Cape Town - The Department of Home Affairs is piloting and rolling out an appointment booking system as a way to manage queues at its branch offices in parts of the country.
The South African Social Security Agency will be piloting a ticketing system to manage queues at its 18 offices in the 2022-23 financial year.
In a parliamentary question, DA MP Benedicta van Minen asked the position of the department on the widespread practice by clients who pay persons to queue on their behalf and then step into their places once the queue moves forward.
Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said his department did not condone the practice of queuing or payment to third parties by clients to obtain services.
“Clients are only required to pay for services offered directly by the department, with the prescribed fees for each product as approved by National Treasury,” he said.
Motsoaledi also said the incidents happened outside the office premises before the offices opened and the public subjected themselves to such services.
“It is advisable to report such incidents to the South African Police Service. The office manager, queue marshalls and security personnel may be alerted such that they can be reprimanded. However, this may be difficult to manage and control since it is done outside the premises, and some members of the public themselves willingly pay for others to queue for them before they arrive at our premises.”
He said their offices utilise floor walkers and queue marshalls to control the queues and direct clients into respective service counters as per the sequence in the queue.
Motsoaledi also said the department has a “War on queues” strategy, which was an ongoing activity to eradicate or reduce queue waiting times through effective and efficient means.
The department has developed and put in place immediate action plans, which include the implementation and roll-out of the branch appointment booking system (BABS).
The new system will eradicate the issue of preferred clients jumping queues and obtaining places for themselves to be assisted first at the expense of other waiting clients.
“The department is currently piloting and rolling out the branch appointment booking system (BABS) at live Capture offices for modernised services and products.
“This system will allow clients to book and obtain the slots, thereby allowing clients to arrive at the confirmed booking time and not have to queue, which will enable the office to assist clients timeously,” Mostsoaledi said.
Cape Times