Home Affairs A Joke!

My partner collected his passport from Maponya Mall (we lived in Lenasia) in 2011. However due to work commitments he was not able to use it and the passport and it expired in 2021. He is currently planning a trip to Namibia and therefore went to the Home Affairs in Kempton Park to apply for a renewal. At Kempton PArk he was told that he needs to go back to Maponya Mall as the staff at Maponya Mall need to acknowledge that his passport was collected - yet he had the expired passport with him and could prove the the lady at Kemepton Park that it was indeed collected. I then phoned Home Affairs - calll reference number *** and spoke to a gentleman who advised that since it was already 2om pn a Friday and with Hertigate Day celebrations, he will email the Maponya Mall supervisor to "release" the passport on the system, so as to avoid my partner from driving all the way to the south. I was told to call after 9am on Monday. I called today and spoke to Dorethy who not advised me that no my partner needs to travel to Maponya Mall as they will need to take his finger prints - according to her, my partner would have been told this when he went to collect his passport. If they needed his finger prints - why did they not do it when he collected his passport. Now a pensioner is suppose to travel to Maponya Mall just to have his finger prints taken - because someone at Home Affaira did not do their job! I asked to speak to Dorethy;s Manager and was put on hold for a good 19 minutes with no reply!! Pathetic - yet we have all these news releases telling us how accomodating home affair is? What would have happened if we had moved to another province - would we then need to travle back to Gauteng - just for finger prints!!