Crowds gather outside a Home Affairs office. System downtime ‘trebled’ at our branches within the last 10 months – Image via Facebook
Crowds gather outside a Home Affairs office. System downtime ‘trebled’ at our branches within the last 10 months – Image via Facebook
The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) has announced that offices will continue to offer essential services to citizens during the nationwide lockdown, with offices open for a limited time during the week.
The offices will be open between 10:00 and 14:00 from Monday to Friday all across the country, except for those offices that are located in government’s “one-stop-shop” Thusong Centres.
Limited documents available
Due to lockdown regulations, the offices will only be offering limited services that the department have deemed potentially “essential”.
Limited services on offer include:
- Issuing of Temporary Identity Certificates;
- Issuing of Death Certificates and
- Re-issuing of Birth Certificates.
“The department extends its gratitude to Home Affairs officials who had continued to serve the nation with diligence and high morale during this difficult time of coronavirus.”
“Home Affairs urges all South African communities to be safe and to stay at home in support of the national effort to combat the spread of this deadly pandemic.”
Time to reconsider
The limited opening times were mentioned at the National Command Centre’s briefing on 25 March, with DHA Minister Aaron Motsoaledi insisting that beyond the essential documents, no service would be provided to citizens.
He reiterated that no passports would be issued because “there will be no movement”.
“Anyone needing cross border medical services during this period will need to make a special request with Home Affairs,” he said.
He joked that the time spent at home with your loved one, and the fact that your marriage certificate would remain pending in the interim, would give couples time to have a good, hard think about their decision.
“We won’t issue passports, we won’t issue new identity documents, we won’t issue new birth certificates; we won’t issue marriage certificates, new or old. You can wait until the 21 days. Maybe the 21 days will also give you time to think about whether you want to get married or not”.
