way out the door to outside, I got to the front of one line and was told that it was the wrong queue. There is no signage whatsoever to tell you where to go and sometimes the staff can’t even tell you. It’s like they have no clue nor interest in getting a clue of what is going on,” she said.

Yet another resident says, “You go there and nobody wants to help. The security guy takes his friends through to the front of the line to be helped. The staff take extra long breaks, I’ve been turned away before, and the staff members are extremely rude and unhelpful.”

Maremoshe Malatji from the Department of Home Affairs sent an e-mail to the RECORD stating that the long queues are a sign of the good service people are receiving and that’s why there are so many. “Staff cannot be expected not to be rude when the clients are difficult or rude. We welcome such complaints however we encourage the clients to immediately report those unholy acts from our officials to the management so that we can amicably deal with the situation and instigate disciplinary measures for the responsible officials,” he wrote. When our reporter asked for comment on all the other points Malatji did not reply.

RECORD is awaiting comment from the Labour Department.