EDITOR – Further to Joe Citizen’s letter regarding the lack of efficiency at a local Home Affairs office, I would like to relate the following sad tale of a cleaner employed, as I am, in a local company, in the fervent hope that someone out there might have a useful suggestion as to the way forward.
On 25 August 2014 the said employee had her handbag stolen, including her ID document, while walking to work. After reporting the matter to the Umgeni Road branch of Home Affairs, and returning a few months later to enquire as to the arrival of her smart ID card, she was amazed to hear that according to her computer profile, she was now married to a foreign national. This she vehemently denied.
She was then told the matter would have to be ‘placed under investigation by head office in Pretoria’ – and no smart ID card would be issued until the matter was finalised. She did manage to secure a temporary ID document.
Since then, there have been numerous, time-consuming and fruitless visits to the Home Affairs office, all of which cost the said employee days off work and money for transport, both of which she could ill afford.
At the commencement of 2016, I accompanied her to the department, hoping to speak to a senior official, and fast-track a ridiculously slow-moving process. This I did, but was told the same story – until the Pretoria head office finalises the matter of the fraudulent marriage, which could take months or even years, the employee cannot receive another ID document. Furthermore, she had in the interim received two temporary IDs and was therefore no longer eligible for another!
At the latest visit, this now desperate employee was told, in no uncertain terms, not to return for at least three years.
The inconvenience of the numerous fruitless visits to the Home Affairs office, together with the frustration of being unable to proceed with banking queries and the like without an ID, is the sad tale of a quietly desperate, single mother, who already has many challenges to face every day.
Any suggestions as to a way to fast-track the system, will be most welcome.
QUIETLY DESPERATE
