Home affairs Menlyn branch opens to alleviate service pressure in Tshwane
Services that are offered for now are smart ID cards as well as passport applications and collections.
Minister of Home Affairs, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, officially opened the doors to a new home affairs office at the Menlyn Park shopping centre in Tshwane on March 6.
The home affairs mall pilot will operate from 08:00 to 15:30 by appointment.
Services that are offered for now are smart ID cards as well as passport applications and collections.
Motsoaledi said walk-ins would be assisted, however, only to make a booking.
He said Menlyn home affairs was expected to relieve pressure from high-volume offices such as Byron’s Place in the CBD, Mamelodi and Centurion.
“It is a beneficial situation for all,” Motsoaledi said.
“We want to ensure that we bring services to the people. We want people to access services where they are with ease.”
Motsoaledi said they had reached an agreement with the centre’s management that his department would not pay rent for five years.
“We want people to have a good experience when they visit home affairs offices. We don’t want people to queue when they visit home affairs offices in the malls.
Our ambition is to find innovative solutions. We wanted to pilot and make sure that the system works very well,” Motsoaledi said.
Home affairs spokesperson Siya Qoza said the opening was a fulfilment of a commitment to make home affairs services more accessible to people.
Qoza said the mall branch offered only applications and collections services for IDs and passports.
“Home affairs has signed a mutually beneficial partnership with the owners of the centre. This partnership is expected to blossom.”
In 2022, Motsoaledi announced during his 2022/23 budget vote that various malls across the country including Cresta and Southgate in Johannesburg, The Pavillion in eThekwini and Tygervalley in Cape Town would soon house home affairs branches.
Qoza said if an agreement was reached with the other malls, construction would commence.
He said his department waited for Menlyn mall to become operational before concluding agreements with the other malls.
“This is done to assure ourselves that the model works well before we take it to other malls.”
“We only incur a once-off expenditure for installations that include shopfitting, IT cabling and computer equipment and furniture.”
Menlyn spokesperson Trish Dlamini said the centre was proud to announce that the home affairs branch was open to service the needs of Tshwane.
“Menlyn Park, an iconic shopping centre in the heart of Tshwane, is proud to announce that the Department of Home Affairs opened its doors on March 6, at Africa’s biggest shopping centre.
“Menlyn is one of the first shopping centres to pioneer this movement and welcome Menlyn shoppers and the immediate Pretoria community to frequent these offices at their absolute convenience,” said Dlamini.
She said the partnership was a no-brainer with both parties wanting to provide South African citizens with improved efficiencies in a comfortable home affairs setting.
She said Menlyn Park also offered ample parking to home affairs visitors.
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