Home Affairs doesn’t hate you. It’s worse than that

Fin 24 – 19-04-2022

Instead of being at the heart of a functioning state, Home Affairs has been a joke, for a very long time. The consequences cannot be more serious, writes Helena Wasserman.

Here’s a South African story (privileged edition).

My son turned 16 and we decided to apply for an ID and passport.

Trying to avoid the long queues at Home Affairs in Cape Town, we travelled an hour to a nearby town to apply for his documents there. We arrived at 06:00, where a line of freezing people, including many mothers cradling newborns who needed to get registered, were already waiting in the dark.

After more than five hours in line, we found out that his application was in digital purgatory – because we started the process online via a bank, Home Affairs couldn't finalise it. Or something like that.

We applied to have the online application deleted, waited a couple of weeks, and then drove to the town again, this time making sure that we were in the queue long before 06:00. After another few hours in line, the application was finalised.

In less than a week, we got a notification that the passport could be collected at Cape Town Home Affairs. We never received official confirmation that his ID was ready.

Life in line

During the school holidays, we would drop our son in the morning, where he would stand in the "collections line" for eight hours. Every day, hundreds of people waited outside the doors of Home Affairs. When the office started to close in the afternoon, scenes of utter desperation played out, where people - who have travelled far and have been waiting for the entire day - would push to get closer to the front doors, frantic to be allowed in.

One afternoon, after the line didn’t move at all for a few hours, a Home Affairs official emerged with the news that one of the two computers for collections wasn’t working and the other had to be rebooted every time a collection was made, so it was also taken offline so it could be investigated. When asked why there were only two computers to service hundreds of people, he lost his temper.

This was the closest to communication we got from Home Affairs during those days of queueing. There was no ticketing or booking system, no way of knowing whether standing all day in queue would be in vain.

At times it almost felt like Home Affairs was waging an active, hateful campaign against its citizens, but of course the truth is worse than that: there is complete indifference.

From what we could see, there was no indication that any part of its bureaucratic machine was aimed at making things easier, especially for those most vulnerable.  

School term started, and my son returned to wait in line after school. It soon became clear that he would never get inside the building before closing time. In the end, we had to take him out of school, twice, before he finally got his documents.

In all, to get an ID, he stood in a queue for 28 hours.

We were extremely lucky.

We didn’t have to travel that far to Home Affairs, and could afford to return, repeatedly. We even had the resources to go to another town where there were shorter queues. Importantly, also, for us the ID and passport are nice-to-haves – while tens of millions of South Africans are dependent on these documents for social grants, their sole source of income. (Also, in truth, the 16-year-old had the time of his life in line, talking soccer with strangers during school hours, and loving all the drama and wild rumours about what was going on inside the building.)

While from the outside it looks like Home Affairs is suffering a new and serious breakdown, it has always been a source of misery (and the butt of endless jokes) among its citizenry, even as we have done our bit. Apart from enduring impossible queues, almost R9 billion of taxpayer money goes to Home Affairs - the biggest chunk paid on salaries - and the amount has been rising in recent years. This, while the number of ID smart cards issued every year have fallen since 2018, and despite recurring IT system failures, the department couldn’t get it together to appoint a chief information officer for more than six years.

Its shortcomings have serious consequence for especially its poorest citizens, who depend on it for everything from their income, getting a job or a vehicle licence, and gaining access to education and writing matric exams. 

And now, of course, its dysfunction over many decades has played a key part in creating our current xenophobia crisis.

Lawless immigration environment

Home Affairs is supposed to provide a legal pathway for those from other countries who want to settle here. But it has failed.

Take for example, applications for permanent residency. Despite a massive backlog, Home Affairs simply refused any applications since March 2020 until January this year. So, for almost two years, there has been no legal route to apply to stay in the country. (Also, just for appeals in the refugee application process, there is a backlog of 123 500 people.)

Over many years, with its lack of a functional, affordable system to grant work permits or legal leave to stay in South Africa to Africans who don’t have priority skills – along with its failure to govern our border posts - Home Affairs has contributed to a lawless immigration environment.

Knowing there is basically no legal route open to them, people from other countries have established their lives here over decades in the only way open to them: without documents.

Now, the police are hounding them for papers government knows full well they were never able to get.

They have also become an easy ticket for political parties and vigilante groups – who lack the imagination to come up with real solutions to structural problems – to round up populist support.

