Customers say they are fed up and tired of the bad service and the “horror of the system being offline” that they are constantly receiving at Tongaat Home Affairs offices.
DHA clients say that the poor customer service at the offices ranges from workers chatting to each other, using cellphones and not attending to them during work hours. They claim that all workers take breaks at the same time, leaving them unattended. The branch office is known for its failure to cope with a large number of clients as most are often sent home without being attended to.
Last week, Raphael Singh, a resident who took his nephew, who is doing Grade 12 to apply for his identity document (ID), said the lack of service was disgusting. “We were in the queue on Monday at about 5am. At 3pm, we were told through other clients that the system was offline. On Tuesday were told to come back on Wednesday as system was offline. On the next day, it was same story of the system being down again,” he said.
Singh claimed that workers were not taking their work seriously. “The workers are taking a break at same time, which is something I had never seen before. The service at the branch office is very bad, I will apply for my nephew’s ID somewhere else,” he said.
Another resident Romita Naidoo, claimed that at most times, there is nothing wrong with the system but that workers are lazy. “I was there on Monday at 4.30am to sort out my son’s ID and I heard from other customers that the system was offline. I confirmed rumours with the branch manager only to find workers chatting to each other instead of working. They act like they are doing us a favour by doing the work that they are supposed to do. They make up the offline system issue when they are to lazy to work,” she said.
Naidoo said workers are too lazy even to come out and inform customers that the system is offline. “They just walk away from their stations, leaving customers wondering. All workers at that branch should be fired, rather employ new staff that are wiling to work. I am tired of experiencing the same issue constantly.”
Ward 58 councillor, Geoff Pullan, said he was not happy about the service at the branch. “I went to the branch a few months ago. I observed that they cannot cope with the number of customers that come in for assistance,” he said. When asked what he could do to assist, Pullan said: “This is a government service provider, as a councillor there is only so much I can do to help with these issues but the final verdict or solution lies with the government.
As a resident myself I am frustrated by the bad service at the branch.” Home Affairs spokesperson David Hlabane said the department is aware of the network downtime caused by power failures and infrastructure breaks. He added that home affairs’ footprint is inadequate for the 57.7-million citizens who are serviced in 411 offices. “The post office, for instance, with a clientele way less than that of home affairs, has more than 2400 outlets. Therefore, for it the department waiting-time complaints are a daily occurrence.” He assured he would look into the allegations made against workers and ensures that no clients are left unattended.
