******** record centre Pretoria - poor service, indifferent and mocking

<p>I have worked as a diplomat in SA and would like a police clearance from the countries i have worked in. In my iwn country it took 10 minutes...</p> <p> </p> <p>Here I submitted the request well in advance, on 20 April. Official information indicates that it will take 14 days but I was told at the CRC in Pretoria that it would take 4 weeks. </p> <p> </p> <p>It is now 7 weeks, phoning is unsuccessful so I decided to go to the CRC. There are counters for submission and for retrieval and there is an inquiry desk up front, where I was welcomed by a female officer standing in front of the counter with a statement "go and queue". The queue consisted of at least 30 peopls, so I attempted to explain that I was not submitting nor collecting but had waited for 7 weeks so I wanted to inquire what was happening. A rather monosyllabic answer "the same, go and queue" with a pointed finger. I made another attempt explaining that I have been based here as a diplomat and would then like to speak to the person in charge to complain. Same answer, so I said I felt this was not serious and would send a complaint. "do whatever you want".</p> <p> </p> <p>All I would have wanted was an understanding whether 7 weeks implies that there is a problem or whether there is a backlog and it often takes longer. Instead I had the impression that the group of officers standing with the charming officer who "helped" me, rather thought it was all very funny and continuing their chat around the reception desk was far more interesting.</p> <p> </p>