Durban — There were mixed reactions to the renewal of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Department of Home Affairs and eThekwini Municipality.
A concern by various political parties at an eThekwini full council meeting on Thursday was about the city footing the bill.
The MOU between eThekwini Municipality and the department expired on March 31, 2022.
A governance and human resources committee report stated there was a need to renew the MOU to maintain work relations and continue implementing projects undertaken jointly to improve service delivery pertaining to assisting citizens to obtain identity documents and smart cards at the eThekwini Sizakala centres.
And also, managing undocumented immigrants within the jurisdiction of the municipality. The MOU will be for a duration of three years.
The municipality will utilise volunteers to support this programme. They will be paid a stipend for out-of-pocket expenses. The programme will then entail empowering volunteers to build capacity and provide infrastructure for the issuing of essential documents to the poor and vulnerable groups, including youth and women.
The Democratic Liberal Congress leader, councillor Patrick Pillay said the reality was that the the Department of Home Affairs was not providing efficient services to citizens. Pillay said there were long queues and hundreds of people were turned away on a daily basis because of a shortage of staff, or the department’s computer system being overloaded and continuously going offline.
“The MOU is needed and was very successful previously in fast-tracking ID applications in eThekwini. I request that once the MOU is concluded, flood victims who have lost their IDs be urgently prioritised and that this programme be taken to all the wards within the city,” Pillay said.
DA councillor Rory Macpherson told the council that the Treasury Department gets money from taxpayers and that the department received funding from the Treasury.
“Home Affairs is one of the worst and inefficient departments. What the city is doing is double-dipping taxpayers. Why should the municipality now take on the affairs of the job description of labour matters? The city is short-staffed as it is, to look after the basics,” he said.
ANC councillor Nkosenhle Madlala said people queued outside the department’s offices in Dr AB Xuma Street (Commercial) and Umgeni Road overnight and were fortunate to get into the building the next day.
“We are not wasting taxpayers’ money. These are our family members, our neighbours that queue here. Some cannot find the return fee to go home. We will ensure that we do not politicise volunteer recruitment. They must be from all parts of the city. We are doing what we can do to give people a service they deserve,” Madlala said.
Daily News