The Zandspruit Clinic committee has made a strong appeal to residents to refrain from producing false identity documents.
This comes after the clinic staff confiscated an ID card and laid a criminal case of fraud against a woman who produced a ‘borrowed’ identity card in order to receive medical attention on 23 September.
When the staff realised that the identity on the card did not match that of the patient, they confiscated the card. This resulted in a quarrel when the original owner came to fetch the card.
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According to Themby Baijana, the clinic committee member, the owner of the ID, who stormed into the clinic with her boyfriend, allegedly made threats as she demanded the card back.
“We had a patient at the clinic with a ‘borrowed’ ID which belonged to someone else. This was considered to be fraudulent as the person was presenting herself under a false identity, and due to the medical and legal implications of this, a case of fraud was opened at the police station and the offenders were arrested,” said Baijana, explaining the saga.
The Northsider is awaiting confirmation of the case from the Honeydew Police Station.
However, according to Baijana, such incidents weren’t new to the clinic. “We’ve had an increase in patients producing fraudulent IDs and passports recently. When caught, we confiscate the fraudulent document and report the incident to Home Affairs as it is a case of fraud,” she said.
There is a notion that some South Africans in Zandspruit are using their identity documents to make money out of illegal immigrants by lending them to the immigrants to enable them to get help in government institutions.
Baijana advised, “Patients are encouraged to bring their ID, passport or asylum documents every time when visiting the clinic. But patients that have no documents should not bring fraudulent documents,” she warned. “Patients are also requested to bring a valid home address and telephone number as it is required by the Department of Health when opening a file at any clinic. The reason for this is to ensure the correct treatment is given to the correct patient for the correct illness,” she explained.
She added that clinic staff experiences a bad attitude from patients whenever these personal details are requested.
The City of Johannesburg has been contacted for comment.
