Minister Siyabonga Cwele opens Swartruggens Home Affairs office, 30 Apr

29 Apr 2019

Minister Cwele to open new Swartruggens office, interact with community members

The Minister of Home Affairs, Dr Siyabonga Cwele is scheduled to officially open the newly modernized Home Affairs office in Swartruggens in the Bokone Bophirima province on Tuesday, 30 April 2019.

Minister Cwele is expected to open the office in partnership with the provincial, district and local government leaders as well as the local traditional leadership. The Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs, Hon Mr Hlomani Chauke is also expected to form part of the delegation.

The new office forms part of the Modernisation Programme of the Department of Home Affairs. Through the Moetapele Initiative, which seeks to provide convenience to our clients through a world class, efficient and professional service, the new office models are equipped with state-of-the art infrastructure with a key objective to migrate from a manual to a paperless environment.

With its new technology, the office will offer services such as applications and collections of the new Smart ID Card, Passports and all other Home Affairs related services including registration of births.

As part of the day’s proceedings, the Minister and other political leaders are scheduled to visit the farming community in the area to encourage them to fully utilize the new facilities to apply for and collect Smart ID cards to enable them to participate in the upcoming general elections.

Swartruggens has high numbers of undocumented people, mostly on farms. The visit to the farming area is aimed at encouraging the community to come to the office to access enabling documents from the new office.

The programme will conclude with a community Imbizo that seeks to offer a platform for members of the community to interact, in an unmediated format, with the political leadership in relation to service delivery matters.

Members of the media are invited as follows: