Parliament, Tuesday, 25 March 2025 – The Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration on Tuesday expressed shock and dismay at the state of the Rustenburg Home Affairs office and called for urgent intervention.
The committee is on a week-long oversight visit to the North West and Gauteng provinces to assess the state of public services and where intervention and support are needed.
On Tuesday, the committee wrapped up the North West leg of its oversight visit at the Rustenburg Home Affairs office. Witnessing the queues and the state of the building first-hand, the committee raised serious concerns. Members heard that from 3 February 2025 until 25 February, the Rustenburg Home Affairs offices had 50 hours and 25 minutes lost due to systems being down. Reasons for this downtime included the photo booth being offline frequently and the live capture system being offline.
Committee Chairperson Mr Jan de Villiers said, “It is an absolute shock to see how many hours you lose not being able to serve people because the systems are down. This compounds all the issues we saw relating to services to people.” Noting the planned digitisation efforts for the Department of Home Affairs, he stated that there is a fundamental problem with the way the IT system operates and how the software functions. “We are also conscious of the fact that this is one of the new Minister of Home Affairs’ targets to fix and we would like to emphasise our support to have the current IT system completely reformed. We look forward to seeing Home Affairs at home, where South Africans can digitally access Home Affairs services from a phone or laptop, in the convenience of their home.”
Security and safety were also flagged as a considerable challenge. Members heard that the location of the Home Affairs office compromises the safety of officials, clients, and government assets, as it is situated next to a taxi rank and liquor outlets. Frequent burglaries have also been reported. The committee was also informed that the building, which Home Affairs leases, is not compliant with occupational health and safety (OHS) standards and that the public and staff feel unsafe. Staff and asset safety are a concern due to the lack of burglar-proofing in the building.
The committee observed that the building requires urgent maintenance and heard that the landlord does not address complaints. The lift broke down in 2023 and remains non-operational. The building is also not accessible to people with disabilities. Members also heard that there are no pest control services, and staff have battled infestations of rats, cockroaches, pigeons, and bats.
The committee was of the view that, apart from the fact that the Home Affairs office is in a multilevel building on a busy street, it is not ideal for providing services to Home Affairs customers. Furthermore, it is not just unsuitable but also poses a danger to the public and staff.
“Surely staff cannot be motivated to work when they are exposed to health and safety risks in just trying to get to their offices,” said the Chairperson. Noting plans are underway to relocate the offices to a shopping mall about five kilometres away, the Chairperson assured the management at the office that the committee would bring the safety concerns to the minister's attention for urgent intervention.
“The committee will ask for the urgent finalisation of the relocation of the office as safety is the primary issue. Many issues can still be resolved in time, but the safety issue is an urgent matter, and the committee acknowledges the urgency.”
Today, Wednesday, the committee will engage with senior management in the Gauteng provincial administration at the Premier’s Office. The administration will brief the committee on human resources, including the qualifications of senior management and disclosure frameworks, among other topics.
ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SERVICE AND ADMINISTRATION, MR JAN DE VILLIERS.
For media enquiries or interviews with the Chairperson, please contact the committee’s media officer:
Name: Alicestine October (Ms)
Cell: 083 665 4345
E-mail: aoctober@parliament.gov.za
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