Masoyi woman is a man according to her identity document
Despite giving birth and a doctor's letter confirming that she is female, her ID states that she is a man.
In August 2002, a Masoyi woman was issued an identity document (ID) stating that she was male instead of female.
However, Gift Maphosa, who was 20-year-old at the time she received her ID, did not note the mistake on the document until 2012 when she tried to apply for a job. Maphosa has been struggling to correct the ID ever since.
The 42-year-old mother said her identity document is complicating her life and her child’s. She said both her clinic card and birth certificate state she is female.
She went to the Mbombela Home Affairs offices in 2016 to try and start the process to change her gender from male to female, but without success.
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Over the past eight years, Maphosa has been to Mbombela Home Affairs many times to try rectify the problem.
“I was referred to a doctor to prove that I am a woman and I did that, even though I told them I was a woman because I gave birth to my daughter and I have a doctor’s letter to prove it. All of that was dismissed,” she said.
“Since then I have been in and out of the home affairs’ offices, but they are not helping me. They keep on telling me to come back.”
Maphosa added that the ID crisis has put the life of her daughter on hold as she could not continue with her schooling for the past two years.
“My daughter’s ID was nullified due to the status of my gender on my document, as I don’t qualify to be a mother. I have tried to show them all the hospital paperwork, but with the wrong gender stated on my ID, it has become useless.
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“I am calling on Mbombela Home Affairs to rectify this mistake so that my daughter can go back to school and I can also move on with my life,” she said.
She added that to rub salt in her wounds, she lost the ID while going to and from home affairs trying to fix the problem. She still has her birth certificate and some copies of her ID, however.
“My wish is that they can resolve my problem while schools still accept learners so that my daughter can go back to school,” she said.
The Department of Home Affairs’ Ehlanzeni District operations manager, Doris Chiloane, said she would look into the Maphosa matter and would revert back to Lowvelder. However, by the time of publication, she had not done so.
