Woman still fighting Home Affairs for ID 10 years later

A Gauteng-based woman has been living a life of squalor because she does not have an identity document Primrose Modisane, 36, from Vosloorus in Ekurhuleni, claims she has tried in vain to convince the department of home affairs to issue her documentation as they kept on demanding endless proof that she was South African.

Modisane was born in Zimbabwe, but her maternal family is in South Africa and she was brought to the country as an infant.

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Based on matrilineal descent traced back to the matriarch of the family, Modisane and her mother, Phumulani Tshuma, are South African citizens by birth.

Asked to take DNA test

Modisane, whose South African grandmother relocated to Zimbabwe in the early ’50s said in 2016, as well as in 2021, home affairs officials told her she must undergo a DNA test to prove that she is indeed a granddaughter of the South African-born, fully documented Barbara Modisane.

She did undergo the tests and went back to the home affairs. “The officials accused me of reporting my case to lawyers and were reluctant to assist me. It has been more than 10 years since I started to push the department for my documents. This has affected me so badly that I even failed to complete my studies.

“I started my education in Vosloorus at Rebontsheng Primary School and later went to Masithwalisane Secondary School but dropped out in Grade 11 because they wanted me to produce an ID card or birth certificate. The only job I got after that was as a domestic worker.”

The mother of two said her two daughters have managed to obtain birth certificates but her name was not included on their birth certificates as she is still struggling to obtain an ID card.

Last year, she was in and out of the department’s offices in Boksburg, Germiston and Johannesburg without any resolution, until she went to the Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR), who is currently handling her case.

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LHR head of the stateless unit Thandeka Chauke said: “We confirm that we act on behalf of our client Primrose Modisane, who has been battling to have her South African citizenship recognised and to obtain documentation for over a decade.

“Her mother, Ms Phumulani Tshuma, suffered the same ordeal and relentlessly pursued their registration until her untimely death in 2023.

“These continuous obstacles, unfulfilled promises by the department, and lack of resolution have left Modisane in a state of limbo. She has been effectively rendered stateless in her own country, deprived of citizenship, dignity, and other human rights.

“This case presents a distressing narrative of the intergenerational struggle for recognition and belonging, characterised by severe administrative obstructionism.”

Chauke said last month the LHR wrote to the department asking them to attend to the matter urgently, but to no avail. Home affairs spokesperson Siyabulela Qoza did not comment.