Officials from the Department of Home Affairs and the King Sabatha Dalindyebo (KSD) Home Affairs Stakeholder’s Forum in Mthatha hosted a workshop with the aim of equipping traditional leaders from KSD Local Municipality, about information that could assist their community members, at the PRD Building in Mthatha, last week.
They were told about the services that are done by this department and what is needed in order for the community members to get them. This included applications for birth certificates, identity documents, immigration, amendments and rectifications, duplicates, etc.
According to the assistant manager for Department of Home Affairs, Yolanda Ntabeni, as the KSD Stakeholder Forum, they hosted this workshop with the aim of discussing their services so that it could be easier for them to assist their community members.
She said they had realised that there were things that people who are leaders in the society were not clear about. “We decided to call this workshop as we wanted to explain some of the things that could be dangerous in society due to their lack of knowledge,” said Ntabeni.
She added that among the things that were discussed in this workshop was that people who are new in the areas should report to the traditional leaders or to any leader that is leading in that particular area. She said that is why they also appeal to the community members to ensure that if there is someone who is new in the area, that they should inform the traditional leader.
“After we are done with this workshop, we will go around checking if what we were talking about here was implemented in these areas. We will also check whether the traditional leaders are coming to our department to check if the people who are living in their areas, especially those who are coming from other countries, are here legally or not.”
Chairperson of the KDSD Stakeholder Forum, Chief Zwelithobile Mtikrakra, said as the traditional leaders and other leaders in the areas, they ensure that they pass this information to their communities, especially in the rural areas.
He said sometimes some of these community members leave their areas to seek information, yet they could have asked help from their traditional leaders first.
“It is painful because they are using their own money for transport. You find that they are told to start from their traditional leader first. Now that we have received this information it would be easy for us to inform them. If they come to Home Affairs now, it would be very easy, because they would carry all the documents that are needed when applying for that particular document. We would try by all means to ensure that this information reaches them,” said Mtikrakra.
