Long queues caused by “false information”

What is happening at the newly built offices of the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) in Louis Trichardt?

Questions were put to the DHA’s provincial office after hundreds of people from all over the Vhembe district flocked to the Makhado Home Affairs office in Anderson Street, most of them just sitting outside in the parking lot for days on end. Most of the residents are pensioners who had either applied for their new Smart ID cards, or had applied for the cards and came to collect them. Since the opening of the office in March this year, very few people have received their new ID cards.  

Limpopo Mirror have been tracking the situation at the Makhado office for the past two months while awaiting a response from the DHA on several media questions put to them during October. Initially, the DHA’s provincial office was approached, after Ms Sue Rose of Louis Trichardt asked the newspaper to get involved. She claimed that she went to the office to apply for the new Smart ID Card for herself and her husband in September. They are both pensioners and naturalized South African citizens - Sue by descent and her husband by naturalisation - and like all other pensioners, approached their local office to handle the application in the month of their birthday.

Following countless emails to the local and provincial office managers, the Rose couple was informed that theirs was a special case and that the system was not ready to process their application for the new ID card.

This was confirmed by the DHA Vhembe District Manager of Operations, Mr Naledzani Mukwevho, this week. “It is not legislation. It is a technical issue. The way the system is designed [it] cannot process applications by naturalised citizen[s]. A process is underway to accommodate this type of application,” said Mukwevho in an email to the newspaper.

What upset the couple was that the Makhado DHA office was inaccessable. They had to stand in queues, sometimes not even in the offices but outside, without being assisted.

As the weeks turned into months it became clear that not only the Roses were having trouble. The newspaper was able to determine that the Makhado office only helped those people who showed up first. People would be let into the office, until it was filled to capacity, and then the doors would be shut, only letting people from outside in if a consultant became available. Most days, this meant that the office worked until the evenings to assist the people still inside the office, leaving those outside to come back again the following day.

The situation has escalated to such an extent that a mini-market is now operating outside of the offices. For the last two weeks, vendors have been travelling to the Makhado offices to sell their goods to waiting pensioners.

Waiting pensioners pay up to R50 or more to come to the office by taxi and return home without being assisted. Mrs Sarah Ratshichakhelwa and her friends travel to the office at least once a week to try and collect their Smart ID Cards. They, like most of their fellow queuers, are worried that if they do not get the new card by the end of this year, they will be unable to collect their grants and pensions.

The DHA finally broke their silence this week and said that pensioners had been led astray by false information.

Mukwevho indicated that this was also the reason why people have crowded in front of the Makhado office. “The turn-up at Makhado has been extremely high, due to false information about the imminent cut-off date for pensioners. The Makhado office has embarked on an outreach campaign to inform pensioners that their current documents are valid for the entire seven-year [phasing-out] period. Pensioners were also informed that they need to apply in the month of their birth. This will limit the numbers as pensioners currently come to apply at any time, even if it is not the month in which they were born,” said Mukwevho in his press statement.

Mukwevho also reassured local residents that, even though they might struggle to get hold of their new ID card, their current green ID book will remain valid. “There is no link whatsoever between the Smart ID and SASSA grants, beside the normal function of identification. People will still be able to receive grants and pensions,” said Mukwevho.

Date:13 November 2014

By: Isabel Venter

Isabel joined the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror in 2009 as a reporter. She holds a BA Degree in Communication Sciences from the University of South Africa. Her beat is mainly crime and court reporting.

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