It is rich of President Cyril Ramaphosa to condemn xenophobic attacks, while his government just stood by as the department failed at its task of providing immigrants with a way to make a legal life here for many years.

It should be at the very heart of a functional state. Instead, Home Affairs has been a joke - for a very long time. The consequences cannot be more serious

www.samigration.com 

Hundreds of illegal immigrants arrested at Beitbridge Border Post

ENCA - 19 Apr 2022

Government is waging a war against illegal immigrants coming into the country. Over 200 Zimbabwean nationals were arrested at the Beitbridge Border Post. This is as Home Affairs cracks down on illegal crossings between South Africa and Zimbabwe. eNCA's Manqoba Mchunu was there.

 

Courtesy #DStv403

www.samigration.com

 

 

Man arrested for running ‘home affairs’ office from flat in Hillbrow

The Citizen – 19 April 2022

Documents found included more than 95 South African ID books, birth certificates and passports.

A 47-year-old Zimbabwean man was arrested after police found a fully functioning “department of home affairs” in his flat in Hillbrow, Johannesburg.

Gauteng provincial commissioner Lt-Gen Elias Mawela said police were patrolling the streets of Hillbrow when a community member tipped them off about a man producing fraudulent identity documents and passports.

When police searched the man’s flat they found documents that include more than 95 South African identity documents, birth certificates, smart identity cards, passports, bank statements, Covid-19 certificates, work permits, police firearm licence competency certificates, Sassa cards, bank cards and other essential documents.

“The suspect was immediately arrested and charged with fraud. There is a possibility that more charges will be added pending the investigation,” said Mawela.

Mawela also thanked the community for providing the information that led to the arrest.

“I would like to thank the community members who continue to be the eyes and ears of the police. As much as we have intensified police visibility on the streets, we still rely on information from the community about the crimes taking place indoors,” he said.

“This arrest is attributed to community members who would not allow crime to be committed under their watch,” he added.

Immigration officer nabbed

The arrest in Hillbrow comes after Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi revealed earlier this week that an immigration officer at OR Tambo International Airport was arrested for allegedly helping Bangladeshi illegal foreign nationals get into South Africa without legal documents.

Motsoaledi told eNCA the syndicate involves a runner who recruits Bangladeshi nationals who do not qualify to visit South Africa, and also members of an airline, to help them enter the country illegally.

He said the operation is coordinated by a kingpin, who charges foreign nationals R110,000.

An airline employee then smuggles the foreign nationals by either providing false names of the passengers or excluding them from the list of travellers, Motsoaledi said.

www.samigration.com

 

Refugees hope the end of state of disaster will ease their problems with Home Affairs

Weekend Argus 19 Apr 2022

Cape Town - The termination of the National State of Disaster is a light at the end of the tunnel for refugees and asylum seekers struggling with the online extension system implemented by the Department of Home Affairs (DHA).

Following the president’s announcement of the end of the national state of disaster last week, head of strategic litigation and advocacy at the UCT Refugee Rights clinic Sally Gandar said this was good news for refugees and asylum seekers as the termination would enable refugee reception offices (RROs) across the country to promptly resume the full services that were on halt for the past two years.

Despite the online renewal system that enabled refugees and asylum seekers to renew their documentation, the UCT Refugee Rights Clinic continued to see individuals on a daily basis who were experiencing issues with the system.

The lack of a full range of services at RROs across the country became a concern as no new asylum applications were able to be lodged during that period, as well as services for those whose documentation expired prior to the national state of disaster being declared. This created barriers for those trying to access rights and services such as accessing bank accounts, traffic/vehicle registration services and in some incidences, employers insisted on a renewed document in order for the individual to continue working.

With various challenges experienced, refugee status holder Alfonse Ilunga said till this day, he is waiting for DHA to get back to him on his request for renewal.

“I sent my application for renewal since November last year and till this day, I’ve yet to receive a response. This has been a tough time for me at my family because my boss let me go in January this year due to this. In order to make some sort of money, I turned to the e-haling business in order to put some food on the table.

“I know and understand that we are not South Africans, and to be quite honest, I know we will never be treated with the same dignity as a citizen, however I think it is important to understand and remember that we are all Africans first before we are anything else. Such nonchalant efforts to ensure that refugees and asylum seekers are legalised in the country gives birth to the man xenophobic fears and attacks we saw last week. This creates several issues and it feeds into the notion that there are several undocumented regress in South Africa, when the truth is, the people who suppose to give us the documentation that we need are staring at our emails, plea, outcry and complaints and are not addressing it.”

