The Home Affairs blackout has been an absolute nightmare for the scores of people who were still waiting in winding queues on Friday afternoon – and this after others had simply walked out believing they would not be helped.
One woman said her husband had joined the queue for her at the Home Affairs offices in Umgeni Road‚ Durban‚ at 4.30am. But by 3pm‚ more than 11 hours later‚ she had yet to get any assistance.
At 3.30pm‚ those in the queue were sent home.
“They have not processed one application today but I have managed to move forward because other people ahead of me [have been] leaving throughout the day‚” said Megan Savides.
The official Government of South Africa account on Twitter announced that the failure was due to a massive power supply outage at State Information Technology Agency‚ but according to Savides‚ there was hardly any communication to the people waiting in the queues.
Frustrations were mounting.
“There has been almost no contact from any Home Affairs rep or employee.
“They have been very unhelpful‚ showing their frustration with people’s questions without giving any real feedback when asking whether we have any chance of being seen to today‚” she added.
Others had turned to social networking site Twitter to beg for an intervention from the top brass of the department.
Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package. 
