Question NW2680 to the Minister of Home Affairs
17 December 2020 - NW2680
Khanyile, Ms AT to ask the Minister of Home Affairs
What are the details of the steps his department will take to address the backlog caused by the halting of certain services due to the national lockdown to curb the spread of COVID-19?
Reply:
- We made an announcement through a government notice on 24 October 2020 to resume all services except Citizenship applications at the Civic Service Branch of the Department. The Department thereby issued a circular to all staff members, regarding Administrative Protocols for the Lockdown, Containment and management of the COVID-19 in the Department under lockdown level 1.
- As a result, the Department has recalled 100% staff capacity, mainly in areas where there are backlogs in order to eliminate such backlogs. Under this circumstance, strict adherence to the lock down level 1 protocols is practiced to contain the spread of COVID 19 by ensuring that officials adhere to the protocols in the workplace by maintaining social distancing, adhering to personal hygiene practices (wearing of masks, sanitizing, washing of hands etc.), and further ensuring sufficient ventilation in all workspaces.
- The Department furthermore engaged its stakeholders in the value chain of its products and services, in particular GPW (Government Printing Works) and Skynet courier services, to work overtime during the week as well as over the weekends to assist the Department in eliminating such backlogs.
- Moreover, the Department has a Business Recovery Plan to deal with backlogs accumulated during lockdown period.
END