Home Affairs provides efficient service only if forced to do so

21 August 2012

Letter to the Editor

Dear Editor,

Home Affairs provides efficient service only if forced to do so

Daily I receive queries from desperate people who have in general, had little assistance from the Department of Home Affairs.  Usually, these victims experience much emotional and psychological trauma because of this government department often referred to as the Department of “Horror Affairs”.

In the vast majority of matters that cross my desk, applicants have been kept waiting for unreasonably long periods of time.  I am fighting on behalf of people who have been waiting for resolution to their matter sometimes as long as 2 years or more.

I was rather pleasantly surprised to learn that the Home Affairs Department recently resolved a matter within only 8 minutes.  A family, originally from Taiwan, took the department to court after it failed for four years to respond to the Chang family’s application.

Unsurprisingly, this super-efficient service only took place after the court ruled that the Minister and relevant officials were to each pay a R100 000 fine.  The matter was resolved 8 minutes after the court ruling was issued.

No one reasonably expects to enjoy such super-efficient service in every case.  This case however demonstrates that it is possible for this department to act efficiently.  Why do the Minister and her officials have to be personally threatened before they do the job they were supposed to do in the first place?

Yours Sincerely,

Manny de Freitas MP

Shadow Home Affairs Minister

Member of Parliament for Johannesburg South

Democratic Alliance

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