Track ID's, passports online

2007-08-28 22:37

Michael Hamlyn

Cape Town - One of the major problems of the Home Affairs Department will be tackled by what the government is calling the "Citizen Relations Portal" which will allow South Africans to make enquiries on line about the progress of service deliveries affecting them.

It will enable citizens to apply for ID books or passports online and will allow them to tap into the "Track and Trace" system which lets officials know the progress of applications.

The portal will be streets ahead of the present government gateway screens available in community centres, which give static information on government programmes.

"This will be a first," Public Service and Administration Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi said on Tuesday.

The Track and Trace system was also praised by Fraser-Moleketi as "one of the most successful projects" in the turn-around programme for her department.

Plans are that the citizen relations portal will include the services of Home Affairs, but also of the Social Development Department, so that enquiries about and applications for social grants may be made online.

Speaking at a media briefing on behalf of the government and administration cluster of ministers, Fraser-Moleketi said that there had been a bottleneck in the issuing of passports, but that the computer system had been upgraded.

Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa Nqakula said that she was satisfied with the progress that was being made in the department's turn-around strategy.

Fraser-Moleketi also told the briefing that cellphones would be issued to community development workers to enable them to be in touch with various government offices, national, provincial and local.

Laptops could also be supplied so that they could connect interactively with government sites.

- I-Net Bridge (News24)