6 Months and no help from Dept of Home Affairs with passport application

Good Day, I am hereby writing to you with the hope that you can assist me with an issue I have regarding obtaining my Daughters passport. I have unfortunately exhausted all other options without any luck from the Dept of Home Affairs Office. I don't want to bore you with my entire story so I will summarize and simplify it as best I can. I hope you will understand the level of frustration I have over this issue. All I need is for someone at the Home Affairs head office to delete the online passport application with ref:ECH-0001VBXO-F5AD62-B_PP1.

29th June 2022 - Did an online application and made payment for the renewal of my 3 kids passports. 30th June 2022 - Visited the Vereeniging branch to do the biometrics and complete the application. Waited for about 8 Hours in the Que only to be told they were offline. We were informed to come back the next day but will have to join the Que. 4th July 2022 - Visited the Vereeniging branch again and joined the Que and waited approx 7 hours to be told they were offline again. 14th July 2022 - Visited the Vereeniging branch again and joined the Que. Managed to get my two kids applications complete but my daughters gave an error while trying to capture the biometrics. We were told to come back. 25 July 2022 - Visited the Vereeniging branch again and joined the Que. Tried again to complete the application but got the same error. Was told to come back another day as they just went offline. 5th Aug 2022 - Sent first email to *** seeking assistance to resolve this matter. Email Reference number 2*** Good Day, The above reference number refers to an application that was done to obtain a passport renewal for my Daughter. I have made the same application for my son and other daughter and I visited the vereeniging branch to take the photos, fingerprints and verify documentation. Those applications were successful and completed awaiting collection. The above reference number ECH-0001VBXO-F5AD62- B_PP1 was not the case. We were able to take the photo but as soon as the branch tried to access the application to capture the fingerprints it gave an error. I have since been to the Vereeniging branch 4 times waited in the Que for over 7 hours each time only to be told that its still not working. I have no other options left as I was told not to come in until head office resolves the issue on there side after which the application can be processed. Payment was done via eft and everything was done according to requirments online but the application just cannot be processed. Its been over 3 weeks now and no one has called me from the branch therefore I am writing this email to get assistance. Please advise on a way forward.

15th Aug 2022 - They only responded after 10 days requesting my ID number. I sent it the same day. Dear Sir/Madam Thank you for writing to the Department of Home Affairs Contact Centre. We have taken note of the contents of your email. Kindly furnish us with your own 13 digits ID number as a 3rd party for security reasons so that we can be able to assist you further.

23rd Aug 2022 - Received a response from *** claiming everything is fine and I should advise the branch to discuss the matter the IT dept.

14th September 2022 - Visited the branch again and explained what the email said but after trying to capture the biometrics the system gave the same error. Was referred to the Manager Godfrey who said he will send an email to head office and I should call him after a few days to check on the status. It must be noted that I tried calling him over 20 times in the 2 weeks but no one ever answered the phone. Eventually I managed to get his mobile number and sent him a WhatsApp. To date he was never able to assist and just kept making false promises.

13th October 2022 - Visited the branch again and was informed I don't need to join the Que. Tried to capture the fingerprints again but got the same error. I was informed to try to start a manual application as the online application can't be fixed but I had to come back another day.

17th October 2022 - Visited the branch again and they were offline.

19 October 2022 - Visited the branch again and they were offline.

9th November 2022 - Visited the branch again and they were offline.

10th November 2022 - Sent a new email to *** with the following: Good Day, As per this above case number it must be noted that I have visited the branch on 9 Occasions already and we are still unsuccessful with the application of my daughters passport. I hereby request that you please cancel the online application ref: ECH-0001VBXO-F5AD62-B_PP1 I was informed that something went wrong during the e-channel application which is preventing the capturing of information at the branch. Upon cancellation of the online application I had made previously I will do a new application and pay again in order to get this issue resolved. Kindly assist as soon as possible as this case has been ongoing for over 6 Months. Regards, Naeem

16th November 2022 - Received the following email: Dear Naeem Thank you for writing to the Department of Home Affairs contact centre. Kindly note that your daughter's passport application shows that payment was made and updated since 29-06-2022. The next step in this case would be to have her biometrics taken. Please make use of our BABS system for bookings to go into one of our Home Affairs offices via this link: https://services.dha.gov.za/#/authenticate/identity At this point to be told to just visit the branch again and try again is an insult. I know it would never work and I refuse to go back until the dept confirms that they have managed to delete the online application Ref: ECH-0001VBXO-F5AD62-B.

Online application Ref: ECH-0001VBXO-F5AD62-B