Is ‘system offline’ at Home Affairs still a swear word?
· Citizen
“System offline at Home Affairs should be a swear word,” said Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber.
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Fast forward two years, and Home Affairs digital reforms have reduced “system offline” incidents by 61%, the department says.
Schreiber has hailed the 61% drop in system downtime across offices nationwide, crediting digital reforms for cutting lost working hours from more than 35 000 to under 14 000 in the past financial year.
Digital reforms
The minister spokesperson, Carli van Wyk, said that 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.
Performance monitoring
Van Wyk said 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.”
‘Downtime’
Schreiber said the 61% reduction in working hours lost to system downtime represents the latest milestone in his department’s 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.”
“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,” Schreiber said.
National
The full countrywide breakdown is provided in the table below.