Home Affairs on Wheels: We stood in line to apply for a passport, here’s how it went

Temperatures were soaring, with no chairs in sight and a long line ahead.

This was the experience of a reporter when they lined up to try Home Affairs’ mobile services.

The outreach programme sends trucks to areas to help make the department’s services more accessible to residents who find it difficult to reach their offices.

Earlier this year, President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed residents of Mahwelereng in Mokopane on these units.

“These kiosks should mean improved services in our communities. We are appealing to all officials of home affairs to work with speed every day,” he said.

“They must ensure our people do not wait long in queues.”

But is this the case? Are residents receiving fast, quality service?

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The Citizen’s reporter shares her experience

One of The Citizen’s reporters went to a home affairs truck in Newtown, Johannesburg, recently and described it as hugely disorganised.

“I arrived at 9:30am and left at 3pm. There was a long queue and no officials standing outside to guide people”, the reporter said.

“Nobody was allowed to approach the truck. You could only go inside if you had a form.”

She said that occasionally an official would come outside and hold out a stack of forms, to which those in the front of the line would “swarm” to get one before they ran out.

The units have an appointment system in which individuals can book a time slot beforehand, however, the lack of organisation made this pointless.

“People who made appointments complained that they were supposed to be given forms according to their time slot but weren’t.”

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The units have been structured to accommodate three people at a time and one cannot go inside without a form. This process did not appear to run seamlessly as many waited hours before they were able to go in.

“The trucks only let three people with forms in at a time, but we only saw movement every hour or so.”

Even with the wait time, no accommodations were made for those standing outside in the hot sun.

“There were no chairs outside for us who were waiting in the queue. There were pensioners there who had to stand in the line for hours.”

Besides the heat, the reporter also had to contend with suspected scammers trying to sell spaces in line.

After her unsuccessful attempt, she went to the Roodepoort offices and was out after two hours.

These grievances were raised with the department, which has not yet responded to The Citizen‘s request. This will be included once received.

What can you do at these Home Affairs mobile units?

The department has a fleet of 220 units and on Friday took its services to Zola, Soweto.

There, residents were able to apply for a smart ID, a passport, a birth certificate, a marriage certificate, or a death certificate.

ALSO READ: Home Affairs clears 250 000 ID backlog in one month

“In the 2023/24 financial year, the Department registered a total of 900 258 births, of which 744 610 were registered within 30 days while 108 336 births were registered between 31 days to a year,” said the department.

47 312 of these births remain unaccounted for. By bringing these units in, the department hopes to decrease this number by making attaining birth certificates easier.

“We are planning to take these mobile offices to schools so that learners who need the services don’t have to take days off school,” said Home Affairs.

Additional reporting by Alex Japho Matlala.

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