Corruption at Joburg’s
Harrison Street Home Affairs office: Paying your way to the front of
the queue
18 Feb 2022 – Daily
Maverick
The Home Affairs department
is notorious for corruption — for its officials who abuse their positions for
‘cold drink money’. Last week, after hearing complaints from people in Soweto,
Maverick Citizen columnist Tshabalira Lebakeng visited the department’s offices
in central Johannesburg. This is what he found.
On Wednesday, 9 February
2022, there was a fight between the people and the security at the Home Affairs
office in Harrison Street, Johannesburg, due to bribes over the buying of
services.
A gentleman who was there
told me that a Xhosa-speaking woman was very vocal in raising her concerns, but
was not taken seriously. They complained that since the morning, a security
guard had been writing ID numbers in a book and openly taking R200 from
frustrated customers.
In the afternoon, the line
came to a standstill and only those whose names were in the book were allowed
inside. That’s when all hell broke loose and customers manhandled the guard. He
dropped the book, spilling R200 notes onto the ground, and then ran away. The
other security guards claimed not to know him, even though he was wearing the
same uniform.
When I visited the line on
Friday, a man I interviewed told me that “a man wearing private clothes was
writing on a piece of paper and he came to me and asked for R100”. The man told
him the strategy is to frustrate the customers so that they buy a number and
then give it to clerks inside to process and call them to sign.
The question asked by
people in the queue is: Is it true that the system is slow or is it being
manipulated? How different is the system from the one at Maponya Mall? How long
will it take to be like this? Is the head office aware of this problem? The
staff are saying they should be paid overtime so that they can work late, but
are they also manipulating the system?
Security officers at the
entrance to the offices. Many people allege that paying a bribe (so-called
‘cold drink money’) is the only way to get service.
On Friday, I rushed to see
the disgrace of the Harrison Street Home Affairs office. When I got there, I
saw a young student who was wearing her school uniform. She was standing in
this long line. The sun was hot like hell. She didn’t have an umbrella to
protect herself.
I asked her how long she’s
been waiting to go in. She told me she’s been there since seven in the morning.
I asked her if the officials saw her, because she’s supposed to be in school. I
was asking her that question because students, senior citizens, newborn babies’
mothers and disabled people should be the first priority.
The young student told me
that the officials told her “all people are the same”.
When I looked in that line,
there were ladies being cooked by the sun with their babies. A
45-year-old gentleman was holding a small piece of paper. He came to me
and asked if I’m from a newspaper.
He told me he’s from
Noordgesig in Soweto and has been “running up and down to these hell offices”.
He told me he just came to collect his ID. But he’s not getting it because at
any time the officials will cut the line whenever they want. He says he used
his R350 grant money for transport to travel up and down. He is hungry, but he
can’t get food because he doesn’t know if he will be helped or he will be
coming back tomorrow.
I saw a 30-year-old man
sitting on the pavement with his head resting on his hand and asked him, “Indoda
ayihlali kanjalo kubuhlungu kuphi?” (“A man is not sitting like that… what
is wrong?”)
He replied, “Grootman,
ngithole itoho manje lezinja zingifuna imali ye coldrinki ukuze zingifohlise
ngizoyi thathaphi njengo nginjena anginalutho.” (“My brother, I got a small
job. But these dogs, they want cold drink money to put me at the front of the
line. I don’t know if I should go home or wait for another three hours. I am
from Tembisa. It’s a lot of money to come here. If I leave now, I won’t be able
to come back tomorrow. Maybe if we can give back the power to the white people.
Black people are playing and abusing their power.”
I also found a 62-year-old
woman from Diepkloof and her 24-year-old daughter in the line. Her daughter
told me she had been coming here for four days to collect her ID.
On day one, they told her
they couldn’t find her ID. On the second day, the officials stopped the line
when she was about to go in and told her and other people they must come the
next morning. The same thing happened on the third day and so on up to the
fifth day.
The sun, it’s hot and
they’re hungry.
Her mother was angry — very
angry. “The government is treating South Africans like kaka. (My daughter) is
getting taxed R5,000 a month, but this is the rubbish customer service she gets
from the criminals who call themselves the government.
