My government at work

I recently had the opportunity to experience, first hand, Home Affairs' digitisation process at work. Actually, this was my second such experience of how IT is making government work better for its people.

Simply, whatever IT is at hand is really not making my life - or anyone else's for that matter - any easier.

This Saturday was the second day I had taken time out to drive 20km to meet up with the queue-for-you-so-you-don't-have-to people. It's not as great as it sounds. Admittedly, I made it out there in 45 minutes and didn't have to take a sleeping bag.

I'm not sure if the first lot of forms went missing at the hands of the Home Affairs staff, or whether they just didn't make it that far. This time, however, I made pretty sure the pseudo queue person handed them in and got an official receipt.

I do know that the forms never made it into Home Affairs' system. As the original queue-in-my-stead person has since left that company, I have my doubts that I can blame Home Affairs for this one, this time.

Whatever IT is at hand is really not making my life any easier.

Nicola Mawson, senior journalist, ITWeb

Anyway, as best I can work out, Home Affairs still works on a complicated paper system. The process is simple: you stand in the queue to get forms. You need one form for each application - so you cannot tick multiple boxes and save time. Then, you beg, borrow or steal a pen, which will either run dry or spray ink all over you.

Following this, you stand in another queue to hand over your hard-earned dosh. In my case, being the victim of theft, I had to fill in an affidavit and hand over double the amount of an ordinary application.

Then, despite Home Affairs having completed its digitisation of fingerprints process, and the fact that the teller can see I have previously had a passport issued - so my prints must be among those captured - I stand in another queue to have my thumb smeared with ink.

So, in all of this, where is the digitisation? With nothing to whittle away the time except stare blankly at the walls, I spotted it. An SMS facility. The status of your application for a passport, or your marital status, can be determined by sending a text message.

This, you see, is how I discovered the original application never made it to Home Affairs in the first place. The status of the latest application? No idea, I'm too scared to look.

Of course, I can't spot this number on its Web site, nor does the search function work, which gives me little hope for a truly digital experience with my government.

What I - and I'm sure hundreds of other citizens - would like to see is an online application system. The only reason one has to go into Home Affairs and sit on those painful benches in the drab grey room is because of fingerprints.

Ah, but there are such things as biometric readers. Why is there not a system that would allow me to log on, with a thumbprint, apply, e-mail a photograph, and pay via electronic transfer?

Of course, even if we got this far, I'd still have to go to the Post Office to collect the passport, and my dream concept does not mean that "paperwork" will not get lost. This is, after all, government we are talking about here.