THE Department of Home Affairs (DHA) says it has used its backup systems to ensure its offices are up and running to process passports and smart ID cards.

“The problem we had related to our biometrics database. We are currently using our backup system in order to run our offices. Everything is running smoothly in terms of the Live Capture System for passports and smart ID cards. We are monitoring the situation while we fix the main productions system,” said the department’s acting Chief Information Officer (CIO), Thulani Mavuso.

On Tuesday, technical glitches in the department’s Home Affairs National Identification System (HANIS) resulted in the slow turnaround time in some DHA offices.

“The department’s technicians are currently replacing damaged equipment on the system. This only affects offices with the Live Capture System,” said the department.

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Other services including births, marriages and deaths registration were not affected.

“Births, marriages and deaths were not affected because they are processed through the National Population Registrar System and it was not affected,” said Mavuso.

The department extended its apologies to members of the public for any inconvenience caused.

Home Affairs anticipates that the issue will be resolved by the end of business today but said it will continue using the back-up system until the Christmas rush subsides. It will then switch over to the main production system next week.

“All offices are now up and running and we will continue monitoring all the offices,” said Mavuso.

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