Life sucks without an ID

Issac Nolokhoza has never had an identity document and has struggled for more than a year just to even get an identity number, let alone that document itself.

Nolokhoza has never known his father and spent eight years of his life in prison.

While inside of prison his mother passed on which made it more difficult for him to get his identity number.

“The first time I went to the Home Affairs offices I came across a lady who they told me to come with my mother, and after telling them that my mother passed on, they told me that there isn’t much they could do,” Nolokhoza said.

His brother stood in the place of his mother and only upon applying the second time did his application get approved.

Nolokhoza said: “Before they accepted my application, one of the officers said I have attitude and he doesn’t like that, he said I am going to pay for that.

“And after two years of ups and downs wasting money at the home affairs offices, they only told me in 2012 that my application has been approved, all along I had been wasting my time and energy”.

At the beginning of January he went to check again and found that his identity number had been tracked down and now he waits for the document itself to be produced.

He says officials say the document will only be ready for collection in the next three to four weeks.

Nolokhoza only hopes that the department sticks to their promise because he has been disappointed once too many times by them.