10-year struggle for ID

A 28-YEAR-OLD widowed mother of five of NobodyGamothapo outside Mankweng in Limpopo has been struggling to get her identity document for 10 years.

As a result, Lesterinah Modipani’s children, who are between the ages of three months and 11 years, have been unable to get birth certificates.

Modipani has been struggling to find a job since her husband died last year January.

She claimed that the department of home affairs could not tell her why they could not give her an ID.

She said because she did not have a birth certificate, she was accompanied by her mother, Christinah Modipani, to the Mankweng home affairs department offices in 2002, 2004, 2006, 2010 and 2012.

Modipani said each time officials told her to check in six months.

Modipani, who left school in Grade 8, said she was struggling to get casual jobs because all the prospective employers needed copies of her ID book.

She said that to make ends meet, she did “piece jobs”, including doing laundry and cleaning yards for people who did not need her to produce identification.

Limpopo home affairs department spokesman Sam Moremi referred all questions to provincial department manager Nthoriseng Motsitsi, who said she was not aware of Modipani’s application.

“If she has a birth certificate, she will apply for an ID.

“If she does not have a birth certificate, she will be afforded an opportunity to apply for late registration of birth,” Motsitsi said. –