Teen’s life resumes after two-year struggle
AN ERROR on a birth certificate, which had made life difficult for Akhona Mafenuka, has finally been corrected after a two-year struggle.
The matriculant at Unathi High School in Cambridge had been classified as male on her certificate and has not been able to apply for an identity document.
Butterworth-born Mafenuka approached her local Department of Home Affairs office two years ago, with all the required documentation and fees to fix the mishap.
Earlier this year the Daily Dispatch reported on how Mafenuka, 19, was having sleepless nights about the incorrect gender recorded on her birth certificate which hindered her from obtaining an identity card required to register for her final matric exams.
“I was so stressed about it because in matric you need to have an identity number to write matric final exams.”
Only after the article appeared in the Daily Dispatch did home affairs respond to the teenager’s plight.
Provincial home affairs manager Gcinile Mabulu promised to call the Butterworth office to account after failing to fix Mafenuka’s birth certificate two years prior.
Mabulu said he would ensure that Mafenuka’s case would be addressed immediately due to the urgency of the matter.
“Two days after my story was out, the Butterworth branch came to my school and took a picture of me and requested my details again and after a month I received a phone call from them telling me my new ID number was ready.
“When I went home I went to the Butterworth branch to collect the new corrected birth certificate which I applied with at the East London branch for my identity card.”
Mafenuka said she was excited when she received the call last week.
“I wrote my exams with a temporary identity form I got from the East London branch –but nothing can compare to the joy in my heart when they called me to notify me that my ID was ready for me to collect.
“Now it feels like the world has recognised me . Now I am able to apply to tertiary institutions, get my learners’ license and just get my life going.” —