Ms Musandiwa Johannah Mahlangu is disillusioned with the Home Affairs office in Makhado after she was “unfairly dismissed” when she went to apply for a change-of-date-of-birth on her identity book on 5 December 2012, she said.
She maintains that she had provided the office with all the necessary affidavits and other supporting documents, such as proof-of-residence and a recommendation letter from the local office of the traditional authority and a certified copy of her older sister’s identity document.

“I didn’t like the manner in which the woman in the office had treated me,” she said at her home in Tshikwarani village in the Kutama area. “Ndi ri musadzi houla o nkolela.  (That woman had treated me badly). I can’t pretend that I am happy with her. She said there was no money for me at SASSA, and that I must then go home. I couldn't understand what she was talking about.”

The supporting documents show that Mahlangu’s older sister was born on 10 May 1944 and go further to suggest that the applicant could have been born in 1951. Therefore, the probability remains that Mahlangu’s sister is older than her by at least seven years.

Mahlangu says that her motive for applying for a change of ID number was for the reason that her children and grandchildren should know their mother’s and grandmother’s real age in the family tree, along all the ancestors.

“She told me to go to fetch a paper from the church which I had attended when I was five years old,” she moans. “Where in the world would I find that church? Was I born yesterday?”

When contacted for comment, the provincial spokesperson for the Department of Home Affairs, Mr Sam Moremi, said that Mahlangu's case was a difficult one as she could not exactly name the official who had told her to go home. "We advise all our clients to check the names of officials who assist them, so that even when they encounter problems, they might know the person who did not render good service to them," Moremi said on Tuesday. "It is only in that way that we might be able to investigate the matter."

However, Moremi further advises Home Affairs clients to at least try to exhaust all possible avenues whenever they feel that an official or the office has treated them badly. "I believe there's always a supervisor or manager ready to listen to the client's complaint in our offices," he concluded.