Fifteen-year wait for ID book with no end in sight

AFTER years of trying to get her son’s first ID issued to him, a Manenberg mother says they are at their wits’ end.

Desiree Bester said her 33-yearold son Evan felt hopeless “and like he doesn’t belong because there has been a constant struggle to get his ID”.

“We have been up and down to the Department of Home Affairs. I have stacks of papers that I have been asked to give to them so they can help him get his ID, but to this day nothing has come of it,” Bester said.

The pensioner mother said she was now tired of the seemingly never-ending process.

“Every time we are told what documents to bring along to the department, but we get the same response every time that they cannot help us, or we are sent back to try and get more documentation to assist in the process,” Bester said.

She said her son applied for an ID when he was 18 years old.

“He did the whole application process, but nothing came of it. We had to go to Groote Schuur Hospital to get records that reflected he was born at that hospital, and this was all given to the department,” she said.

“I am so tired of going up and down already and not having answers for my son. Every time I get back from the department he asks me why he doesn’t ‘exist’, and I don’t have answers for him. He has been struggling to find a job to help me and my husband who are pensioners, but without an ID it’s challenging,” she said.

Bester said her son’s birth certificate had been lost during house moves over the years.

Department spokesperson Thabo Mokgale said: “Arrangements are being made with Evan Claasen to provide us with a copy of a birth certificate (with an ID number), proving that his birth was registered.

“Without an ID number, we cannot be certain that he was ever registered or not… Should we fail to establish all this, Claasen will have to undergo a late registration of birth process.”

Mokgale said this process could take up to six months.