“I really hope that the termination the national state of disaster can bear fruit, and that there could be a light at the end of tunnel for various of refugees and asylum seekers who are trying to make an honest living in South Africa,” said Ilunga.

Gandar said: “We welcome the termination of the national state of disaster by the president, and hope that it will mean that all refugee reception centres across the country promptly resume a full suite of services as were offered prior to the declaration of the national state of disaster more than two years ago. This will go a long way to ensuring that asylum seekers and refugees can access effective protection and documentation in South Africa – which the SA government should be providing in terms of international law. We note that the civic services Home Affairs offices have been open to in-person services and mostly offer all services and have done so for many months even during the lockdown.It may also be prudent for the department to offer additional services or longer hours initially, as there may be some backlogs as a result of the closure of the offices for over two years.

“As there is likely a backlog in respect of new applicants as well as other services, we believe additional capacity and additional hours of service would be a useful way to start assisting persons who need services at RROs. We are aware that sometimes this could result in a systems overload at the Department – as has also been the case with civic Home Affairs at times – and so if there is a way to ensure that the systems are always online and or that there is a formal an official document that can be issued immediately to persons seeking assistance at RROs, while waiting for other processes to take place, we would highly recommend that such contingency measures are implemented.”

“In addition, the department needs to communicate broadly and effectively to all government and other stakeholders, including the general public, that there is a backlog which has resulted in people not having access to documentation or renewal services and such persons should not be penalised or arrested for this. The department should also communicated progress regularly so that all stakeholders are aware of the backlog and the department’s efforts to ensure those in such backlogs are assisted efficiently and effectively,” said Gandar.

While the department has not yet set a date on the reopening of the the RROs, spokesperson for Minister of Home Affairs Siya Qoza said that efforts are being made to resume full services.

“The DHA started with plans to resume full services at the Refugee Reception Centres before the president’s announcement.”

“At the heart of planning are the efforts to avoid overcrowding and stampede on the first few days, a careful approach is required to protect the clients. Once all necessary preparations are made, the department will communicate with the clients,” said Qoza.

www,samigration.com

 

 

We don’t have the capacity and resources, says Home Affairs Gauteng manager

IOL – 19 Apr 2022

Johannesburg - Department of Home Affairs Gauteng provincial manager Mamokubung Moroke admitted during the DA’s visit today to the Home Affairs office in the Johannesburg CBD that they lacked resources and capacity to handle the large number of people coming to the department.

This comes after DA leader John Steenhuisen led a DA delegation on an oversight inspection of the Home Affairs office in the Johannesburg CBD.

During the inspection, Steenhuisen said the department’s systems were broken, and they were not serving residents or immigrants who were trying to sort out their legal documents.

“The problem is with the Home Affairs Department. You can see the dysfunctionality, and I am glad the DA gets things done. We have two trucks here today that they sent because they knew we were coming,” he said.

While chatting to the individuals in the queue, the DA leader said he discovered that the queue usually runs down the street with no shelter and people have to pay up to R100 just to secure a place in the queue.

However, Gauteng DA leader Solly Msimanga said he was shocked to see the department’s trucks outside the building because normally there is nothing when he passes by.

“We were talking to a lady in a queue who has been here from 4am. Why does it have to take us coming here for her to get assistance, why does it have to be that way?

"We cannot live in a country where people only do their job because there is somebody else sitting in their background or watching them. People need to do their job each and every single day and take pride in that. This is why we have a country that is falling apart,” he maintained.

He also explained that they were going to reach the minister and find out the step that can be taken to ensure that the system does not go off-line.

According to the DA, their inspection today was to check if the systems were operating well and if people were being assisted in a good manner.

Philisiwe Khumalo, one of the people in the queue, said she had come to the department numerous times and still did not get the help she needed. “The problem is my ID, and when I come here, they say it’s not on the system and I should have had it for several months,” she said.

Addressing the media after meeting with the management, Steenhuisen said electronic systems should be introduced at Home Affairs, so that they would know who could enter the country and who could not.

“Our sympathies are with the Zimbabwean national who was killed last week in Diepsloot. That is the ultimate end where you misdirect the anger.

"The anger should be here at Home Affairs, outside the Union Buildings and Parliament because its government ministers are falling so fundamentally,” he said.

He said Operation Dudula and other operations would have devastating and dangerous consequences for South Africa.

www.samigration.com