Woman from Madras will finally have an identity document

After 12 long years of going back and forth to home affairs, a cognitively impaired woman (30) from Madras near Hazyview has finally received her birth certificate.

After intervention from Lowvelder, Ntsako Sithole received the important document on November 22 and her ID book will be ready in the next two weeks.

According to her younger sister, Victoria, she had been struggling to get her ID for the past 12 years, since she was 18, though all her other siblings had received theirs. This situation also negatively affecting her three kids, who were struggling to be issued birth certificates as a result. Victoria said they had gone to home affairs and completed all the processes more than once, and when they were supposed to collect the ID, they were told the staff could not find it.

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“It had been a struggle since then; she was supposed to be receiving disability grants, but she did not because of her lack of an ID. She has three kids who are not documented, and this was affecting them.

“As a family, this has affected us all, because we have to look after my sister and support her and her kids. Now that she will have an ID, it will be better, because she will receive her grants. Her kids are also going to benefit from social grants,” said Sithole.

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“I would like to thank the media for their intervention because we have been trying all this years with no luck. But with their intervention there was a swift progress.”

The Ehlanzeni district’s operations manager for home affairs, Doris Chiloane, said they have met with the branch manager of Hazyview home affairs and they are making sure that the mistake is rectified. Sithole will receive her ID book soon.
She did not divulge the reasons why it took Sithole so many years to receive her ID document.