The department of home affairs has launched an upgraded online booking system on the MyHomeAffairsOnline platform, introducing enhanced security measures to prevent the abuse of booking slots and improve access to services.
Users are now required to create a MyHomeAffairsOnline profile linked to their South African ID number and e-mail address before making a booking, helping to ensure that appointments remain available to legitimate clients.
The upgrade follows years of abuse of the previous booking platform by syndicates and other unscrupulous individuals who exploited vulnerabilities in the system to block appointment slots and sell them to desperate citizens.
As a result, many ordinary South Africans struggled to secure appointments for essential home affairs services.
The upgraded booking system is available at myhomeaffairsonline.dha.gov.za and marks a step forward in home affairs’ digital transformation programme.
“For too long, ordinary South Africans were disadvantaged by criminals who exploited weaknesses in the previous booking system to hoard appointment slots and sell them for profit,” said home affairs minister Leon Schreiber in a statement.
Read: Home affairs goes ghost-hunting on state payrolls
“The migration of our booking system to MyHomeAffairsOnline directly addresses this abuse by linking bookings to verified user profiles, strengthening the integrity of the system and protecting citizens’ access to services.