According to community activist, Bishop Roberson, the Home Affairs office in Eldorado Park Ext 6 has been out of service for almost four months now, inconveniencing hundreds of residents on a weekly basis.
He said, “The office was put in place to make things a little easier for our people but it has inconvenienced us more than anything.”
Staff at the office said that the reason that the office has not been operating is as a result of cable theft which has caused frustration for Telkom officials who were dispatched to replace the cables every time it was stolen.
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The staff at the office had the following to say when asked what their daily routine was like: “All we can do is redirect people to other Home Affairs branches; we are offline, so we cannot help them in any way.
“It is extremely frustrating having to come to work every day and not be able to do your job efficiently. Telkom officials are refusing to fix the cables because they say it will be stolen again.”
Ward 18 councillor, Peter Rafferty said that he was aware of the problems at the office, “I know what an inconvenience this is to my people but the missing cable problem lies on Telkom’s side.
“All the businesses, including the Councillor’s Chambers at the Don Mateman Hall struggle with even simple telephone reception because of the missing cables. We have resorted to using wireless telephones and internet services,” he said.
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Parents are frustrated because they are unable to apply for identity documents for their children.
“ID documents are important to have, our children cannot write their matric finals without it. We are now forced to spend money that we don’t have on transport fees, the point of the Home Affairs office being there was to assist us, not make our lives more difficult,” said Rochelle Adams, parent to a 16-year-old in need of an ID.
Bishop Roberson said that youngsters need to understand the consequences of their actions.
“They need to understand that crime doesn’t pay. Our Home Affairs office is not operating because of cables which have been stolen. I don’t understand why those who stole it think it’s okay,” said Robertson.
At the time of going to print, the Department of Home Affairs, Johannesburg District was unavailable for comment.
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