Seemingly, long queues at the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) Tzaneen branch are a challenge that is hard to deal with instantly.

People have to stand for many hours outside the office before opening time, with some people queuing from midnight in order to secure the first seats when the department opens at 08:00.

“We are forced to hire cars so that we can be the first to be assisted, we came on Tuesday, May 19, but they closed while we were still outside.” said Tebogo Seale, a disgruntled resident.

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Seale further said, “The system is poor because people who come to collect their IDs, passports will stand in the same queue with those who want to apply for their smart IDs or even certificates and that inconveniences us.”

Learners who are in grade 12 are being released from school in order to collect or apply for IDs at the branch, but due to the long queues, are being left despondent as it can take up to two days for them to get to the front of the queue.

Read: TZANEEN: ‘Undivided attention’ to be given to issues at Home Affairs

Another group of people who are suffering from the DHA’s incompetence are our senior citizens, who come with blankets to survive the cold weather through the night. Although it was reported that there will be measures to resolve queues challenges across the country, people around Tzaneen feel that there is no improvement since the Minister of Home Affairs Malusi Gigaba made the announcement back in April.

An employee of the branch who wanted to remain anonymous said improvements are taking place but it is not something that can happen overnight.

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“We are working hard to give our people the best service, but it is a process. We are also aware of the long queues,” said the employee.

It is alleged that affected people cannot even access toilets as they get locked at night. They are forced to walk to a nearby garage to relieve themselves which is not safe, while some use the dilapidated Ellerines furniture building.