Tormented daily by long queues and unfinished business, frustrated North Coast residents are fed-up with the appalling service at the Tongaat and KwaDukuza Home Affairs offices. Their exasperation is further fuelled by the apparent inability of Home Affairs management to address the problems to make operations more streamlined.

The North Coast Courier joined the queue at Tongaat’s Home Affairs last Friday to gain first-hand knowledge of the situation.

On arrival at 5.30am, at least 30 people wanting to obtain birth certificates, passports and identity documents had already formed a queue, despondency etched on their faces with the realisation of a marathon 3-hour wait they would have to endure before the doors even opened.

A mere 5 minutes later, 50 more people were counted joining the line.

Making matters even worse for those in the queue are the “entrepreneurs” exploiting Home Affairs’ apparent lack of finding proactive solutions.

While a group of men renting out chairs at R5 a piece, are mostly welcomed, the practice of paying agents to jump the queue is causing huge unhappiness.

People in the queue complained that others simply arrive at any time and are ushered to the front of the line because they paid someone for the privilege. The going rate is said to be R200.

This pushes those waiting in the queue further back, often causing them not to be served on the day and having to return for another day of frustration and wasted hours.

One resident from Inanda called it the “queue mafia”.

The Courier witnessed a man, who nobody could confirm was a Home Affairs official, directing people to different queues and escorting people in from the gate, instructing the security guards to let them through.

People claimed he was one of the men who “sold seats”, but nobody dared confront him as it would cause “big trouble”.

Disgruntlement did surface on Friday after one woman, who walked straight to the front of the queue, backed off when people kicked up a fuss.

Frustrated Ballito resident, Sue Beningfield, shared her experience about attempting to renew her son’s passport in February.

She said she was told by a car guard that he starts duty at midnight and people start arriving at 2am to book their space in the queue.

“We were there at 4.30am in the pouring rain and were 15th in queue. The offices opened at 8.20am and we got through the outside gate at 9.20am. At midday, we got inside the building and for the first time had a seat. We were supposedly the lucky ones as there were still people standing in long queues in the pouring rain. We got a number at 1pm – number 182!”

By 2.30pm that day Beningfield’s son had not yet had his photos taken with 50 people ahead of them.

“The system has been off and on all day. There are no toilets for people to use. People (about 10) arrived at 2.30pm to have photos taken as they were not not attended to the previous day. They expected to push in front of us who have been here since 4am. How does that happen? People pay for a space, others have appointments and others know someone!”

The Courier had not received a response from Home Affairs at the time of publishing.