Home Affairs is a place often associated with long queues and revisit after revisit before anything can be resolved.

This is not true for one Randfontein woman and a former Randfonteiner who now lives in the United Kingdom (UK).

Paddy Johnson, a Randfontein resident, had one of her friends, Cheryl Walker, come to South Africa from the UK to visit. The visit was not one of pleasure as Cheryl’s mother was ill.

Cheryl had already gain UK citizenship which made her visit to South Africa a bit more difficult than usual. She needed an emergency passport and was not able to get one in the UK as quickly as she had hoped. Cheryl then asked her friend Paddy to see whether she could assist from within the South African border.

Paddy went to Randfontein Home Affairs, where after much trial and error and being told the passport would take six to eight months to issue, she came across Buti Thinta, a Home Affairs employee.

She describes Buti as being extremely friendly, helpful and professional. He managed to organise Cheryl’s passport within four days and even had the passport transported to Randfontein instead of the two women travelling to Pretoria to pick it up.

Paddy is over the moon about the service she received at Randfontein Home Affairs and said she would recommend Buti to anyone who wishes to get their business done.

“It was a big relief to Cheryl to get her passport so quickly,” Paddy said.

When the Herald visited Home Affairs, Buti refused to take the credit for helping Paddy, and said it was a team effort. “Everything we do here at Home Affairs, our good work, we do as a team,” he said.

Do you perhaps have more information pertaining to this story? Email us at randfonteinherald@caxton.co.za (remember to include your contact details) or phone us on 011 693 3671.

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