“If the system crashes
every day, it shows the government is failing to provide for its people. If the
minister can’t do his job, he must go home and sleep — he is old. If Motsoaledi
[the Minister of Home Affairs] can’t help us, he must give other people a
chance to work. Our government, what they know is how to eat and misuse the
money.”
Cold drink money
She went on: “Listen, my
son, these officials don’t hesitate to come to us outside here and ask for cold
drink money. They know that no one will arrest them. They should be
ashamed of themselves. You can ask anyone here… they will tell you about cold
drink money.”
Next, I went to a group of
young people who were talking among themselves. I asked them about cold drink
money. They told me the security guard came to them and said that “if they want
to go inside they must have R100 for each person”.
They told the man he must
go to hell — they don’t have money.
They told me that Indians
and foreign nationals pay because they have the money and they get help on
time. They told me they witnessed Indians paying as a group and being picked
from the line and going straight to the door.
The young people told me
some of them are from the Vaal, Sebokeng, and others from Orange Farm and
Soweto. Transport is very expensive and they don’t have money to pay
bribes.
They said that on Thursday
morning at 8.30, officials told them they were cutting the line because it was
full inside and the system was slow. They were surprised because the offices
had only just opened.
The lucky few — those who
managed to get to the front of the queue inside the Home Affairs office in
Harrison Street, Johannesburg. (Photo: Tshabalira Lebakeng)
“What is working here is
R100 or R200. If you don’t have that money? You will stand here in the sun or
in the rain.”
They said the security
guards had told them to wake up at 3am. They must be in the first 100 in the
line. If they come at 5am, they won’t get in.
I went up to the security
guard and pretended I was there to collect an ID. He said I must wait for my
chance to come in. I told him my boss wants my ID and that if I don’t have it
by tomorrow I will lose my job. He said I must come tomorrow at 3am, like the
others, if I want to be number one.
Then I asked the guard if I
could see the manager. He opened the door and I went inside. Another security
took me to the supervisor. I introduced myself. He told me he is not supposed
to talk to journalists, but what he can say is that there are thousands of IDs
to be given to people, so they can’t help more than that.
When I asked about cutting
off the line in the early hours of the morning, he said “I’m going deep now, I
should go”.
I think that “cold drink
money” fuels xenophobia because South Africans think that foreign nationals get
helped faster when they have money and they are more respected than they are.
If you are number one in the line, an official comes and handpicks 10 people
who are behind you and helps them. You are left standing with your number one:
that’s more than humiliation — it’s nonsense.
If hundreds of people are
shouting about corruption and cold drink money, it shows that Harrison Street
Home Affairs is corrupt. The media is needed to stop corruption there.
It was a horror to see
senior citizens fried by the sun. Newborn babies cooked by the sun. We can’t
sit and watch government departments playing merry-go-round when they are
supposed to help the people who are voting for them.
Who should be arrested for
corruption — the minister or his staff? Motsoaledi, do your job or go to sleep.
Give other kids a chance to do better.
Despite attempts to get
comment from the Department of Home Affairs and promises to respond by 5pm on
15 February, none was forthcoming on 15 February at 9pm. We commit to publish
any response that is sent to us after publication.
The Department of Home
Affairs’s spokesperson Siya Qoza responded on 16 February: The Department did receive
complaints from the public about allegations of bribery in Harrison Office in
Johannesburg. These allegations linked this practice to some homeless people
selling queue tickets in the early hours of the morning.
In the short-term, the Department has asked the security company looking
after the office to have visibility from 05:00 in order to mitigate against
selling of tickets. That office has designed tickets with special features
including different colours such that everyday a different type of ticket is
issued after the opening of the office for the day. This makes tickets issued
by this syndicate irrelevant and unusable.
In addition, the Department has the Counter Corruption Branch which
investigates and brings to book all officials who are alleged of wrongdoing.
They operate in all areas of Home Affairs and an office such as the one on
Harrison Street has attracted their attention.
We encourage members of the public to report wrongdoing to the Department of
Home Affairs Counter Corruption Hotline on 012 406 71 88 or send an email
to report.corruption@dha.gov.za.
They can also contact the National Anti-Corruption Hotline on 0800 701 701
Any person visiting a Home Affairs office can ask to speak to the office
manager. The pictures, names and phone numbers of office managers are posted on
noticeboards inside our offices.
www.samigration.com
