The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) said it is aware of the serious challenges facing the office in Sabie and is apparently attending to all the problems that urgently need to be resolved.

This comes after some community members had claimed it had been more than three weeks since Sabie’s DHA office has had water or electricity, a functional toilet or a working telephone. They insisted nothing can be blamed on load-shedding. They demanded that the department addresses the issues, because those in need of its services have to travel to the nearest town, and as such are spending more money. They want the problems to be seen to as a matter of urgency.

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The DHA’s Ehlanzeni district operations manager, Doris Chiloane, said they are aware of the problems, and as part of the intervention, a mobile office was deployed on June 6 to provide services to the public in the interim.

“The Department of Public Works and Infrastructure is handling the matter to ensure that the problems are settled for good. We are pleading with our clients to be patient with us,” she said.

Chiloane assured the community members that these issues are being treated as a matter of urgency, and that they are in touch with the relevant sister department daily to address them.