Home Affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi says that his department will ramp up services in the coming months in preparation for the local government elections.

Home Affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi says that his department will ramp up services in the coming months in preparation for the local government elections.
Answering in a written parliamentary Q&A, Motsoaledi said that Home Affairs will prioritise its services to those who have applied for their identity documents ahead of the general elections by issuing election enabling documents – such as identity documents and temporary identification certificates – on the spot to those whose identity documents are lost.
Motsoaledi said that his department has also developed a specific ID distribution strategy which will see several improvements, including:

• Provinces will deploy mobile units for people to collect their green barcoded identity books.

• 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.

Motsoaledi said that Home Affairs also plans to extend its operational hours during the voter’s 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.”
General improvements planned
Motsoaledi has also said that his department is looking at making long-term improvements to Home Affairs system by shifting to a private IT provider.
Presenting to the National Council of Provinces at the start of June, Motsoaledi said that the IT services provided by SITA were the original sin of Home Affairs.
He said that while other government departments may be somewhat affected by problems at SITA, it has a crippling impact on Home Affairs.
We have actually identified why SARS doesnt have systems down – its because it has been exempted from getting these services through SITA and we are working with Treasury to do that,” he said.
Motsoaledi said that they visited SITAs headquarters in Centurion and met with all the IT companies in South Africa that are capable of providing the necessary services.
IBM, EOH – later replaced by Gijima – BBD and D, Shannon, you name them. We even called their CEOs to sit there and help us resolve this IT system the original sin of Home Affairs.
Read: Ramaphosa and NCCC to discuss a move to higher lockdown level in South Africa