Home Affairs declares a living woman dead
Peggy Mbatsana claims Springs Home Affairs has mishandled her documents, resulting in her being declared dead.
Peggy Mbatsana of Springs claims she was declared dead by Springs Home Affairs.
In August, Mbatsana went to withdraw grant money but her transaction was declined.
She went to the South Africa Social Security Agency (Sassa) offices to ask why the withdrawal had been declined.
They told her she was declared “deceased” on October 25, 2015.
However, she was only blocked from receiving her grant money on August 25, 2017.
Mbatsana assumes the error was introduced in early 2016, when she was changing ownership of her late brother’s house.
He died in October 2015.
“When I went to the housing department to obtain ownership of my late brother’s house, the man assisting me told me there was a possible duplicate of my brother’s death certificate.
“The docket said my brother was alive.”
She was issued a referral letter to take to home affairs to rectify the error on the system.
Mbatsana claims she has been experiencing difficulties in attaining her late brother’s death certificate.
After being told to come back every two weeks, she decided to approach the head office in Pretoria.
“I was referred back to Springs with details of someone who would be able to assist further, only to find out that the person does not work at Springs Home Affairs anymore.”
Mbatsana claims she was treated unfairly when she went back to Springs to try to resolve the matter.
She says she is becoming more frustrated by the day.
“I feel like a criminal.
“I can only think it’s because of one incompetent person sitting at a computer in the department who kept insulting me when I went to report the matter.”
Mbatsana was told they would fax her documents to head office and that she should come back in another two weeks’ time.
But she still hasn’t received the death certificate.
Home Affairs spokesman Thabo Mokgola says they will investigate the matter.
“The provincial manager for home affairs in Gauteng will delegate officials to contact Mbatsana with a view to prioritise and resolve the matter,” says Mokgola.
