The Minister of Home Affairs, Dr Leon Schreiber, welcomes the significant reduction in system downtime recorded at Home Affairs offices, with "system offline" incidents declining by 61% over the previous financial year, as the Department’s digital reforms continue to produce concrete service delivery improvements for the people of South Africa.
The 61% improvement in system uptime during the 2025/26 financial year follows targeted reforms to fix the digital foundations of Home Affairs, including upgrading network infrastructure, modernising front-office applications, replacing ageing equipment, and eliminating single points of failure that previously left offices offline for protracted periods. Further work is also underway to enhance real-time performance monitoring across the system.
Nationally, total working time lost to system downtime declined from 35 426 hours in 2024/25 to 13 867 hours in 2025/26. All nine provinces experienced significant improvements, ranging from a 79% improvement in uptime in the Free State and a 68% improvement in Mpumalanga, to 41% in the North West. The full countrywide breakdown is provided in the table below.
|
Province |
System hours lost 2024/25 |
System hours lost 2025/26 |
System improvement |
|
Free State |
2 294 |
477 |
79% reduction |
|
Mpumalanga |
4 151 |
1 336 |
68% reduction |
|
Gauteng |
6 788 |
2 296 |
66% reduction |
|
Western Cape |
2 066 |
731 |
65% reduction |
|
Eastern Cape |
4 939 |
1 809 |
63% reduction |
|
KwaZulu-Natal |
5 988 |
2 291 |
62% reduction |
|
Northern Cape |
1 382 |
666 |
52% reduction |
|
Limpopo |
2 492 |
1 431 |
43% reduction |
|
North West |
4 161 |
2 460 |
41% reduction |
|
Total |
35 426 |
13 867 |
61% reduction |
Minister Schreiber said: “The remarkable 61% reduction in working hours lost to system downtime represents the latest milestone on our digital transformation journey. Our reforms have ignited a virtuous cycle where we are not only expanding access to Home Affairs services at an unprecedented pace, with over 408 bank branches rolling out digital Smart ID services over the past five months, but simultaneously improving the quality of service offered at Home Affairs offices.”
Minister Schreiber concluded: “While our work is not yet complete, South Africans who access services at one of these 408 new bank branches or at departmental offices already have a vastly better experience compared to the failures previously associated with Home Affairs. The dramatic improvements delivered in just 24 months serve as motivation for us to further enhance access and service delivery through digital transformation to ensure we deliver dignity for all.”
Media Enquiries:
Carli van Wyk – Spokesperson to the Minister, Cell: 079 166 3899
ISSUED BY THE MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS