Matlosana Speaker and Home Affairs Launch BAS Awareness Drive
- Karen Scheepers
- Jul 15
- 6 min read
The Office of the Speaker in the City of Matlosana, together with the Department of Home Affairs, has embarked on a public awareness campaign to educate residents about the Branch Appointment System (BAS) and to address common service delivery challenges. Over the course of mid-July 2025, Speaker of Council Cllr. Stella Mondlane-Ngwenya and Home Affairs officials are visiting local communities, from Khuma to Jouberton, with an outreach program that combines on-site services (via a mobile Home Affairs unit) and educational sessions.
This campaign aims to improve citizens’ understanding of the new online booking system for Home Affairs services while tackling issues such as ID application backlogs, youth documentation needs, and difficulties rural residents face in accessing government services.
What is the Branch Appointment System (BAS)?
The Branch Appointment Booking System (BABS or BAS) is an online platform introduced by Home Affairs to eliminate long queues and streamline service at local offices dha.gov.za. Instead of walking in and waiting hours, citizens can pre-book a slot for services like smart ID or passport applications. The system is accessible through the Home Affairs website, one simply clicks the BABS link and enters their South African ID number, name, and cellphone number to schedule an appointment.
Once an appointment is booked, dedicated service counters at the branch handle those clients. This means quicker processing for people with bookings, while also reducing congestion for everyone else thesouthafrican.com. The department has warned that in the near future certain offices will only serve clients who made BAS appointments for IDs and passports. Walk-in applicants won’t be outright turned away, but the clear direction is that booking online is the way forward as Home Affairs “wages war against long queues”.
The appointment system is one of several strategies the Department has rolled out nationwide to cut down waiting times and improve efficiency. Notably, the BAS has already been implemented at many offices across all provinces, including North West sites like Klerksdorp Home Affairs in Matlosana By using BAS, Matlosana residents can avoid spending an entire day in line, knowing they have a set time to be served.
Awareness Campaign Schedule and Services
According to the Office of the Speaker, the awareness drive spans four days and locations to reach different parts of Matlosana. Each day features a morning session with a mobile Home Affairs truck (bringing services directly to the community) and an afternoon educational session about BAS and related issues.
Table below summarizes the dates, venues, and times for these outreach events:
Date | Location (Ward) | Activities |
Monday, 14 July 2025 | Khuma (Ward 32) – Library next to the Clinic | 09:00 – Mobile Home Affairs services on-site 14:00 – Community awareness session |
Tuesday, 15 July 2025 | Jouberton (Ward 5) – Extension 19 Hall (near Malebo’s Tuckshop) | 09:00 – Mobile unit provides services 14:00 – Community awareness session |
Wednesday, 16 July 2025 | Kanana (Ward 24) – Maranatha Church | 09:00 – Mobile Home Affairs services on-site 14:00 – Community awareness session |
Thursday, 17 July 2025 | Tigane (Wards 1 & 2) – Community Library | 09:00 – Mobile unit provides services 14:00 – Community awareness session |
Table : Schedule of the BAS awareness campaign in Matlosana (mid-July 2025). Morning sessions bring a Home Affairs mobile office for services, and afternoon sessions focus on BAS education and community Q&A.
Residents attending these events can thus get immediate assistance (such as applying for or collecting IDs and birth certificates via the mobile office) and also learn how to use the BAS online booking for future needs. By bringing services to venues in Khuma, Jouberton, Kanana, and Tigane, the campaign tackles the travel barriers that many, especially in rural wards, face.
For example, a trip from Tigane or Kanana to the Klerksdorp Home Affairs office can be costly and time-consuming, the mobile truck at the local library makes a huge difference for those communities. The Speaker’s office and Home Affairs hope that through these localized engagements, residents will not only book appointments going forward, but also voice any service delivery concerns in a forum where they can be addressed.
Addressing Home Affairs Service Challenges
Beyond promoting BAS, the awareness drive openly discusses persistent issues in Home Affairs services that affect communities like Matlosana. One major issue in recent years was the ID backlog. In 2023/24, a change in IT service providers caused a processing bottleneck that left nearly 250,000 ID applications stuck in limbo nationwide dha.gov.za. Many citizens , including Matlosana youth waiting for their first ID books/cards, experienced long delays in receiving their identity documents.
