WATCH: ‘We shouldn’t hear these Home Affairs trucks have been hijacked’, warns Ramaphosa

President Cyril Ramaphosa issued a firm warning to criminals on Tuesday as he launched a new, purpose-built Department of Home Affairs office in Mokopane, Limpopo.

He introduced 100 new mobile offices to expand the department’s services, particularly in isolated regions.

Ramaphosa warned against the stealing or destruction of the trucks and self-service ATM-looking kiosks.

He said these trucks were introduced to serve the people and should be given the chance to do so.

“We shouldn’t hear that these trucks have been hijacked and parked at someone’s house wherever. We shouldn’t hear that these trucks were burnt or stolen.

“When you see these trucks in motion, essentially you are seeing government in motion,” he added.

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Ramaphosa calls out Home Affairs workers

Ramaphosa said a hundred more mobile units would be distributed across the country each year, along with self-service kiosks. He said the introduction of these new tech services was a “fantastic and cutting-edge innovation”.

“Every year we will have at least 100 trucks and we are going to be spreading the kiosks all around the country. This is real development.

“This is a government that is moving forward. A government that shows that it wants to improve the lives of our people to ensure that our people get quality service delivery,” said the president.

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He urged Home Affairs staff to deliver the same quality services to all citizens.

“People should not walk into [Home Affairs] offices and find the placed government employees not assisting the people properly, embarrassing people and making them wait for a long time to be serviced,” Ramaphosa reprimanded.

He also warned them against swearing at customers and demanding money in exchange for any documents.

WATCH: Ramaphosa’s address at the launch of 100 new mobile offices in Mokopane, Limpopo.

Home Affairs improvements

According to Ramaphosa, these newly introduced mobile offices and kiosks will put an end to all previous struggles citizens had to endure while being rendered services at Home Affairs.

“I want those working for the government to know that we are improving Home Affairs. Every day we improve Home Affairs. Home Affairs has the responsibility to do a very important job, but it is also a very complicated process,” said Ramaphosa.

Moreover, he reiterated the importance of this department in safeguarding the records of all 62 million South Africans.

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He added that continuous improvements were underway to make Home Affairs services much more accessible to pregnant women.

According to Ramaphosa, new offices will be opened in hospitals to ensure that mothers can get their children’s birth certificates in the same facilities they were born.