Stellenbosch waiting game —
Is this among the worst Home Affairs offices in South Africa?
07 May 2022 – Daily Maverick
In a relatively well-run town
like Stellenbosch in the Western Cape, its Home Affairs is close to collapse,
reportedly operating with a staff capacity of less than 15%. The office shares
consistent problems with other Home Affairs offices across the country.
It is
11.16 am and exhaustion hangs in the air. Many people have been in the line
that snakes around the Stellenbosch Home Affairs office for almost four hours.
Those
sitting at the front arrived at 7am, but haven’t moved an inch since the doors
opened an hour and a half later. Being at the front of this line doesn’t offer
anyone hope. There are no indications that the end is in sight.
There are
almost 20 people inside the office. But “who knows what time they came,” a
woman, who asked to be known as LJ, says while standing in the ID and passport
queue. “Everyone’s time is worth more than standing in a Home Affairs line, no
matter what you have to do.”
According
to the auditor-general report 2020/21, Stellenbosch is one of the better-run
towns in the country, but it is not spared from the problems at its Home
Affairs offices experienced across the country
A series
of questions to Home Affairs Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi on 25 February, from
Democratic Alliance (DA) constituency head for Stellenbosch Municipality Leon
Schreiber, led the minister to admit that the Stellenbosch Home Affairs office
is close to outright collapse.
Two major
issues, among other problems, cripple this particular office: it is heavily
understaffed and the building and surroundings where people must stand to queue
are unkept and a health hazard.
Staff
shortages are part of a nationwide problem, with Motsoaledi replying to queries
in March this year that shortages are a result of continuous budget cuts from
the National Treasury.
The
department requested an additional R266-million for employment compensation
from the Treasury to fill 762 vacant posts (427 for civic services, 328 for
immigration services and seven for information services), according to its
annual performance presentation plan on 26 April.
According
to the Department of Home Affairs’ Annual Report 2020/2021, staff shortages
were one of the fundamental and unsolved issues it faced in strategically
managing long queues. Shortages were also flagged for hampering service
delivery in the department’s annual report 2008/2009.
A pipe has been leaking from the
bathroom at the Home Affairs office for months. Something is yet to be done
about this health hazard. (Photo: Rebecca Pitt)
At the
Stellenbosch Home Affairs office, people must stand amid a growing stench that
comes from a leaking bathroom pipe just a few feet from the queue. Cigarette
butts, dirt, and even an old nappy litter the area.
No chairs are provided for people
as they wait. They have to sit in an area littered with dirt. (Photo: Rebecca
Pitt)
Some of
the unprepared must sit on this ground because there are no chairs provided.
But by
the looks of it, most of the 40 or so people who stand outside have not walked
into this blind. People sit on camping chairs brought from home, some with
laptops out for work while others are attending their lectures online. Some
have taken the day off and brought a book with them to pass the time — any
attempt to make this stakeout comfortable.
Others
gawk around, suffering absolute boredom — a waste of a day. People question why
the hassle, apart from biometrics, cannot be done online
in 2022.
A
spirited joke makes its way around the queue: “If only they had put out
a food stand here, they would make a lot more money! They may as well
have made it lekker”.
Defeated
laughter goes around in response because everyone here knows they will be stuck
in this line for the day. Some might need to come back tomorrow too.
Near collapse
According
to Schreiber, the office should have 41 officials working at the office to tend
to the needs of the community.
“The
office currently only has six staff members, meaning that it is operating at
only 14% of its capacity,” said Schreiber. On two visits to the office, Daily
Maverick saw only four officials at work.
An admin
clerk working at the Stellenbosch Home Affairs office, who asked not to be
named to protect her job, told Daily Maverick that, “there are only four
of us here a day and when two of us are sick, then it is chaotic and
impossible”.
According
to Schreiber, the DA will “shortly launch a formal petition to Parliament
calling for the Stellenbosch Home Affairs office to be fully capacitated”.
“[Once
submitted, it] will force the Department of Home Affairs to appear before
Parliament and account for the way in which they have let down the people of
Stellenbosch,” Schreiber says.
According
to Leslie Williams, manager at the Stellenbosch Home Affairs office, between
300 and 400 people queue there daily. “It differs,” he says. The office — only
406 square metres in area, is also four times too small to properly serve the
community.
