For years his life was in limbo. He struggled to get a job, couldn’t get a driver’s licence and he wasn’t able to get married all because he wasn’t recognised as a South African citizen.

Tebogo Khoza (26) was born in South Africa but he had nothing to prove it. For almost a decade he’s battled to show he is who he says he is and finally he has the precious piece of paper that will allow him to get on with his life.

The North Gauteng high court in Pretoria recently ruled the department of home affairs should register him as a South African and issue him with an identity document.

The first step was giving him a birth certificate and when he received it he could hardly believe his eyes.

“I was very happy,” he tells YOU.
“On the night of the court verdict I couldn’t sleep. I kept thinking, ‘When I get my ID, I’m going to get a driver’s licence and a passport’.” - Tebogo Khoza
According to the births and deaths registration act of 1992, all children born in South Africa must be registered within 30 days.

Tebogo’s parents didn’t register him because they were undocumented immigrants �` so to all intents and purposes, their son didn’t exist.

“I grew up in a rural area. At times I wanted to go live in town so I could find work there or work in a mine, but I couldn’t because I had no documents,” he recalls.

When he was six years old his mother passed away and the Thabang Children’s Project later took him in.
Cecil White, who used to work at the child and youth centre in Thabazimbi, Limpopo, accompanied Tebogo to their local home affairs office to apply for his birth certificate and ID when the boy was 16. They had no idea just how long it would take to get those life-changing documents.

Yet Cecil (60) resolved to see it through. He even sought legal counsel from Lawyers for Human Rights to help the young man he regarded as his own son.
“I thought if there was one last battle I would fight, it would be this,” Cecil says.

His hard work was rewarded when the high court ruled in their favour. “God answered my prayers,” Tebogo says.

Tebogo’s parents fled political unrest in Eswatini and entered SA illegally before he was born.

He can’t remember much of his early childhood but recalls being raised by his mom in an informal settlement near Thabazimbi, after his parents split up. He didn’t have a relationship with his father.
When his mother passed away after an illness, his maternal grandmother, Lucy Ndlovu, tracked him down to take care of him. But they ended up depending on the welfare of others because she wasn’t a South African citizen and couldn’t access any social assistance from the government.

Lucy collected food parcels from the Thabang Children’s Project, a non-governmental organisation that helps vulnerable children in the community by providing them with meals, school stationery and casual clothes, among other things.

The NGO also has a centre that houses abandoned kids and children in need and in December 2006 Lucy made the tough decision to hand her grandson over to carers so they could raise him.

For Tebogo, it was a blessing. “When I got there, I saw other kids playing. I could play, eat and just be like a child. That’s why I loved it there,” he says.

He was nine when he arrived at the centre, Cecil recalls. “He had no birth certificate, no paperwork, he hadn’t received any

schooling.”

However, he saw potential in the young boy and helped put him through school. Cecil admits it was a tough task because schools were reluctant to accept him without documentation and he basically had to go on his knees and beg for Tebogo to be enrolled.
`Our country has a very good constitution and a good children’s act. It states that every child has the right to an education.` - Cecil White
“Even if a child doesn’t have a birth certificate, according to the childcare act, a child has a right to care, safety and education. We fought on those grounds and we won.”
Living without documentation became even more challenging as Tebogo grew older so he and Cecil turned to the department of home affairs for help.
Officials said they couldn’t register him because he didn’t have any documents to verify his birth and told him to go to Eswatini to have his birth registered there and get a passport.

Cecil accompanied him but the pair faced another hurdle at the border when Eswatini officials refused them entry, despite the fact they had documentation from home affairs detailing the reason for their visit.

“I was very confused because both South Africa and Eswatini refused me citizenship. Like, where am I from? I was shocked at how people treated me,” Tebogo says.

“They treated me like I’m a foreigner and like I’m nothing. I started thinking, ‘Why doesn’t God open a door for me?’”

Cecil wasn’t going to give up without a fight. He contacted the department of home affairs several times to find a solution and after being sent from pillar to post he eventually turned to Lawyers for Human Rights.

Lawyer Thandeka Chauke was part of the team who acted on Tebogo’s behalf and submitted applications to the home affairs office in Lephalale, Limpopo, and to the home affairs minister to have his birth registered.

When there was no response, they turned to the high court as a last resort, she says.

“Our motion was granted by the court and the department of home affairs had 30 days to comply with the court order. The 30 days expired on 30 March and on that date the department indicated they had generated an ID number for him and issued his birth certificate.

“He’s now waiting on his smartcard ID. He was told they couldn’t issue it on the same day because the systems were down and they had to send it to another home affairs office.”
The card should be ready in a couple of weeks and Tebogo is looking forward to getting on with his life. He’s working as an animal-keeper on a game farm in Limpopo �` a job Cecil helped him get as he waited for his documentation. Cecil has been with him on every step of his journey and Tebogo regards him as a father figure.

