ALBERTON – Albertonians have had it with the lack of service at Home Affairs, resulting in long queues and people having to come back again and again to try to sort out their affairs.
Upon arrival at the Alberton Home Affairs office on July 3, the Alberton RECORD found a very long queue snaking out of the door, almost into the parking area.
Pensioners, sickly people, pregnant women and mothers with babies as young as three weeks old stand for hours, waiting in the queues.
There are no chairs or special provision made for these people.
Eppo Joubert, from Randhart, took a day’s leave to get all his paperwork done – a whole day of lost productivity – and he is only one, representing a multitude of bread winners, some of whom are in sales and do not get paid if they don’t work.
Sonja Mcgee has been in the queue with her daughter since 07:00 and it is 12:15. Her face is red and tired. “We are nowhere closer to getting things done,” she says irately.
Paulina Bodla and her husband, Wilson, are queuing with their three-week-old daughter, Zunela, for a birth certificate. No special queue is available and no chair for Paulina to sit on during the long ordeal.
René, a pensioner from the area who does not want her surname mentioned, is there to sort out her marriage certificate. “They should have a satellite office and employ more people to assist the masses of people applying for unabridged birth certificates and all the rest,” she says.
Corné and Yolandi Mulder, from Albermarle, say it is their fourth time back in three weeks. Their daughter is four weeks old and, since her first week, they have been trying to get a birth certificate. “They don’t tell you what exactly you need so every time you get to the front you get told you need this or that and back you go,” says Corné.
”We only have a month to get this certificate, otherwise we have to go the police and give a statement as to why it wasn’t done in the designated time frame. I just wish they would improve their communication with the public. We were here two Saturdays ago and by then they had closed the doors, even though the sign clearly says 13:00.”
The most heartbreaking story is that of Cassius Maphanga. The mother of his children left the children with his mother and Cassuis was in and out of the country looking for work. Now his children don’t have birth certificates and Home Affairs demands that the mother has to be present. Cassuis says she just disappeared and neither he nor the children have seen her for years. “My children cannot get ID books. My daughter cannot write matric and she doesn’t see the need to still be in school as she cannot complete it. They are just becoming numbers in the system, they don’t even exist. I have contacted so many people and have been to Home Affairs at least 10 times to try to sort this out, but still no luck. My children don’t have a future and I can’t get anyone to help me.”
A security officer approached the representive of the Alberton RECORD and said that photographs and interviews were not allowed, at which time the reporter asked to speak to the supervisor.
No supervisor could be found and the representative spoke to a man who did not wish to reveal his name or designation. All he said was: “Speak to the Director General of Home Affairs.”
