“Home Affairs reckons I am dead...”

When Ms Lanwisa Gladys Baloyi recently visited the Makhado office of the Department of Home Affairs, she only wished to rectify her date of birth. Unfortunately for her, she received a nasty surprise when she was told she was officially dead. She apparently died in a car accident in 2010. As if that was not enough, Baloyi was informed that someone from Chavani village, in the Elim area, had since claimed lots of money from the Road Accident Fund, using her name.

Baloyi, a resident at Valdezia, says she cannot understand why she has been recorded as deceased when she is still alive and healthy. “I told them that I am alive as they could even see me with their own eyes,” she explains. “I even showed them my ID book, but they still did not want to believe me. They then phoned the Elim Hospital's OPD who, to my total surprise, confirmed my supposed death.”

Baloyi was informed that she was buried on the very day when South Africa was playing against Mexico during the 2010 FIFA World Cup opening match. “Now I cannot even use my ID for any other purposes, because it is said that I am no more,” she laments.

The spokesperson for the Department of Home Affairs in Limpopo, Mr Sam Moremi, said that Baloyi's case was one of the rare cases in South Africa, where people sometimes shared names and ID numbers. However, he was quick to add that such cases were critical because fraudsters used unsuspecting people's names and ID numbers to conduct their criminal activities. “We can only advise Mrs Baloyi to seek an affidavit from the police station which states that she is alive and not dead and bring it to our office, so that we may investigate the matter,” Moremi said.

He said that Baloyi would be helped, but also added that it might take longer to solve a problem of this nature.

News - Date: 17 May 2013

Tshifhiwa Mukwevho

Tshifhiwa Given Mukwevho was born in 1984 in Madombidzha village, not far from Louis Trichardt in the Limpopo Province. After submitting articles for roughly a year for Limpopo Mirror's youth supplement, Makoya, he started writing for the main newspaper. He is a prolific writer who published his first book, titled A Traumatic Revenge in 2011. It focusses on life on the street and how to survive amidst poverty. His second book titled The Violent Gestures of Life was published in 2014.

Email: [email protected]