Home Affairs system fixed at last
Refugees express relief after weeks of problems
Refugees at the Home Affairs offices in Cape Town today expressed relief that the computer system which was down for almost two weeks is working again.
Refugees complained earlier this month of their frustration over problems with the Home Affairs database that manages refugee and asylum documentation, leaving them standing in long queues and unable to do anything which required papers.
When GroundUp visited the offices today, the queues were very short. Officials were coming out regularly to collect documents from the refugees. By 10:44 am all the asylum seekers had handed in their documents and moved inside the offices to be fingerprinted and to get extensions to their permits.
In the other queue, those who already had refugee status were waiting for their names to be called out for their applications for extensions to be processed. They said they had also been able to hand in their documents and officials were searching for the files. Those who had been given appointments for today had already been served.
A Malawian asylum seeker who did not want his name used said he was glad the system was working again. His asylum papers expired today and he was hoping to get an extension of at least six months. His seven-month-old baby is set to have heart surgery next week and the operation will only go ahead if his documents are in order.
Lewis Ralph, 31, from Congo Brazzaville lives in Eersteriver and works in a supermarket in Stellenbosch. He applied for leave today in order to renew his papers.
A Zimbabwean woman, who gave her name only as Simangaliso, said her expired documents had been collected at 7:30 am. She was waiting to be called in for an interview. She has had refugee status for six years. If the interview went well, she said, she hoped to get an extension of four years today.
“Today the queues are moving quickly,” she said.
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