The long and winding queue that greets motorists and passersby at the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) offices near the Vredenburg Magistrates’ Court may soon be a thing of the past.
Well, that is if the DHA’s plans materialise as set out in response to a Vredenburg resident’s complaint.
Although the resident, who wished to remain anonymous, acknowledged that DHA provided “a critical public service”, he sent them a complaint after a particularly long day in the sun, queueing outside the office on Wednesday 5 April.
He made valid points in his letter about starting queueing while still dark, around 06:00, and waiting around until told at 15:30 that everyone should leave and repeat the same process on another day. They have already received barcoded queue numbers and had their photographs taken, but despite this data already captured they were also told they would not receive any priority treatment to complete the process at any given time.
After hours had passed the resident was told the online DHA system was offline for at least two of those hours that day, and load shedding in the morning worsened the situation.
In response to the complaint, Irmgard Michaels, District Manager of Operations for the Cape Winelands and West Coast, on Monday 22 May said the Vredenburg office and all other offices in the province experienced systems problems on Wednesday 5 April, due to a fault at a State Information Technology Agency (Sita) switching centre.
She said this caused the office to be offline for two hours and 30 minutes and the system “being very slow through the day.” She also said the office manager was on sick leave. According to Michaels the acting office manager communicated these challenges to the clients, but acknowledged follow-up communication did not happen regularly.
The resident also mentioned “many elderly people and young mothers with babies spent the whole day in the heat without any shading, without being helped” and most of the people in the applications queue were not helped that day. Staff admitted to the resident that some people had to be shown away sometimes three days in a row. “Effectively a day of our time had been wasted, and we had nothing to show for it. Not even a fixed or guaranteed appointment date or time.”
According to Michaels, mothers with babies, persons with disabilities and older persons are prioritised at the office, which assisted 131 clients that day.
The resident also saw that individuals who had made prior appointments via the DHA Branch Appointment Booking System (BABS) received preferential treatment and could walk in, past the long queues, as scheduled. He did try to do this beforehand, but Vredenburg is not listed on the BABS system on the DHA website. The public therefore assumed they could not make an online appointment and their only choice was to be there early and get into the queue. Afterwards a security guard showed the resident one had to click on Cape Town to get to Vredenburg.
Michaels said the department implemented BABS to enable clients to book appointments at branches for ID smart card and passport applications.
“The Vredenburg office has been included; therefore, preference must be given in assisting booked clients. Due to the system challenges on Wednesday, 5 April, not all walk-in clients could be assisted.”
The resident also complained about the lack of public communication, notices, notice boards or announcements about online appointments at the Vredenburg branch, where to access it or how to use it. “Nobody communicated to the public in the queues about the challenges experienced during the day, the delays, or how long it could take.”
Michaels said she takes cognisance of the absence of information on BABS at the Vredenburg office. “Notices have since been posted at the office, and mini-information cards are now issued to awaiting clients,” she assured, adding that the errors on BABS would be corrected.
The resident especially identified the lack of a registration system for people queueing outside the branch before it opens as a huge problem.
“This creates uncertainty and frustration as the day goes by and people break the queue searching for shade.”
Michaels gave the assurance that the office was awaiting a tablet that would be used to assist clients in making bookings to increase access and promote BABS to decrease walk-in clients, enabling the office to cope more aptly with serving a manageable number of clients daily in line with the office’s capacity.
Michaels explained BABS is more effective than a manual register system, which will later be used only for the legacy systems in the office and the collection of documents, which is not catered for in BABS.
“Unfortunately, due to budgetary constraints, the complete renovations at the Vredenburg office could not be finalised, leaving the terrain and fencing to be done. As funds become available, this will be attended to. The office provides chairs for clients waiting outside to be seated.”
