ID waiting game over, pledges Ministry

THE Ministry of Home Affairs made a new promise to the nation yesterday – to produce identity documents within 24 days of application from next year.

Over the years, several promises have been made to speed up the production of national documents, but still backlogs and piles of uncollected documents persist. Yesterday, Home Affairs Permanent Secretary Samuel Goagoseb told the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee that with new equipment it had already upped its production to the maximum over the last two weeks.His Ministry was now producing 1 800 IDs a day, compared to the 360 that could only be processed before the new equipment was installed.The wait for an ID card is currently at least two years.By April, customers can expect the waiting period to drop to less than a month.Goagoseb said previously the manual verification of IDs slowed down the process, as only between 2 000 and 3 000 cards could be verified in a month.The new automated fingerprint machine now allows 35 000 documents to be verified in the same time.Goagoseb also told the hearing that his Ministry hoped to do away with agents who applied for and collected documents on behalf of clients.”We have strengthened loopholes that existed in the production line.It will be difficult for agencies to get the paradise they have been used to,” said Goagoseb.”Agents come in only because of our own inefficiency.If our systems are efficient, they will die a natural death.”The PS said since the agencies testified before the committee, it has identified officials who purely did the work of certain agents, while some only operated on bribes.”There won’t be any fast tracking of documents and people receiving some favours in return.All agents must come through the normal channels,” said Goagoseb.Last month, several agencies testified before the committee – some alleging that applications were only processed within a reasonable time if officials were bribed.Goagoseb acknowledged that Home Affairs officials were not always the best at service delivery.The “business culture of the whole organisation had to change”, he said.”Tell your people that at the front desks that they can’t serve the people and eat a broetchen at the same time.It creates the worst image for your ministry,” said Committee Chairperson Johan de Waal.Goagoseb said he felt people, including parliamentarians, were putting “too much pressure on the system”, which was already under pressure.He said political office-bearers also expected preferential treatment from his Ministry when they have to go on trips and submit last-minute applications for the necessary documents.”Please don’t put too much pressure on us, we have had hard-working officials,” Goagoseb said.The committee also raised concerns that the Home Affairs campaign to deliver IDs at mobile points across the country was not working as well as planned.The committee said the points they had visited were not well advertised and few people knew about the campaign.Close to 90 000 IDs are to be delivered to their owners by next year.The committee heard yesterday that in the Khomas Region, only 400 documents had been collected by Friday.Yesterday, Home Affairs Permanent Secretary Samuel Goagoseb told the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee that with new equipment it had already upped its production to the maximum over the last two weeks.His Ministry was now producing 1 800 IDs a day, compared to the 360 that could only be processed before the new equipment was installed.The wait for an ID card is currently at least two years.By April, customers can expect the waiting period to drop to less than a month.Goagoseb said previously the manual verification of IDs slowed down the process, as only between 2 000 and 3 000 cards could be verified in a month.The new automated fingerprint machine now allows 35 000 documents to be verified in the same time.Goagoseb also told the hearing that his Ministry hoped to do away with agents who applied for and collected documents on behalf of clients.”We have strengthened loopholes that existed in the production line.It will be difficult for agencies to get the paradise they have been used to,” said Goagoseb.”Agents come in only because of our own inefficiency.If our systems are efficient, they will die a natural death.”The PS said since the agencies testified before the committee, it has identified officials who purely did the work of certain agents, while some only operated on bribes.”There won’t be any fast tracking of documents and people receiving some favours in return.All agents must come through the normal channels,” said Goagoseb.Last month, several agencies testified before the committee – some alleging that applications were only processed within a reasonable time if officials were bribed.Goagoseb acknowledged that Home Affairs officials were not always the best at service delivery.The “business culture of the whole organisation had to change”, he said.”Tell your people that at the front desks that they can’t serve the people and eat a broetchen at the same time.It creates the worst image for your ministry,” said Committee Chairperson Johan de Waal.Goagoseb said he felt people, including parliamentarians, were putting “too much pressure on the system”, which was already under pressure.He said political office-bearers also expected preferential treatment from his Ministry when they have to go on trips and submit last-minute applications for the necessary documents.”Please don’t put too much pressure on us, we have had hard-working officials,” Goagoseb said.The committee also raised concerns that the Home Affairs campaign to deliver IDs at mobile points across the country was not working as well as planned.The committee said the points they had visited were not well advertised and few people knew about the campaign.Close to 90 000 IDs are to be delivered to their owners by next year.The committee heard yesterday that in the Khomas Region, only 400 documents had been collected by Friday.