Khaltsha woman rejoices after obtaining her ID

Vuyiseka Mtundezi.

Vuyiseka Mtundezi could not contain her excitement when Vukani stepped into her house in ILitha Park, Khayelitsha, this week.

Three months ago things had been very different, when a desperate Ms Mtundezi contacted us, seeking help to obtain her ID from the department of Home Affairs (“ID name change bungled by official”, Vukani, March 14).

The 32-year-old mother of two wanted to change her surname to that of her father but, she claimed, the application for a name change was bungled by Home Affairs officials in Khayelitsha which cost her her ID.

Almost every week she would visit the department’s offices with the hope that they would hear her endless cry for help and speed up the process. Instead of being helped, she was sent from pillar to post without any clear indication as to when or how she would get her ID.

Ms Mtundezi was advised to contact the media and in the same week that Vukani published her story, she said, she received a call from an official who wanted to hear more about her case.

Last month she was informed that her ID had arrived from Pretoria and was ready for collection. She said the officials were also in the processes of providing an ID for her eldest daughter, who is currently doing matric, and a birth certificate for her son who is in day care.

“I can’t thank you enough,” she told Vukani. “I was simply nobody when I had no ID, but now things have changed.

“I have been given a new ID number and I’m just waiting for a confirmation letter from the department so that I could change the old ID number. I was worried about my daughter in terms of how she was going to write her exams without an ID and how she was going to apply at tertiary institutions.

“My life is back now. This is so far a highlight of my life this year,” she said.

Ms Mtundezi said she planned to have a cultural celebratory ceremony to appease her ancestors. She urged Vukani to continue to be a voice for the voiceless.