Four orphans of the Maginya family from Mukula-Phindula, north of Thohoyandou, were shocked when they went to enquire about their mother’s death certificate at Makwarela Home Affairs, only to be told that the system showed that their mother was still alive.

The orphans are living a life of suffering because they are battling to acquire their mother’s death certificate. None of the children receives any child support grant from the state as they do not have birth certificates because of the problem.

The orphans’ father, Phusuphusu Maginya, who was a famous bus driver, died on 11 August last year, after an illness. The children have their father’s death certificate, but it becomes difficult because whenever they go for assistance, there is also a demand for the mother’s death certificate.

Their mother, Dorcus, died in 1996 and it is not clear how the funeral took place without the death certificate being supplied. Dorcus and Phusuphusu had eight children, but four are now independent. The four who still need attention are Itani (19) who is in Grade 11 at Tshidimbini High School, Ndifelani (15) and Peter (13), doing Grade 7 and 6 respectively at Mphathele Primary School. Fridah is in Grade 2 at Tshino Primary School.

“We sometimes go to bed on empty stomachs, because there is no one looking after us. Only our aunt, who doesn’t stay with us, tries to provide, but it is not easy because she also has her family to look after,” said one of the orphans, Itani.

Itani says she went to Makwarela Home Affairs with the documentation from Garankuwa Hospital, indicating that her mother had died there. “They took the papers and indicated that they would process a death certificate for my mother but I never get it when I visit their office time and again.”

A senior official at Makwarela Home Affairs, Mboneni Mphigalale, says the orphans must come to his office with the ID of their late mother and the death certificate of their father so that the application for a late death registration can be processed. He said they must also bring along the letters from their schools indicating their dates of birth with an older family member so that they can apply for birth certificates.