Pretoria – Home Affairs Minister Naledi Pandor says with the exception of a few glitches, she is satisfied with the services provided by her department to help citizens over the voter registration weekend.
The Independent Electoral Commission held voter registration on 9 – 10 November, where over one million first-time voters registered.
During the registration weekend, all 403 Home Affairs offices across the country opened according to the voter registration schedule, from 8am to 5pm on Saturday and Sunday. Officials helped to provide South Africans with the necessary support and documentation to enable them to register for the 2014 elections.
Pandor thanked South Africans who applied for IDs, temporary identity certificates and collected outstanding IDs from Home Affairs offices so they could register to vote.
She further thanked all Home Affairs staff across the country for their dedication in providing the necessary services to the public during the weekend.
“Senior managers including the Director-General, Deputy Directors-General visited all provinces across the country, working with our Provincial Managers to ensure co-ordination of Home Affairs operations and delivery of services to the public. Our entire Home Affairs front office staff compliment was on duty to deliver services to the public,” said the minister.
Also, mobile units were used to reach out to citizens, particularly in areas where there are no offices nearby.
In total, 1 459 temporary IDs were verified online, 5 381 ID applications were received and 17 310 ID documents were issued.
Pandor and Deputy Minister Fatima Chohan visited and lent support to Home Affairs operations in the Free State, Western Cape and Gauteng provinces, including paying house visits to deliver IDs in some instances.
“The services we provided included the issuing of uncollected IDs both in our offices, including paying visits to the homes of some applicants to deliver these enabling documents.
“The second category of documents we issued was temporary identity certificates for those who do not possess IDs. Lastly, we received and processed applications for IDs,” said the minister.
“We recognise, however, that more can still be done to reach out to those who did not take advantage of the services delivered by our department. Home Affairs will continue to provide such departmental support and services as would be necessary to enable our citizens to vote in the forthcoming 2014 National Elections.” – SAnews.gov.za
