The chairperson of Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs, Hlomani Chauke, has urged the Department of Home Affairs to consider an outright ban on cell phone usage by front line staff during working hours at all Home Affairs offices.
This is as a result of the numerous complaints the committee has received from the public about delays at Home Affairs offices.
“It is unacceptable that the public spend excessive amounts of time at Home Affairs offices, while officials spend a disproportionate amount of time busy with their cell phones,” Chauke says. “Officials are primarily employed to offer a service and the complaints point to dereliction of duty by some officials, yet they continue to draw a salary at the end of the month.”
It is also concerning that these practices have been witnessed at ports of entry across the country, which gives a bad impression to visitors when they arrive in the country – despite the president having anchored his economic growth drive to tourism, which will be undermined by poor service.
Chauke has called for a guiding framework on the use of cell phones at front desks must be drafted and implemented across the country to ensure standardisation. The framework should also include guidelines for how officials can be contacted in cases of family emergencies.
“We are, of course, cognisant that one of the major causes of long queues is the downtime caused by unreliable IT software, but professional service at the department must improve,” Chauke adds.