The government responded with a focused effort: by September 2024, the Department announced it had completely cleared a backlog of 247,500 ID applications that had accumulated since November 2023. Home Affairs Minister Dr. Leon Schreiber noted that resolving this ID backlog in one month was “tangible proof that longstanding challenges at Home Affairs can be resolved” when tackled systematically. Clearing the backlog was vital, as those affected were finally able to “seek employment, open accounts, and gain access to social grants” once they had their IDs in hand. This campaign reinforces such messages, urging residents to apply for and collect their IDs promptly, and informing them that measures are in place so past backlogs do not repeat.
Another focus is on documentation for youth. Large numbers of young South Africans still lack ID cards or birth certificates, which limits their opportunities. Home Affairs has been rolling out initiatives to bridge this gap. For instance, in the first quarter of 2024/25 the Department used mobile units to visit schools and helped over 37,000 learners at 1,625 schools apply for smart IDs and other documents right on their school premises. This spared many students and parents the expense of traveling to distant offices. In total, more than 81,000 people obtained IDs “right where they live” via mobile offices between April and June 2024 gov.za, a significant number of them being young first-time ID applicants.
Minister Schreiber highlighted that while Home Affairs is working towards full digital services in the future, they are “finding innovative ways to improve [the] existing service offering” in the meantime, such as taking mobile offices to communities to “deliver dignity” to citizens who need documents The Matlosana awareness campaign builds on this approach by actively reaching out to youth and others who may have unmet documentation needs. Notably, the timing coincides with the winter school holidays, when students are free to attend and nationally Home Affairs has extended office hours as part of a “#CollectYourID” drive from 7 to 21 July 2025 to encourage youths to get their IDs and to speed up document delivery thegotoguy.co.za.
The campaign also acknowledges the difficulties faced by rural residents and those in townships on the outskirts. Many people in areas like Khuma and Tigane have limited internet access or find the online booking process unfamiliar, hence they may not have heard of BAS or know how to use it. By holding workshops in these wards, officials can demonstrate how to book an appointment online (for example, showing that it’s “quick and easy” via the DHA website dha.gov.za).
More broadly, bringing a mobile office on wheels to these neighborhoods addresses immediate service gaps: residents can apply for IDs, register births, or collect documents without a long trip to town. It exemplifies how government is trying to “take Home Affairs services to the doorstep” of citizens. For elderly community members or those with disabilities who struggle to travel, this is a crucial improvement.
The presence of the Speaker’s Office in this initiative also means local leaders are listening to complaints about Home Affairs, from chronic queue frustration to system downtimes and relaying them to the department. Such collaboration can help in refining services and ensuring the BAS rollout doesn’t leave anyone behind (for example, by providing support for those without smartphones or internet).
Significance of the Awareness Drive for the Community
This joint awareness campaign holds great significance for public understanding and access to services. Firstly, it empowers residents with information: by learning about BAS, people in Matlosana can take charge of their future Home Affairs visits, booking appointments that save them time and hassle. In a community where many might have assumed that spending a day in a long queue is the only way to get an ID or passport, this is a welcome change.
The campaign’s hands-on demonstrations and Q&A sessions help demystify the online system, building trust that it actually works. Increased use of BAS should translate into shorter queues and better service at the Klerksdorp Home Affairs office, benefitting even those who might still walk in. Secondly, the campaign is bringing government closer to the people, literally and figuratively. By stationing services in the heart of townships, it acknowledges the needs of residents who have felt overlooked.
Finally, the initiative underscores that documents like IDs and birth certificates are more than bureaucracy, they are the gateway to opportunities and rights. A well-documented population is better able to participate in the economy, education, and democracy.
The hope is that after these sessions, thousands more residents will go online to book appointments or will take advantage of mobile units, reducing the strain on offices and improving everyone’s service experience. As the City’s recent updates noted, “informed communities and responsive departments keep the metro moving.”thegotoguy.co.za
By informing the public and making departments more responsive to local needs, campaigns like this help ensure that Home Affairs truly becomes, as the Minister envisions, a “powerful economic enabler” that offers dignity and efficient service to every citizen dha.gov.za.
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