Like most of the country, Home Affairs services were suspended at the beginning of the national lockdown in March last year. Gradually, as regulations eased, services were reinstated until October when almost all services had resumed.
Unfortunately, due to residents not complying with the Covid-19 regulations as well as the rapid rise in the demand for death certificates, several Home Affairs services have been temporarily suspended.
Home Affairs Minister, Aaron Motsoaledi, stated that since October, Home Affairs seems to have gone back to the pre-lockdown days. Huge crowds continue to gather at each of the offices, and while protocols are mostly observed inside the offices, there is little to no social distancing or compliance with the regulations outside of the offices. A lack of compliance from residents and any staff has a snowball effect on the department because if a staff member tests positive, the entire branch needs to close and be decontaminated, and the employees will need to go into self-isolation which halts services.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, 266 branches have needed to close due to positive cases, some of them more than once. The severity of the situation has only increased. In the first 10 days of January, 116 employees tested positive for the virus, seven of whom sadly passed away.
Home Affairs cannot afford to continue to halt services, especially because of the rising death toll in the country. According to Motsoaledi, the number of deaths recorded in the country over the December period increased by nearly 22 000 people since 2019, totalling a massive 55 676 deaths, and the department suspects that January will be even worse.
Nearly 11 000 deaths were recorded on 4 and 5 January alone. “Taking all these factors into consideration, the Department of Home Affairs has decided to temporarily suspend certain activities and services until further notice. This is unfortunate, but we are forced by circumstances,” said Motsoaledi.
Suspended services were identified using the department’s statistics, so the service with the highest number of users were suspended in hopes of lessening the number of people at the offices at any one time.
The following services have been suspended:
• Applications of Smart ID cards (except for matriculants)
• Applications for passports (except for those who fall in the categories permitted to travel in the amended Level 3 regulations)
• Marriage services such as solemnisation and registrations
“We are aware this will be difficult on people. Please bear with us. We are trying to save lives while providing enabling documents,” the Minister continued.
The department has asked that residents do not go in to any of the offices to collect their ID cards unless they are specifically invited by SMS.
Further to these measures, Home Affairs is proposing that all deaths and births be registered at the health facilities where they occur. A total of 156 health facilities have a Home Affairs office presence and a full list can be found at www.dha.gov.za or on the relevant social media platforms (@HomeAffairsSA). These facilities include Dr Yusuf Dadoo Hospital and Leratong Hospital.
Mobile units will also be deployed to assist where offices have been closed or where there is a need for collection or death registrations. All branches have designated counters for death registrations.
All offices will be open from Monday to Friday from 8am to 3.30pm, apart from the registrations of deaths and births, for which the offices will be open until 7pm up until 15 February.
“In order to defeat this pandemic and go back to normality, we still appeal to everyone visiting Home Affairs offices to observe Covid-19 protocols such as wearing masks properly, observing social distancing and sanitizing hands regularly. Nobody will be allowed to enter any Home Affairs office without a mask,” concluded Motsoaledi.
