Cape Town - Home Affairs Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi has announced the department would open offices in shopping malls across the country to take pressure off other offices.
Motsoaledi told Parliament on Tuesday the project would start with Menlyn Mall in Pretoria and the equipment would be installed in September.
This is one of the interventions the government is implementing ahead of building 15 new offices in different parts of the country.
He said the opening of the offices in the shopping malls would come as an important intervention.
The department will also be hiring more staff members to beef up their front-line service points after National Treasury gave it more than R200 million to do so.
Motsoaledi said there were a number of interventions they would implement to jack up the Department of Home Affairs.
He said they intended to overhaul the immigration services because of the problems of fraud and corruption.
The arrest of the Pakistani syndicate in March was not the end as they planned to take on more syndicates.
“As an immediate relief measure we have been engaging several malls in our country.
“Operating offices at malls will obviate the problem of queuing in the sun or rain,” said Motsoaledi.
“We will start with Menlyn in Pretoria, Cresta Mall and Southgate Mall in Joburg, the Pavillion in eThekwini and Tygervalley Mall in Cape Town,” he said.
“Since the malls have to move tenants around to make way for Home Affairs we will install our equipment in the malls around September this year.
“We shall start with Menlyn Mall in Pretoria and then roll out to the rest of the country,” said Motsoaledi.
Political Bureau