“I don’t
even think they get to 100 people — no way they service so many — never,”
says Cecile Pienaar, standing in the queue since 8:15 am.
Some
people are so frustrated that they are willing to step in to alleviate the
pressure.
“If they
are really so understaffed, open up doors for employment… I’ll even step in and
work here — I’ll do it now,” said Abbalisha Pearce.
Pearce’s
husband, Brendon Pearce, adds, “what happens now at 3:30 [pm] when the office
closes? They are going to go home even if we are still standing here. They
aren’t going to stay here.”
A few
people have strategically come to this office, avoiding the Paarl and Bellville
offices, only to find that similar issues prevail.
By 11am, a notice had gone up
that the office had reached full capacity. (Photo: Rebecca Pitt)
At around
11am, a sign goes up near the end of the line, stating that the office has
reached full capacity. Anyone coming later than 11am would need to come back
another day.
For a
substantial period between 8.30 am, when the office opens, and midday, the
system is offline.
“Not one
official came out to inform us [at the back] what is happening, it would be
hugely helpful if they did,” said a man, who asked to be referred to only as
Marius, standing in the queue with his daughter, who should be in school.
Someone
in the line had to go into the office to ask what was happening to find out
that the system was offline.
Only the
people at the front of the queue were told when they arrived that the system
was offline.
“There
was hope, and then I was quickly disappointed,” said Jesse Jones, who had been
in line for his passport since 7am.
Jesse Jones came from Woodstock
to the Stellenbosch Home Affairs office. He arrived at 7am, but still wasn’t
inside the office by noon. (Photo: Rebecca Pitt)
According
to the admin clerk at the office, this is the norm. It takes about 15 minutes
to open a document on the system.
What’s new?
When
people in line eventually hear that the system is offline, no one moves. “That
shows you that people are used to the system not working, but they have invested
this time now to come here,” said a woman who didn’t want to be named.
After
12pm, cheers are heard from the queue. The system has come back online; someone
has checked on their phone.
According
to Ceinwen Smith, standing in the queue “hopefully” for both her ID and
passport, it seems as if the staff’s hands are tied. “They are not given agency
to do anything. That just speaks to the whole system.”
This was
especially true for the leaking pipe coming from the bathroom. According to the
admin clerk, it has been leaking for months.
“We have
been complaining about this [to the Department of Home Affairs and Public
Works] over and over again,” she said. Nothing has been done. When Daily
Maverick asked, “why not call a plumber?”, she shrugged.
Most of the toilet handles at the
Stellenbosch Home Affairs office are broken, leaving water to run continuously.
(Photo: Rebecca Pitt)
Small
problems that could easily be fixed, like toilets continually leaking water
because handles are absent or broken, persist.
Additionally,
none of the toilet doors at the office — excluding those that weren’t out of
order — could be locked.
“You feel
unsafe because the toilets are unisex,” Smith says.
Nicola
Pretorius, waiting to get her son’s passport, shares Smith’s
disappointment.
Nicola Pretorius says ‘surely we
can work on a better system in 2022’. (Photo: Rebecca Pitt)
“There is
no attempt to make this situation any better,” she says. Pretorius is
working as she waits, with her power bank at hand.
“This is
where we interact with our government,” Pretorius says. “If this is how they
treat the people of South Africa, it doesn’t offer any hope.”
By
1.10pm, the queue outside hadn’t moved. The doors would close at 3.30pm.
The
Stellenbosch Home Affairs office is under the custodianship of the Department
of Public Works and Infrastructure.
According
to Thami Mchunu, spokesperson at the Department of Public Works and
Infrastructure, the department is unaware of the infrastructure issues,
including the leaking bathroom pipe, at the Stellenbosch Home Affairs
office.
“The
department will, however, investigate and attend to the matter now that it has
been brought under its attention,” Mchunu said. DM
The
Department of Home Affairs had more than a week to respond to Daily Maverick’s queries, with
five follow-up prompts, none of which yielded a result.
Leslie
Williams, manager at the Stellenbosch Home Affairs office, declined to give an
official comment, but said: “People inform us of the problems, and we are aware
of it. We take it up to the next level — the ones we cannot deal with.
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