Border official Facebooking to face disciplinary action

Date: 15 March 2018 By: Isabel Venter

Action is going to be taken against a Home Affairs official who was videographed at the Beitbridge Border Post, seemingly engrossed with Facebook on her cellphone while on duty.

In a statement on Wednesday, the Department of Home Affairs said the official has been identified and will face an internal disciplinary process.

The video, which went viral, even had the newly appointed Minister of Home Affairs, Mr Malusi Gigaba, retweeting about it saying: “I was this morning informed about the video circulating on social media platforms, and have asked the Department of @HomeAffairsSA to investigate this matter and take swift action against the official.”

In the video, the female official can be seen processing someone’s travel documents and passport, while all the time scrolling through what seems to be her Facebook and WhatsApp messages. At one stage, she almost drops the documents.

Further to this, the department also confirmed that they have commenced with disciplinary measures against the official’s three supervisors on duty for their lack of adequate supervision. “Of major concern to me is the fact that the official is dealing with security documents without paying attention to detail and is rather pre-occupied with her cellular phone. To this end, we have commenced with disciplinary measures against the official and the three supervisors,” said the department’s Director-General Mkuseli Apleni.

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Follow the link below to see the video retweeted by Minister Gigaba:

I was this morning informed about the video circulating on social media platforms, and have asked the Department of @HomeAffairsSA to investigate this matter and take swift action against the official. pic.twitter.com/ZwllSemEyZ

— Malusi Gigaba (@mgigaba) March 14, 2018

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Isabel Venter

Isabel joined the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror in 2009 as a reporter. She holds a BA Degree in Communication Sciences from the University of South Africa. Her beat is mainly crime and court reporting.

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