Dear Mr Schreiber

After waiting a year for an appointment to open up at the Somerset West Home Affairs Office, I managed to book at Grabouw (being the nearest available office). For convenience, I opted to collect my documents at Somerset West.

Today I attended the Somerset West office to collect my documents but, despite arriving at 2pm, I was (together with at least 10 others) denied access because they were too full. We were told by the security guard, Nomazamo, to make an appointment online, alternatively to queue tomorrow morning from 6am. Many of the people turned away were school children whose parents had taken leave to be there.

I, like many of the people turned away today, cannot afford to queue every day. We also cannot make appointments online because Somerset West is not given as an option. Are my documents going to be held hostage at the Somerset West office until I’m granted access to the office by Nomozamo? Do we only have until noon to be issued a number in the queue?