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Home affairs shouldn't bother

If modernisation doesn't take the pain out of dealing with officialdom, then why did home affairs spend all that money?

Nicola Mawson
By Nicola Mawson, Contributor.
Johannesburg, 04 Feb 2015

The Department of Home Affairs is apparently making great progress in its modernisation plans, after a setback a few years ago over a legal wrangle with Gijima.

Since starting the process in 2013, it has equipped 110 of its 403 offices with live capture facilities, a figure set to grow to 140 by the next month. I was in one of those offices recently; the tech is pretty cool.

When you need a new passport, for example, the staff checks against the system to determine whether yours has expired. If it hasn't, the new one will cost twice as much when you move over to the payment counter. Sadly, they still don't accept plastic money, so don't forget to take cash.

Also, don't bother taking photographs with you; they shoot them digitally and capture your image before capturing your fingerprints and signature, and checking whatever documents are required. Sounds way better than the endless forms we all used to have to fill in.

Making life easier

Thanks to my trip into Edenvale, I recently became one of the one million South Africans who now has a smart ID card. And it was printed and issued pretty quickly too.

Home affairs embarked on its programme to modernise its systems, so we are told, "to enhance the services we offer to South Africa's citizens and other nationals in the country". It's certainly working as far as issuing documents goes: a passport can now be in your grubby paws in just over two weeks, while a spanking new smart ID takes a few days less than that.

Also, members of the public are efficiently informed via SMS when their documents are ready for collection. I can only assume this process is automated, because otherwise it would take the same amount of time as a passport is issued for the SMS to arrive.

Not so fast

As great as this whole costly process is, it has totally failed to enhance my life. Or any of the other people I spent hours chatting with while in the queue. But, home affairs has potentially created new job opportunities: for hawkers to mosey along outside the building and sell food, and sunscreen.

Sunscreen, because for some reason, the department's Edenvale office insists people queue outside until one of the inside chairs becomes available, and then the lucky person at the door gains entry and takes a seat. I read an entire book the other day, just waiting to collect my little card.

The process should be simple, but it isn't, and it requires taking off two days from work just to get it all done.

Here's a tip: don't lose your passport, ID book, smart card or any other official identifying document.

And so it was, after spending a grand total of six hours I'll never get back to apply for, and then receive, my ID book, I have to say the current R2.4 billion spent on the project was a total waste of money, and of decent tech.

Inefficient efficiency

And here's why:

When you get to the home affairs office, bright and early, before the birds are even awake, you stake out a position outside. There, you queue so you can be handed a little piece of paper at the door, one that asks you who you are, where you live and what you want.

After a few hours, you get to a counter, and your paper is checked against the system, where you are given a number. Queue to pay, queue to have a photo taken (this takes much longer when you take your little person along), queue again.

As great as this whole costly process is, it has totally failed to enhance my life. Or any of the other people I spent hours chatting with while in the queue.

At the final counter (thankfully), you are meant to hand over the plethora of documents the Web site says to take with (marriage certificate, divorce decree, proof of residence, affidavits, DNA sample...), have all your fingers, thumbs and palms scanned, sign the digital pad, and leave.

Here's the rub: just getting to that counter takes three hours. When I finally got to the end point, one of the counters was dealing with a queue jumper, and the other was vacant while its owner did something-or-other in the back office.

And, of course, while waiting for the system, which inevitably goes down a lot, I chatted to the man behind the PC. Apparently, his little set-up does not actually interface with the Hanis database; you know the one, where they keep all the fingerprints. So, no one actually checks that I am, in fact, me.

This is a problem. And it is compounded by the fact that no one actually checked the pile of paperwork I took with either. I could have simply announced I had lost my ID book, had no other identification, presented an affidavit, and voila, I could be whoever I want to be. Nice!

Actually getting the ID means coming back another day to spend another three hours - if I'm lucky - tanning. I think all that money spent on tech has totally gone to waste, simply because someone didn't spend the time to work out a proper flow chart. And this money - yet again - could have been better spent elsewhere.

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