Help for pupils who need IDs

THE Department of Education has been “ordered” to take the lead to ensure that thousands of pupils across the province get ID books.

Members of the Education Portfolio Committee directed the department to engage the Home Affairs Department to help about 400 000 KwaZuluNatal pupils who are believed to be without ID books or birth certificates.

Thousands of these pupils were not born in hospitals, and live in remote rural areas where access to Home Affairs offices is difficult.

Members of the committee said senior education officials should liaise with their counterparts in Home Affairs to assist.

“A few years ago the Home Affairs Department used to have these mobile trucks that would go around schools registering pupils and giving them ID books, but that is not happening any more.

“That is something that could be looked at,” said a committee member.

Responsible

IFP MPL Thembeni Madlopha-Mthethwa said that while they understood that the department was not responsible for the provision of ID books, it could help resolve the matter.

“The Department of Education is investing a lot of money in these children, but in the end it cannot trace where they are or what they are doing.

“Many of these children’s lives end the moment they graduate from high school because they cannot move any further without an ID book. They end up taking menial jobs as cleaners,” she said.

DA MPL Dr Rishigen Viranna said: “I know that in the Camperdown area there are many pupils who are without ID books. The nearest Home Affairs office is the one in Pietermaritzburg and some of the parents cannot get there.”

The chairperson of the Portfolio Committee, Linda Hlongwa-Madlala, said the issue of ID books was critically important.

“We are mandating you to meet with the national office of Home Affairs to address this matter. We will also draft a resolution to this effect so that it’s clear you have the support of the legislature,” she said to officials.

She added: “The issue of IDs is not just a KwaZulu-Natal issue. We have children from other countries here, so this is in fact a Southern African Development Community issue.”

Education head of department Dr Enock Nzama said the department would engage Home Affairs, but parents were key to resolving this matter.