Question NW1505 to the Minister of Home Affairs
02 December 2019 - NW1505
Singh, Mr N to ask the Minister of Home Affairs
(1)Whether his department has offices in the townships of Umlazi and Chatsworth; if not, why not; if so, what services do they offer; (2) On what date does his department intend to have offices closer to the people in the specified townships in order to accelerate the delivery of services that his department provides?
Reply:
(1&2) Umlazi - Currently the Department has a small office at the Magistrate’s Court in Umlazi rendering the following services: Birth and Death registration, Amendments, Rectifications and Green Barcoded IDs; the Department is however looking at relocating the current Prospecton Medium Office to Umlazi and modernise the office. The Department is currently in negotiations with the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure, the Ethekwini metro Municipality to obtain suitable premises. A possible Public Works premises has been identified but it needs substantial renovations. We aim to have the new office in Umlazi fully functional and operational by the end of the 2021/22 financial year. The reason for these extended projections is that the building identified needs extensive renovations and there is a dependency on Public Works to finalise and move forward with the project.
Chatsworth – The Department has a Medium office situated in the Chatsworth area operating from the SASSA building in the centre of Chatsworth. We are already operational in this area with the following services: Birth, Marriages and Death registration, Amendments, Rectifications, and Green Barcoded IDs. The Department is planning to modernize the office in the next financial year (2020/21).
(2) Engagements are currently underway with the Provincial Department of Public Works and Infrastructure, as they are custodians, and have to authorise any renovations and reconfigurations of the building under their control.
END