More work and less home affairs, please

Please turn off your phone or switch it to silent.

Parliament’s home affairs portfolio committee chair Hlomani Chauke wants the home affairs department to consider banning frontline staff from using cellphones during working hours.

“This is because of the numerous complaints the committee has received from the public about delays at home affairs offices,” he said.

As a result‚ home affairs minister Siyabonga Cwele and acting director-general Thulani Mavuso will be invited to the committee’s first meeting of the year to give an update on measures implemented to resolve the delays.

Chauke said it was unacceptable for the public to spend an excessive amount of time at home affairs offices while officials spent a disproportionate amount of time on their cellphones.

“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.”

Chauke believes the solution is drafting a framework.

“The framework must also include guidelines for how officials can be contacted in cases of family emergencies,” he said.

A key way of resolving the long queues at home affairs offices would be ensuring that officials were at their desks offering the services they were employed to do. – TimesLIVE