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H Affairs encourages S Africans to take advantage of extended services

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The Home Affairs Department says although it has received a notable response from voters who visited its offices to collect smart ID cards and green ID books on Saturday, more than 250 000 are yet to be collected.

The department’s offices across the country are open from 8 am until 17 pm this voter registration weekend. This is to enable citizens to collect their IDs or apply for temporary IDs in order to register to vote.

Department spokesperson Siya Qoza has urged South Africans to take advantage of the extended services.

“The first day of the voter registration weekend where the home affairs offices were open went very well. They were about 24 000 people who came to collect their IDs or came to apply for IDs. The offices will be open again today. We urge our people to come out and collect. The operating hours again are from 8’clock this morning until 5o’clock this afternoon,” says Qoza.

Over 200 000 identity documents have still not been collected from various Home Affairs offices throughout the country.

The Electoral Commission is conducting its final voter registration drive this weekend. Some young people in and around Pretoria are keen to collect their identity documents to enable them to register and cast their vote this year.

Lunga Thabethe is one of them, “I am here because I heard my father telling me last night that the voting stations are open so I need to go and fetch my ID as soon as possible so that I can vote. I am going to register tomorrow. I am very excited because I am finally 18. I am happy because now I can be able to vote and make change.”

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