Durban - The police had to be called to intervene at the Home Affairs offices in Umgeni Road, Durban on Monday, after staff members complained they were being threatened.
It is understood that the Home Affairs online system had been offline since last week, leading to frustration among people waiting in queues.
Cyril Mncwabe, manager of Home Affairs in KwaZulu-Natal, said police had been called on Monday because people had threatened staff.
“We are asking the community to be patient if we explain that computers are not working.”
In a statement on Tuesday, Home Affairs said it was facing challenges with the Live Capture system for passports and smart ID cards.
“This is due to problems on the Home Affairs National Identification System which have affected turnaround times in some offices.”
It said the department's technicians were currently replacing damaged equipment.
“This only affects offices with the Live Capture system. Other services, including births, marriages and deaths registration are not affected,” the statement said.
The department extended its apologies to clients for any inconvenience caused. It said it was confident that the affected services would be recovered, hopefully by later on Tuesday.