*******ion to the core

Getting a passport in South Africa has become a nightmare. The Durban branches especially. There’s people who queue from 3am and get attended to at 3pm. They wait 12 hours in the queue just to make an application. If they arrive any later than 3 am to join the queue they not getting in to the branch. Then there’s people who arrive at 2:30pm, and just walk in to the branch, following no queue. They apparently have a contact inside, them being one of the home affairs officials. Their applications are done, and they are out in 20 minutes. The contact accepts a bribe which is usually transferred to the contacts account. No cash changes hands. The *******ion ring starts at the door with the security guard, who won’t let you in if you haven’t been authorised by the home affairs official. Once you in and authorised, the officials capturing biometrics, confirming your application and accepting payment, all of them are made aware that you paying a bribe and you’re a special customer, and you are given the elite status and sorted out. If you haven’t bribed, every process takes you a couple of hours, biometrics, application and payment. It takes so long because even though you’re in the queue, people who bribed are coming in front of you. And dare you say anything, you or even try and open your mouth, you are then treated like a ********. There is a culture at home affairs that if they want to work they work, otherwise the ladies capturing at the computers are having a jolly good time. Talking to each other , and having a good laugh. There is no sense of urgency, to get anything done.