Gogo without an ID

Moabi Mathe (72) applied for an ID for the first time this year.

The 72-year-old said that when she applied for the ID she was hoping to be one of the voters this year.

“I thought that I would have my ID by now, but Home Affairs said that they need documents to verify where I was born and I don’t remember where I come from,” she said.

Mathe said that she was told that she was born in a Randfontein hospital.

“I once went to the hospital that I was born in and they told me that they don’t have records from the time I was born,” she said.

Mathe said that her mother with her grandmother at Orlando West in 1952.

“My grandmother kicked me out of her house when I was nine and I lived with people around the community until a kind woman took me in. The woman who took me in took me to her Lesotho where I stayed and later got married,” she said.

Mathe said that the last time she had contact with her family was when they visited her in Lesotho.

“When my mother died, her family visited me in Lesotho to tell me but because I didn’t have money I was unable to go to my mother’s funeral,” she said.

Mathe said that her family is somewhere in Kimberly.

“Home Affairs want me to provide proof that I was born in South Africa. I don’t have money to go looking for my family. I am begging for someone who can help me to please do so. I don’t want to die without an ID,” she said.

Moabi Mathe can be contacted on 078 220 9039 or 083 487 4046.