MAKHADO (LOUIS TRICHARDT) - “Is this supposed to be me?” asked a stunned Mrs Marie van Rensburg (71) when she received her Identity Document with another person’s photo inside.

The photo staring at her was that of a lady about fifty years younger and clearly of another race. The names in the document, Frauke Marie Katarina were hers, as was the surname, Van Rensburg. Her birth date, 1932-11-29, was also correct. But the face was not hers.

“I was completely taken aback,” said Mrs Van Rensburg, who is from German descent and was born in Namibia.

“Where is my photo? Whose photo is this? What do I do now?” These were all questions running through her mind.

Three-and-a-half months ago, the Democratic Alliance organised for the Department of Home Affairs to visit Ons Tuiste to assist the senior citizens in applying for the new bar-coded ID. Mrs Van Rensburg, a resident of Ons Tuiste for the past 14 months, sup-plied photos that were taken at the chemist, filled out the application form and had her fingerprints taken by the officials.

On Sunday (18th) she received the envelope with the ID from her son whose postal box she shares. Only on Monday morning did she open the envelope to find out that she was somebody else.

“I was quite stressed out by this,” she said.

“I was thinking of the deadline for the pension fund which needs a certificate of life.”

Mrs Van Rensburg showed her ID to Mrs Kato de Bruin, receptionist at Ons Tuiste. Mrs De Bruin said that, after the shock, they did manage to see some humour in the situation, although it could be a hassle for the elderly to move around town. That is why the DA organised for Home Affairs to come to the Old Age Home in the first place.

Mrs Van Rensburg then showed the photo to a friend, Ms Diané Giovante.

“She was shaken at first and then we started laughing. She said she would take me to the Department of Home Affairs.”

Ward 1 Councillor, Ms Marie Helm, discussed the issue with an official of the Department of Home Affairs, who apologised for the inconvenience.

The District Head of the Louis Trichardt Home Affairs Department, Mr Jack Rampaga, said on Tuesday that the case will be treated as a matter of urgency.

The procedure with reapplication is that one photo is attached to an application form and the second photo is put in an envelope and stapled to the form. Four or five of these applications are sent to the Pretoria office in one A4-size envelope.

Mr Rampaga concluded that the wrong photo had been inserted into the document at the Pretoria office.

“It may happen if one is irresponsible or ignorant,” he said, referring to this “departmental error”.

“We don’t check the photos when the IDs come back. We check that it is sent to the correct address.”

Mr Rampaga was adamant that fraud did not play a role. He said that the other young lady had not yet come to complain about her ID which probably had Mrs Van Rensburg’s photo inside. Rampaga expressed the hope that Ms Van Rensburg would have her new ID within two weeks.