WHY elderly residents are struggling at Home Affairs

In a worrying new trend, the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) is struggling to verify the fingerprints of elderly residents. The South African has been contacted repeatedly by readers who’ve simply hit a wall trying to complete the necessary biometrics. When this occurs, the department insists on a Home Affairs National Identification System, or HANIS verification …

ELDERLY STRUGGLE AT HOME AFFAIRS

Moreover, there are no dedicated home-visit policies from the DHA for housebound or bedridden residents. What does exist instead is something more ad hoc. The department reportedly has 220 mobile units nationwide. So, if you have a severely frail family member, you can approach their local Home Affairs branch or ward councilor to request mobile assistance.

Crucially, a family member cannot complete this on someone else’s behalf, an official must physically travel and record biometrics in-person, using the proper equipment. Considering the 2028 deadline for the dissolution of old green ID booklets, we suspect requests of this nature will soon start to increase.

Because without such a service, elderly residents are left relying on an overstretched, understaffed unit. One widely reported case in Komani, Eastern Cape, saw elderly residents travelling for hours on their South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) pension money, only to be turned away when the mobile unit broke down.

WHY HOME AFFAIRS FINGERPRINT MACHINES FAIL

Many fingerprint readers at participating DHA bank branches fail, leaving the elderly with the prospect of repeat visits to rectify the error. Image: File

This is where first-hand accounts from frustrated readers come to light. Department of Home Affairs fingerprint scanners fail in two distinct ways:

• ‘Failure to capture’ is a temporary issue like dirty sensors or damp skin.
• ‘Failure to enroll’ is where the fingerprint detail itself is too worn or shallow to generate usable biometrics.

Decades of manual labour and the natural ageing of the skin can permanently affect the latter process. Therefore, it’s not a glitch in the system to be fixed with machine cleaner. It is, in most cases, a genuine failure of Home Affairs protocol, and one which multiple visits to different fingerprint stations won’t solve. So, what do DHA official fall back on when this occurs?

WHAT IS HANIS VERIFICATION?

As mentioned, HANIS is the master database underpinning every South African ID document. So, your fingerprints, photograph and biographic details are checked in real time against the National Population Register (NPR). All banks, SASSA portals and other government institutions use HANIS verification to confirm you are who you say you are.

To get HANIS verification you can visit any participating bank branch or a Home Affairs branch. Verification-only checks are typically faster than other full-service requests:

• Bring your ID book or smart ID card.
• If you have a known history of failed fingerprint scans, mention it upfront and ask for facial verification instead of repeating a scan likely to fail again.
• Avoid peak periods, early mornings and month-end are typically the busiest.

But what do you think? Are you an elderly resident struggling to get assistance from Home Affairs? If so, what experiences have you had? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below …