DA calls on Home Affairs to get house in order and urgently provide frontline staff with PPE

6 May 2020

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has been  informed that Home Affairs offices in Mpumalanga, Gauteng, Eastern Cape, Kwazulu Natal as well as the Western Cape have been closed either due to a lack of Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) or due to Covid-19 infections.

We call on the Minister of Home Affairs, Aaron Motsoaledi, to urgently get his house in order and ensure that his Department provides critical Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) to its employees at client-facing offices.

The Department promised that all of its offices will be operating between 08:00 and 16:00 on weekdays to render essential services. However, the Department surely cannot expect, employees to conduct these services, without PPE. The lack of PPE not only put the employees’ health at risk but also the health of their families and the public.

Home Affairs staff are front line workers who are exposed to the Covid-19 virus every day. It is horrifying that the Department is failing to provide them with the protective equipment they need to safely and effectively carry out their tasks.

Closing a department responsible for the important task of issuing birth certificates and death certificates which are needed during this time is deeply concerning. People who want to bury their loved ones have been left in the lurch with no possibility of getting death certificates.

The DA will write to Minister Motsoaledi, to find out what his department is doing to address the safety of frontline staff and what measures are being put in place to ensure that Home Affairs offices that are and have been closed are reopened safely in a way that will not compromise the health and safety of staff and expose them to occupational risks.

By failing to provide the necessary protective equipment the Department is failing not only its employees but millions of South Africans who rely on the essential services provided by Home Affairs.

The DA calls on the Minister to address these matters without delay so that grieving families, in particular, will not be kept waiting and incurring unnecessary expenses due to the Department’s failure to carry out its obligations.

Issued by Angel Khanyile, DA Deputy Shadow Minister of Home Affairs, 6 May 2020