Good afternoon Dr Leon Amos SCHREIBER,
I am writing this email to share the experience that I had today while visiting DHA HQ in Pretoria.
I am a US citizen married to a SA citizen and we have 2 baby boys. I currently live in Bryanston, Johannesburg with my family and recently got my SA 2 years visa in November of 2024, which allowed me to reside and open a business in SA.

One of the requirements for the SA driver license is to have a letter from DHA which authenticates my current visa. I visited the DHA in Randburg, Johannesburg and I was told that I needed to physically come to DHA HQ in Pretoria and I would be able to get the letter the same day.
On Monday 31st of March, after driving for an hour, I arrived at the HQ of DHA in Pretoria around 3:20pm. When I got to the main entrance security checkpoint, I was told that the individuals who can help me are already close for the day. I was surprised because the website shows that DHA HQ is open until 4pm. The gentleman at the security checkpoint said that he can talk about this matter but if I can come the next morning, I will be able to get that letter within an hour.

Today, I came to DHA HQ Pretoria at 11am. After giving the reason for my visit to the gentleman at the entrance security checkpoint, I was directed to the reception desk where I saw two ladies sitting at the desk. The lady close to the building entrance / security checkpoint was talking to a person, and the lady at the other end of the reception desk was free. I approached the lady who was free, greeted her at the desk and she greeted me back. I started explaining to her the reason for my visit and not even 10 seconds into the conversation, the other lady at the reception started talking to her in the local language which suddenly became a conversation between them. Now she is ignoring me, takes documents from the other lady and starts stamping them.
I waited for her to be done and I politely told her that her behavior was not professional at all. I am right in front of her, explaining to her the reason for my visit and she started doing something else which has nothing to do with me, without even excusing herself or telling me to wait for a minute until she attends to this other matter involving her coworker and the other gentleman.

When I was done talking, she told me that she can"t help, spoke to the other lady in the local language, and told me that her coworker will help me. I approached her coworker politely and she told me that I must apologize to her coworker before she can help me.
I asked to speak to their supervisor and they told me that there was no supervisor available for me. They practically stop me from meeting who can help me solve the matter I came for and also made a complaint about their strange and unprofessional behaviors.

Honestly I did not believe what I read and heard on the news about DHA in South Africa, but today I had a taste of the unprofessionalism of the employees at DHA, and the xenophobia of South Africans against other Africans.

With this small amount of power they have, they are already aching like they own DHA, what will they do if they are promoted to more important positions?
And if this is the behavior of regular employees at DHA and other government employees, I wonder where they learn it from to be so comfortable behaving that way at work.

To me, this is not an isolated incident but a common behavior at DHA. I will really appreciate it if you can look into this matter and take the appropriate actions in order to avoid such behaviors of your employees toward other Africans in South Africa.

Thank you very much and have a nice day Sir.