Home affairs offices in Menlyn Mall planned for September

The Menlyn Mall in Pretoria will be one of the first shopping centres in South Africa to house the new home affairs offices.

“We shall start with Menlyn Mall in Pretoria, Cresta Mall and Southgate Mall in Johannesburg, the Pavillion in eThekwini and Tygervalley Mall in Cape Town,” said homes affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi.

Mall-based home affairs offices will then expand to other malls across the country.

Motsoaledi was delivering his department’s 2022/23 budget vote on Tuesday.

“We had envisaged a positive uptake in regards to home affairs offices set up at malls as five malls had offered rent-free space for five years.

“Since the malls still have to move some tenants around to make way for home affairs, we will install our equipment there around September this year.”

He said immediate relief measures for home affairs were underway to tackle problems as engagements with several malls in the country had begun.

“Operating home affairs offices at malls will obviate the problem of queuing in the sun or rain.

“Malls will also provide convenient and safe parking for clients.

Home affairs deputy minister Njabulo Nzuza said the department was also making progress in strengthening partnerships with the banks in a bid to tackle various challenges.

He said the banks supported the roll-out of smart ID cards and machine-readable passports.

“We currently have 28 bank branches connected to the live capture system to enable online processing of smart ID card and passport applications,” said Nzuza.

“Our clients need customised and personalised services due to the unique nature of their needs; hence, our technology must respond to such unique needs.

“We have clients with names that have special characters, fingerprints that are damaged by years of physical labour, amputees due to medical or accidents and many other challenges.”

He said the department would continue to enhance its technology to have multimodal biometrics like facial recognition.

“The 2022/2023 budget will see us exploring new ways to better serve citizens. We will procure kiosks that will allow clients to self-service for passports and smart ID applications and reprint birth, marriage and death certificates.”

Nzazo said the kiosks would be designed in a manner that would require authentication through biometrics. They would also be located in strategic areas to allow access after office hours or at weekends.

“The self-service kiosk will usher a new era in the way we service our clients.”

Nzuza further said that the recently piloted branch appointment booking system was also proving to be a solution in dealing with long queues.

“This booking system can be accessed by people through the home affairs website. It provides citizens with the ability to book dates and time slots of their choice.”

The system currently operates on a hybrid model in 25 offices that have been rolled in a bid to not turn away clients that have not made any bookings.

“It is only used to book passport and Smart ID card applications only.

“Scheduling an appointment for those two products is possible compared to scheduling a death or birth registration because they can’t be planned for in advance; hence, we will continue to take walk-ins for those two services.”

He said people can access the home affairs website link to schedule an appointment on their desktops, laptops, tablets and smartphones.

“We are exploring partnerships with more institutions and are in discussions with the South African Post Office to extend our services.”

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