By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Home Affairs Minister, Aaron Motsoaledi, has approved the temporary extension of operating times at front offices by two and a half hours from 08:00 to 17:30 from today to 30 December 2021 – to deal with the high demand for services.
This extension period excludes weekends, public holidays, 17 and 24 December 2021, as the offices will be closed.
The Minister has also extended operating hours at some of the busiest ports of entry by between two and seven hours, making some of them operational 24 hours. This is to enable a continuous processing of truck drivers. Other travellers will be processed during the hours that fall outside the curfew.
The Minister extended operating hours at the Oshoek border with Eswatini by seven hours from 20 to 24 December and at the Lebombo border with Mozambique by six hours from 13 December 2021 to 09 January 2022.
The extension means that both ports will operate for 24 hours during the approved periods.
Beit Bridge and Maseru Bridge are already operating for 24 hours.
“Our offices and ports of entry usually receive high numbers of people during the festive season, partly because that is when most people have time to look for services or to travel.
“The temporary extension is therefore aimed at giving people more time to come to our offices or be processed through our borders in a safe manner, taking into account that COVID-19 is still with us,” said Motsoaledi.
He said everyone who comes to the Home Affairs’ offices or is travelling through ports of entry is requested to be patient and also observe all COVID-19 protocols.
The Minister encouraged those who applied for their IDs more than two weeks ago to come and collect their documents at the offices where they made their applications.
In the past two months, the department issued 206 254 unabridged birth certificates, processed 187 813 ID applications, registered 129 324 births and issued 116 049 death certificates.
These are the services that were in high demand during the past two months. The department will offer all Home Affairs services during the extension period.
“The only people who will be sent home are those who arrive after 17:30. Everybody who arrives before 17:30 should be served and not turned away,” the Department Home Affairs said.
Meanwhile Permanent Residency Permit (PRP) applications for South Africa have been on hold since March 2020 when the president declared the country to be in a national state of disaster, and the arrival of the Omicron variant could push things out even further, warn immigration experts.
When the Department of Home Affairs was forced to down tools, PRP applications quickly began piling up, says Moeketsi Seboko, immigration manager at Xpatweb.
“Foreign nationals hoping to settle in the country more permanently were shocked by the delays because it prevented them from being able to open bank accounts or renew car licenses, among other things. In fear that they would not be allowed back into South Africa, they were also reluctant to leave the country.
Business owners who were waiting for their permanent residency permit to be approved, found themselves stuck in limbo. They were obligated to continue with their trade and to provide for themselves while being unsure about what the future would hold for them.”
Before long, the department was compelled to begin processing PRPs due to a backlog of thousands of applicants, said Seboko.
In June 2021, it announced that applications would resume from 1 January 2022. However, nearly two years after the onset of the pandemic, the discovery of the mutated Omicron variant, could see the state of disaster being extended well into the new year, leaving those who dream of becoming permanent residents possibly perturbed.