SA Migration International

News Articles

‘Frustrated’ man in hostage drama at Home Affairs office in Limpopo

Source: Daily Maverick, 06/03/2023

A man has appeared in court after a hostage drama at the Department of Home Affairs’ offices in Elim outside Louis Trichardt.
Amukelani Baloyi (26) stormed the Home Affairs offices in Elim and pointed a pistol at a female security officer at the registry desk, forcing her into an office where there were four Home Affairs officials, said district manager Zamba Maluleke.
The hostage drama played out over several hours last Friday, with hostage negotiators being called to the scene from Pretoria in the afternoon. “He was frustrated and blamed the department for delaying his birth certificate application,” said Maluleke.
Home Affairs records indicate Baloyi applied for a birth certificate in 2018, saying he never had one as he does not know the whereabouts of his mother. It has still not been issued to him.
Maluleke said Baloyi was informed that his application could not be processed without DNA tests of his parents or any family members in the country.
“In 2019, he promised to bring a certain old man whom he said is his biological father, but the two never came for DNA. The results of his application were given to him and it showed his late birth certificate registration. In this case, we were still waiting for Baloyi to bring a family member to perform DNA tests,” said Maluleke.
Police spokesperson Brigadier Motlafela Mojapelo said Baloyi appeared in the Waterval Magistrates’ Court on Monday and again on Wednesday. He faces charges of kidnapping, possession of an unlicensed firearm and pointing a firearm. His next court appearance is on 5 April 2023.
Maluleke said they later realised that Baloyi had a fake identity book with a different name from the one he used when applying for a birth certificate in 2018.
“After he was arrested and taken to the police van we searched his bag and found a fake green ID book. The photo in the ID shows it’s him, but the names were different and it was not issued by Home Affairs.”
Maluleke said many people in the district didn’t have ID documents and birth certificates as their parents were Zimbabwean or Mozambican.
“When we come across such cases we request them to bring a parent or next-of-kin to conduct DNA tests. If the results come out positive we issue them with the late registration certificate while applying for identification documents.
There are frequent reports about delays in processing applications and long queues at some Home Affairs offices across the country, with frustrations running high.
Struggle to have error on birth certificate fixed
Experience Chavalala is a frustrated resident of Nkuri village outside Giyani in Limpopo.
The 21-year-old told Daily Maverick that he had queued countless times at the Department of Home Affairs to change the sex category written on his birth certificate. It indicates that he is a female. “My family has been going up and down to resolve this problem since 2013, all in vain.”
Experience Chavalala is 21, but still battling to get the incorrect sex category changed on his birth certificate. Chavalala’s ID number has been concealed in this photograph. (Photo: Supplied)
He said he is unable to apply for an identity document until the mistake is rectified. “Now I cannot register for tertiary level education nor find a job because of the incorrect gender,” said Chavalala.
“The last time I visited the Home Affairs offices was in January last year. I was there to apply for rectification, and they told me that I will get the results in six months, but all in vain.
“I sat for matric examinations in 2020, but the certificate came back unchanged, it is still saying I am a female.
www.samigration.com

Search

Latest News

DA MP says this is up 20 000 from the 74 000 six months previously Department of Home Affairs visa backlog is up by 20 000 in 6 months The Democratic Alliance (DA) can reveal that the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) Visa backlog has increased from 74 000 in August 2023 to 92 000 as of 16 February 2024. This is an increase of just under 20 000 in about 6 months. Download the Parliamentary question and answer here. The increase goes against what the Minister told the Home Affairs Parliamentary Committee in March 2023.... Read more...

The European Union (EU) will limit visas for people from Ethiopia. This is because the Ethiopian government hasn`t been helping take back citizens who stay in the EU illegally. The EU Council announced this in a statement on Monday. Ethiopians won`t get visas for multiple entries anymore. Also, Ethiopians with diplomatic and service passports won`t have their visa fees waived.... Read more...

CRIMINAL convictions more than two decades ago came to haunt a man who was offered a job as a senior data discovery and enrichment expert, but after his prospective employer got wind of the convictions, retracted the job offer. But the Gqeberha Labour Court came to his rescue and found that the man should be given a second chance, given that his convictions occurred 20 years ago and had meanwhile been expunged.... Read more...

Nigeria’s economy, which ranked as Africa’s largest in 2022, is set to slip to fourth place this year and Egypt, which held the top position in 2023, is projected to fall to second behind South Africa after a series of currency devaluations, International Monetary Fund forecasts show. The IMF’s World Economic Outlook estimates Nigeria’s gross domestic product at $253 billion based on current prices this year, lagging energy-rich Algeria at $267 billion, Egypt at $348 billion and South Africa at $373 billion.... Read more...

Key Takeaways • Ireland will be discussing the ending of the visa-free travel scheme with South Africa. • The move comes in an attempt to reduce the number of international protection applicants. • Ireland is currently facing problems with asylum and international protection applicants’ accommodation. Ireland is planning to end visa-free travel from South Africa in an attempt to reduce the number of people applying for international protection and asylum.... Read more...

I recently renewed my passport at Home Affairs in a bank branch and was very impressed with the service and quick turnaround time. The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) and major banks first launched the option to do Smart ID card and passport applications via select bank branches in 2016. It has slowly grown to around 30 locations, including branches from Absa, Discovery Bank, FNB, Investec, Nedbank, and Standard Bank. My passport was set to expire in October 2024, and because many countries require that your passport be valid for six months from a travel date, a renewal was due.... Read more...

Industry injected an estimated R1.2bn into the Western Cape economy in the last financial year, with around 90 000 passengers and 38 000 crew members expected to step ashore in the current year. For the first time in history, Friday (11 April) saw two of the world’s most famous cruise liners the Queen Mary 2 and the Queen Victoria dock in the Port of Cape Town at the same time.... Read more...

Due to system downtime and load-shedding, the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) lost nearly 141,000 hours of Smart ID application and production time between the 2019/20 and 2022/23 financial years. Minister Aaron Motsoaledi revealed this figure in a recent response to questions raised in Parliament by Democratic Alliance MP Adrian Roos. Motsoaledi provided a breakdown of smart ID production and application hours lost to technical difficulties and load-shedding per province for each financial year from 2019/2020. These disruptions hit home Affairs offices in the Eastern Cape the hardest, with over 34,000 hours to rotational power cuts and system downtime. Mpumalanga offices lost the next-highest number of hours at 17... Read more...

DA MP says hours lost continue to result in persons being unable to collect their ID documents due to unmanageable queues The DA has been inundated with complaints that the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) systems are offline, resulting in long queues and delayed processing of documents. Through questions posed to the Minister, the DA can now reveal that the DHA has lost over 77 years’ worth of working hours due to system downtime and load-shedding from 2019 to date. Concerningly, this data only relates to hours lost for the application of smart IDs, meaning decades more of working hours could have been additionally lost in other spheres such as passport or visa applications.... Read more...

Home Affairs’ seemingly endless court battles set the department back more than R110-million between April 2023 and the end of February this year. This was revealed in a written parliamentary response by minister Aaron Motsoaledi. He said the department accumulated a litigation bill of R117 692 996.3, higher than the R72 637 944.51 spent the year before.... Read more...