Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs chairperson Hlomani Chauke on Monday called on the Department of Home Affairs (DoH) to consider an outright ban on cell phone usage by front line staff during working hours at all branches.

This follows numerous complaints made to the committee from members of the public about delays at Home Affairs offices, which Chauke says will be addressed at the first meeting of the year with the department’s acting director-general. 

In a statement Chauke said a guiding framework on the use of cell phones at front desks must be drafted and implemented across the country to ensure standardisation. He said this must include guidelines for how officials would be contacted in the case of a family emergency.

“It is unacceptable that the public spend excessive amounts of time at Home Affairs offices, while officials spend a disproportionate amount of time busy with their cell phones. Officials are primarily employed to offer a service and the complaints point to dereliction of duty by some officials, yet they continue to draw a salary at the end of the month,” Chauke said. 

He went on to say similar practices were also witnessed at ports of entry across the country.

“This is more concerning because the President has anchored his economic growth drive to tourism, which will be undermined by poor service,” he added.

He went on to emphasise that while the committee sees the issue of delays as a major concern, it was cognisant that one of the major causes of long queues is the downtime caused by unreliable information and technology software. Notwithstanding, he stated that professional service at the department must improve.