Many people, not just the odd few, seem to be affected by Home Affairs' unexplained arrangement that people who were born outside the country can only get an ID re-issued in designated offices, which are mostly in outlying villages.
A local couple, Ms Gail and Mr Alistair Maytham arrived in South Africa in 1973. They were granted citizenship status around 1979 – forty years ago. They worked for the Department of Education as teachers and then as teacher trainers for more than 20 years. Now they have been struggling to get their tattered ID books re-issued.
"In 2016, we visited the Home Affairs office in Louis Trichardt to apply for passports since they were due for renewal," Ms Gail Maytham said. "We had previously heard a lot of stories that most Home Affairs offices were inefficient and slow in all services. But we were greeted by the kind of quality services that were a rarity in most government offices."
However, they were in for some disappointment when they returned to the Home Affairs office this year to apply for the new smart card IDs. "The officials said we were not eligible for the new smart card IDs as neither of us was born in SA," she said. "When we asked why, they said that parliament hadn't passed an act to allow people born out of the country to have new smart card IDs. They didn't help us, and neither did they explain what we should do. I was so disappointed."
She added that she later learnt, and not from officials, that she had to go to apply for a re-issue of her ID in some office in an outlying area. "This whole thing is ridiculous because this kind of system is not helpful to us," she said. "We must be treated the same as other all other South African citizens. It doesn't make sense. This system is not flexible enough and I am certain that there are many, many South African citizens in the same situation countrywide."
She stated that the department must be informative enough, to the extent that all people within the country know what to do if they needed to apply for an ID book re-issue.
"I cannot just drive from town to a village that is situated some distance away, without first calling that office to find out where it is situated and if I would find the right officials to assist on that particular day," she said. "When someone is turned down when applying for the smart card, they should be handed a notice with details of where to apply for the replacement green ID book and phone numbers of officials to contact."
"I don't even have any desire to be in the newspaper, but this kind of problem – which I assume many people are going through – is really unacceptable and the government should deal with the discriminatory legislation," she said.
Department of Home Affairs' provincial manager, Mr Albert Matsaung, said that he would contact the Maythams and ensure that they were assisted.
However, as another part of the story, Matsaung said that the department had introduced smart-card ID facilities to most of their offices and all offices that had those facilities were no longer offering the green barcoded ID book.
"This only means that [any person who needs a re-issue of an ID book] has to use the services of any nearest office that still offers a green, barcoded ID book," he said. More information about the offices that still offer the green barcoded ID book is available at any Home Affairs office upon request.