Broken Home Affairs system leaves refugees stranded

Source: Times Live, 03/06/2016

The Home Affairs database system that manages refugee and asylum
documentation has been down for almost two weeks across the country.
Refugees have described their frustration with poor communication from
officials‚ standing in long queues‚ and being blocked from doing
anything that South African citizens use an identity document to
access.


A week ago‚ GroundUp described the story of a refugee who cannot
access her bank account because she cannot renew her refugee
documents‚ and is on the brink of being fired because she has queued
for days at the Home Affairs building on Cape Town`s foreshore.
Hundreds of refugees in a similar position to her were being turned
away everyday this week. On Thursday about 500 people were turned away
at the Cape Town office at about 8:30am. Many had been queuing since
6am or 7am.


Moreover‚ the national department has failed to respond to GroundUp`s
emails‚ telephone calls and text messages since last week.


No one has been able to tell us what is wrong with the system. On
Wednesday a Cape Town Home Affairs official who identified himself as
George said he doesn`t know when the system will be fixed. "The main
server is offline and they are working on it. It needs replacement and
it`s not just our offices ... Port Elizabeth and Marabastad offices
are offline as well‚" he said.


An official at the reception of the Port Elizabeth Home Affairs office
said that the system has not been working since Tuesday.


The Secretary General of the Somali Association in South Africa‚
Mohammed Kat‚ said his office in Korsten was overwhelmed by people
seeking clarity on the shutdown. He said that their members were
scared.


"The Department of Home Affairs is not telling us what happened. They
are only extending the permits manually‚ a process that we feel banks
and other stakeholders will not accept. The main concern is the
silence on the part of the department."


Abdul Olatunji of Community of African Nations in South Africa
(CANiSA) said‚ "Our concern is whether [Home Affairs] informed the law
enforcing sector. We fear that innocent foreigners will end up getting
arrested for failing to produce valid papers. There is also the issue
of banks and employers.


Most banks do not allow handwritten documents in their systems. We are
closely watching the situation.We will not tolerate a situation where
one of us will either be arrested or victimised at their workplace or
banks because of the department's technical glitch."


At the Cape Town office‚ a Burundian man who drives a metre taxi said
his main worry is traffic cops. They usually want him to produce his
ID and his driver`s license. He intended to go to a police station to
sign an affidavit that he hoped could be used temporarily in place of
his ID. "You can see by the way the Home Affairs official spoke to us
that he does not care. He gave a fun face‚ when we asked what we are
going to tell police. He forgets that if there are no refugees‚ there
is no job for him‚" he said.


A Zimbabwean woman from Wellington‚ who does seasonal work on farms‚
said she and her three children had to wake up at 2am and walk to the
train station to take the first train to Cape Town where she renews
her asylum papers every three months. She had been to Home Affairs
last week‚ and was told to come back on 2 June.


Today her nine- year-old girl missed a school examination because she
had to bring her to Home Affairs to renew her documents. "The past two
weeks had been hard for me. When my asylum document expired‚ my
employer temporarily stopped me working. I need to borrow money from
friends for transport to commute to Home Affairs since I haven`t been
working‚" she said.


"My rent and children`s school fees are overdue. My family is living
on handouts. When I told my boss about the offline system he said he
needs proof from Home Affairs that the system is offline because he
does not want to get in trouble." -