Home Affairs plans to bring changes for South Africans in coming months
Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi says that his department has developed a new ID distribution strategy which will see several improvements.
Everybody dreads doing the admin of all the legal documents necessary to exist in a country - licences, passports, and IDs. In order to take away some of that stress, Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi shared that his department would speed up and upgrade services in the coming months in preparation for the local government elections.
A new distinct distribution strategy will be introduced in hopes of improving several aspects of the administrative task:
- Mobile offices will be deployed to service a cluster of voter registration stations for assistance with green barcoded identity books.
- Home Affairs will rescan all green barcoded identity books on hand and send SMSs to clients informing them to collect IDs.
- A contingency plan has been put in place to provide back-office support services, in cases where front offices are experiencing problems with the issuance of IDs and temporary identification certificates.
- Clients will be able to contact the call centre using 0800 60 11 90 to establish the status of their identity documents.
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This is a relief for most, as we want to avoid the long lines, especially during the third wave of COVID-19. It is also going to be a relief for people in communities without a home affairs office close by.
In a written parliamentary Q&A, Motsoaledi shared that Home Affairs will prioritise its services to those who have applied for their identity documents ahead of the general elections. This will be by issuing documents necessary for the elections like ID and temporary identification certificates on the spot to those whose identity documents are lost.
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This is a little shocking, as the effective strategies are only being implemented ahead of the elections. What about when we seriously need them during normal days of our lives in between work and everything else?
Another new implementation will be the extension of Home Affairs' operational hours during the voter registration weekend, as well as on the scheduled election days.
“It is against this backdrop that the department has aligned its working hours with those announced by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).”
“On the weekend of the 17th and 18th July 2021, all Department of Home Affairs offices will be opened from 08h00 until 17h00 to fast track the processing of identity document applications and to ensure that all persons who are legible to vote are not excluded from participating in the next upcoming local government elections.”
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Voting is absolutely important, especially during this time where so much seems to be going wrong. We have to stop complaining and tweeting. Staying passive makes no difference and we have to push for change for the future of our children and our livelihoods. So, we support that they are making it possible for people to have that voice.
We hope the "system won't be down" when these strategies have to start being implemented in the different provinces! With the new private IT provider Motsoaledi shares will be coming through for long, that might be old news.
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