Parliament, Thursday, 5 August 2021 – The Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs is satisfied with intervention measures implemented by the Department of Home Affairs following the violence and looting in both KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng. The committee concluded its oversight visit in the two provinces where it assessed the impact of the violence on service delivery and interventions implemented by government.
“We are comfortable with the measures put in place by the department especially the decision to move the registration of death service to the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital. The intervention ensures that services are rendered although not at the Bara Mall office,” said Mr Mosa Chabane, the leader of the delegation.
The committee reemphasises its condemnation of the violence and looting which has resulted in loss and damage of critical assets. The department reported that at the Bara Mall office 2 PCs, finer-print scanners, barcode scanners, router and damaging of electrical wiring were among the total decimation of the office.
While the committee acknowledged that the Bara Mall office was a small office intended to only render limited service, it remains concerned that the residents decided to vandalise and destroy infrastructure that serves them. “We can’t comprehend how such a decision was arrived at given that the very same community will be inconvenienced by the unavailability of those services,” Mr Chabane emphasised.
Regarding the reopening of the Bara Mall office which has ample space and infrastructure to enable social distancing, the committee is concerned by information that the community around the mall is impeding the refurbishment of the mall, and particularly the Home Affairs office.
The committee welcomed the intention by the department to make funding available for the refurbishment of the office to ensure that it reopens and renders services to the people.
In Mamelodi, the committee welcomed the assurance that vandalism was minimal and that services are being rendered as expected. “The provision of quality services to our people is our central preoccupation and we are satisfied with the assurances given by the department of services being delivered to the people,” Mr Chabane concluded.
ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE ACTING CHAIRPERSON OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON HOME AFFAIRS, MR MOSA CHABANE.
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