Question NW1749 to the Minister of Home Affairs

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21 June 2021 - NW1749

Profile picture: Msane, Ms TP

Msane, Ms TP to ask the Minister of Home Affairs

What measures has he put in place to fast-track the processing of identity document applications, in order not to exclude persons from participating in the upcoming local government elections?

Reply:

The Department has undertaken to prioritize its services to those who have applied for their identity documents ahead of the general elections by issuing election enabling documents, i.e. Identity Documents, and also to issue Temporary Identification Certificates (TIC’s) on the spot to those whose identity documents are lost.

Furthermore, the Department has developed an ID distribution strategy that entails the following measures:

  • Provinces in collaboration with stakeholder forums will embark on public awareness campaigns for the distribution and collection of ID’s.
  • Provinces to work with Stakeholders to deploy mobile units for people to collect their Green Barcoded Identity Books.
  • Targeted Communication intervention on uncollected Green Barcoded Identity Books and Smart Identity Cards.
  • Provincial managers to make announcement making use of local media.
  • Rescan all Green Barcoded Identity Books on hand on track and trace to reactivate the Short Message System (SMS) to clients informing them to collect IDs.
  • Mobile Offices will be deployed to service a cluster of Voter Registration stations (Green Barcoded ID Books).
  • A contingency plan to provide back office support services, where its front offices are experiencing problems with issuance of ID’s and TIC’s enabling documents.
  • Clients to contact the Call Centre using 0800 60 11 90 to establish the status of their Identity Documents.

Lastly, the Department plans to extend its operational hours during the Voters Registration Weekend as well as on the scheduled Election day(s). It is against this backdrop that the Department has aligned its working hours with those announced by the Independent Electoral Commission(IEC). On the weekend of the 17th and 18th July 2021, all DHA offices will be opened from 8am until 5pm in order to fast track the processing of identity document applications and to ensure that all persons who are legible to vote are not excluded from participating in the next upcoming local government elections.

END

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