No end in sight for chaos at EL home affairs office

The chaos at the East London home affairs office continues, and people desperate for documents queue all night despite the danger of Covid-19.

Most days the queue starts to build from midnight, with mre and more people setting up camp on the pavement. There is no guarantee they will be attended to in the morning, such is the demand for service.

On Tuesday police were called to calm the crowd trying to force its way in. This is not the first time this has happened.

The situation has also given rise to opportunists. Vagrants offer to occupy and keep a space for R100, according to several people DispatchLIVE spoke to on Thursday.

When Cambridge resident Siyanda Zide arrived at midnight, he found people camping outside the offices.

“I have been coming to home affairs for three months hoping I will get my ID. It is not easy looking for a job without an ID. We are risking our lives and wasting money, which is already scarce, just to stand outside the building and be sunburned,” Zide said.

Panana Vongo, 19, from Khayelitsha in Reeston, slept in Fleet Street overnight.

“I was the 13th person [in the queue] this morning but then we were told the system is down. It is frustrating because we can’t get employment anywhere without ID books.”

Okuhle Mvubu from Cove Rock told DispatchLIVE that vagrants offered to occupy a place in the queue for applicants for R100.

“This is making things more difficult for us because people leave their spots knowing they will be there for them the next day because they have paid the street dwellers. And we are risking our lives because of Covid-19, ” Mvubu said.

An applicant who wanted to remain anonymous echoed Mvubu’s allegation that officials did not arrive on time at work.

“They threaten us and call the police to remove us in front of the premises, which is not right. We come from far places expecting to be helped,” she said.

Newborn babies were being carried by their mothers in the queue, which snaked around the block.

Eastern Cape home affairs manager Gcinile Mabulu said: “The province has home affairs offices in every town, but we tend to receive a large number of people at the East London building. We get people who come from as far as Butterworth and Engcobo.”

Also, he said, home affairs personnel were contracting the virus, which led to staff shortages.

“During level 1 the number of staff was increased, which was an advantage to our clients, but it affected us badly as the number of Covid cases also increased in the department,” he explained.

We can’t get employment without ID books