By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Services at the Department of Home Affairs including the issuing of smart identity cards, passports and temporary identity cards have been restored following power failure.
“Power was restored early this morning, with technicians confirming it is all systems go after working around the clock to fix the problem speedily and minimise impact on citizens,” the Department of Home Affairs said in a statement.
The only services that were not affected and continue being offered were the birth, marriage and death services.
The department experienced a power failure at its back office, which had affected all live capture applications, including smart ID cards and passports, which could not be issued without first being cleared in this back office.
The department would like to thank citizens and clients for patience and understanding,” the department said.
On Tuesday, power utility Eskom announced that stage 4 load shedding would continue until 5am on Thursday.
The power utility said this was due to the “sudden loss” of three Kendal Power Station generating units on Tuesday morning.
Load shedding would thereafter be reduced to state 2 until midnight on Friday.