“He’s the one who helped me and taught me about life,” he says. “He taught me how to be a man.”

Tebogo and his partner, Maria Mlthali (26), have a five-year-old son, Junior. When Maria was pregnant, he proposed but he couldn’t plan a wedding because he didn’t have the required paperwork that would allow him to marry.

Now he plans to do exactly that. “It’s like I have millions in my hands,” he says.
www.samigration.com V.4807

One of the highlighted topics: Critical Skills Visa.

- Key Insight: Is your profession on the Critical Skills List? This visa is your fast track to working in South Afr...
- This matter relates to critical skills visa and its broader implications.
- Individuals are advised to seek professional guidance.

Is your profession on the Critical Skills List? This visa is your fast trac V.6139
Click here for full article

One of the applicants, Phindile Mazibuko, became a victim of identity theft in 2012 when fraudulent transactions occurred, using her personal details.

-The Pretoria High Court found that the department of home affairs had violated constitutional rights without due process.
-Only half of Lawyers for Human Rights` test group has been unblocked, while 385 000 identities remain blocked nationwide.
-LHR appeals extension, urges affected people to seek help now.

Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) are intensifying pressure on the department of home affairs over the national ID-blocking crisis, accusing the state of acting too slowly to unblock qualifying individuals despite a landmark court ruling.

In January last year, the Pretoria High Court found that the department`s practice of blocking IDs without due process was unlawful and unconstitutional. One of the applicants, Phindile Mazibuko, a Swati citizen and South African permanent resident since 1998, fell victim to identity theft in 2012 when fraudsters used her personal details.

 V.6133
Click here for full article

The Border Management Authority (BMA) has doubled its staff at Airports in South Africa , including immigration officers.

What does this mean for travelers? V.6128
Click here for full article

The Border Management Authority (BMA) has doubled its staff at Airports in South Africa , including immigration officers.

What does this mean for travelers? V.6129
Click here for full article

A Washington state mother and her 6-year-old son have been released after spending more than three weeks in US immigration detention due to a brief trip to Canada and a small paperwork mistake, her attorney told CNN on Saturday.

Sarah Shaw, a New Zealand citizen who has lived legally in the US since she arrived in 2021, was detained at the Blaine, Washington, Customs and Border Protection checkpoint when returning home after dropping her two oldest children off at the Vancouver airport for a flight to visit their grandparents in New Zealand. Shaw, 33, chose the flight out of Vancouver because it was direct and she didn`t want her children to have to navigate a layover alone, her attorney Minda Thorward, told CNN.

 V.6130
Click here for full article

On 22 July 2025, the Gauteng High Court dismissed Sitrusrand Boerdery`s review of the Department of Employment and Labour`s refusal to issue a Working Conditions and Salary Benchmarking Certificate, an essential precondition for obtaining corporate visas under the Immigration Act.

Acting Judge Kekana AJ held that the Department`s decision was lawful, rational and procedurally fair. This judgment illustrates how businesses can - and must - structure their corporate visa applications to meet statutory requirements, and how legal practitioners should prepare robust review challenges when administrative authorities decline to recommend foreign-work permits.

 V.6131
Click here for full article

The United States could forfeit an estimated 9.4 billion dollars in visitor spending over the next three years following the introduction of a new 250 dollars `visa integrity fee,` according to industry groups, who warn the policy risks undermining tourism and costing thousands of jobs.
The United States’ decision to introduce a 250 dollars `visa integrity fee` on international visitors has triggered sharp criticism from the global tourism industry, with officials warning that the measure could deter millions of travellers and cost the U.S. economy billions.
The 250dollar `visa integrity fee,` part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed on July 4, 2025, will take effect later this year. According to immigration law firm Envoy Global, it applies to all nonimmigrant visa holders which include students, tourists, temporary workers, and business visitors particularly from African countries. V.6132
Click here for full article

The Border Management Authority (BMA) has doubled its staff at Airports in South Africa , including immigration officers.

What does this mean for travelers? V.6127
Click here for full article

1. Right to Legal Representation•You have the right to consult with a legal representative.•Contact an immigration practitioner, legal aid clinic, or attorney urgently.•Do not sign any documents without understanding them fully. 2. Section 34 of the Immigration Act•You must be brought to court with 48 hours to confirm arrest but you can remain locked up very long as courts figure out what to do with you •If you`re found to be illegally in South Africa, you may be detained for up to 30 days (extendable by a magistrate) pending deportation.•BUT this cannot happen arbitrarily. You must be informed of your rights, and Home Affairs must follow due process.- becomes a nightmare , you could lose your job , business , place to stay V.6121
Click here for full article

Driving for Bolt, Uber, Mr D, or Checkers Sixty60?If you`re undocumented, you`re risking more than just your income.The Risks if You`re Not Legal: - Vehicle impoundment - Heavy fines - Arrest & deportation - Permanent bans from working in SA V.6122
Click here for full article