Parliament, Thursday, 17 April 2025 – The Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs, Mr Mosa Chabane, is alarmed to hear that the Barberton Home Affairs office has been closed, robbing clients in the area from the opportunity of accessing the Department of Home Affairs’ (DHA) services.
“From the information we have received, the local office was closed due to unions requesting security personnel at the office. It is alleged that employees are now refusing to report to the office before the offices are provided with security. It is unacceptable that the office can be closed for such a rudimentary issue as provision of security services, which should be standard at any governmental offices. Similarly, it is unacceptable that people have to spend their limited resources and time to go to the office only to find it closed or be redirected to other offices, which requires additional funds,” Mr Chabane said.
The committee will soon schedule a meeting with the Minister of Home Affairs to account for the closure of the Barberton office.
Meanwhile, the Chairperson also highlighted concerns about the persistent system downtime at DHA offices. During the committee’s nationwide public hearings on the Marriage Bill, the committee conducted various unannounced visit to DHA offices and the common challenge highlighted by clients was the persistent unavailability of the system, which impacts on services rendered.
“The committee was informed in the 6th Parliament that processes were underway to ensure that a piece of legislation was being considered to enable departments within the security cluster to be exempt from State Information Technology Agency (SITA) platforms, which have proved to be unreliable,” Mr Chabane said. The inability to bring this legislation to fruition is unacceptable and will exacerbate an already dire situation, which contributes to the erosion of trust between the department and the broader South African community who use the services of the DHA. The committee has invited the Minister of Home Affairs to brief the committee on the system downtime issue on Tuesday, 22 April 2025.
ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON HOME AFFAIRS, MR MOSA CHABANE.
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