Home Affairs gives man identity crisis

Source: The Star, 24/11/2015

Johannesburg - Is Phineas Ndlovu a South African, a Lesotho national
or a Zimbabwean? Is his real name even Phineas Ndlovu?


According to the 63-year-old man and his family, he was born at the
then Coronation Hospital (now Raheema Moosa Mother and Child Hospital)
and lived his whole life in Soweto, where he attended Motsaneng Lower
Primary School in Mapetla.


However, the Department of Home Affairs and its officials
disagree.

They say their records indicate that Ndlovu is a
Lesotho national who committed a crime there in 1969 when he was 17
years old, while other records show that he is actually a Zimbabwean
man.


It was only when he went to apply for a smart card that all this was
revealed, leaving him confused because Home Affairs issued him an ID
in the past without any problem. Today, however, he finds himself
without any form of identity book because Home Affairs officials
seized it and blocked it after telling him that he was a foreigner.



Ndlovu does not know how he landed in the situation he is in today,
but traced everything back to when he was 17 and went to the Home
Affairs office in Market Street in Joburg to apply for a
dompas.


Instead of getting the document, he was allegedly accused of being a
Lesotho national, arrested, bundled into a vehicle and driven to the
Lesotho border. "However, I told the official that I`m not from
Lesotho and do not know anyone from there," Ndlovu recalled.


He did not cross into Lesotho but instead found his way back to
Joburg. The following year, Ndlovu`s grandmother helped him obtain a
dompas and The Star is in possession of the affidavit in which the old
woman explained that her grandson was born in Joburg.


Years later, he got a job at a company where he worked for 30 years,
got a green barcoded ID book, voted and even applied and received an
old age pension. But when he recently went to apply for a smart card
ID, he was told that records show that he was Zimbabwean and was
wanted in his country for a crime he had committed there.


Confused, Ndlovu went to another Home Affairs branch. There, the
official assisting him punched his ID number into the computer and
sent him to the immigration section of the building. There, Ndlovu was
told that he was from Lesotho, his name was Eric Mboro and he had
committed crime there too.


His ID book was taken and later blocked. The Department of Home
Affairs has instituted an investigation to resolve the matter.


Spokesman Mayihlome Tshwete said officials from head office will
contact Ndlovu with a view to attaining more information to assist
with the probe.


"As a principle, we would not want to deport a genuine South African
but equally, if it is found that the complainant is in the country
illegally, we will have to follow due process and implement the
Immigration Act," he said.