Cape Town - While the portfolio committee on Home Affairs has welcomed progress made in the fight against long queues at Home Affairs offices through the Branch Appointment Booking System (Babs), they say more still needs to be done.
The department launched the system in June, in an effort to improve service delivery to clients.
Babs is currently active in 163 front offices.
By the end of the November it was expected that all modernised offices would have a booking system.
The department also expanded its footprint and entered public-private partnership with banks, with 27 bank branches currently operational and available to service Home Affairs clients.
The department said it envisaged rolling out the service to a further 43 sites once partnership agreements were signed.
Department deputy director-general for institutional planning and support, Thulani Mavuso, said: “The first intervention we made that is showing great success is Babs.
“This is currently running on a hybrid model. There has been a lot (more) positive feedback from clients than negatives with the system. For now the booking system is just for ID smart cards and passports.
“It has seen the reduction of queues in certain offices and improved client satisfaction; many clients have communicated this via social media and direct emails to the department.”
He said over 200 000 clients have used the booking system since June 1.
ANC MP Mathedi Moleka said many offices were still faced with long queues and she hoped this would improve soon.
Moleka suggested that mobile units return for the elderly for the collection of smart cards as many travel long distances for collection.
“Otherwise the progress made is welcomed and hopefully remaining issues will be attended to as a matter of urgency.”
DA MP Adrian Roos said that Babs was great but his concern was that sometimes it was over subscribed.
“I remember in Somerset West there were few people who had an appointment at the same time.
“There was also a matter of a long queue this other time while the Babs terminal was empty.
“Something must also be done for the disadvantaged people who don’t have the internet or smart phones, so that they (can) book on this booking system.”
Cape Times