MATANGARI - Pfano Vele (5) of Matangari village outside Thohoyandou, who was born on 15 March 1999, could no longer get her R170 monthly child support grant from the government over the past six months because she shares a name and surname with another Pfano Vele, a boy aged 6 of Lufule, about 60 km away from her home. The latter was born on 10 April 1998.

Mavis Maswanganyi (23), the mother of Pfano Vele of Matangari village, said the trouble started in March when she went to collect her child’s grant at a local pay point.

“I was surprised when the official at the pay point told me that I could not get my child’s grant, because her name was no longer in the system. I told him I used to collect the money every month, but he said I must complete the form again to have my problem solved. I went to the government offices to complete the form the next day, but I was surprised when the officer told me that my child’s grant had been transferred to Lufule upon my request. I was surprised, because I had never made any request to have my child grant transferred. After thorough investigation, it was found that my child shares a name with another one and that it why my child’s grant was stopped.”

Mavis said she has completed the forms three times, in March, June and August, but she has not received any positive response from the officers concerned. “I just go the pay point every month, hoping that I will get my child’s grant, but I always go home empty handed. I have been taken from pillar to post and I am tired of waiting, because my child needs the grant to survive. I have been waiting for my child’s grant to be reinstated for a long time, but my child is starving because of someone’s mistakes.”

Meanwhile, Ntakadzeni Vele (25) mother of Pfano Vele of Lufule village said she applied for her child’s grant in December 2003. But her first payout was in March, the month when Pfano Vele’s (of Matangari) grant was stopped.

Ntakadzeni said: “I first had some doubts when I went to the Home Affairs to collect my child’s birth certificate. My child was classified as a female and they told me I had to pay R42 to rectify the mistake. I did not have the money at the time and I used the very same certificate to register my child for the grant, because I was sure that it was his certificate, with the idea that I would rectify the mistake later. I later learnt that the certificate I was issued with was that of Pfano Vele of Matangari and that was the start of the problem. Though my child is getting a grant, I feel that the people concerned must rectify the mistake to make sure that Mavis must also get a grant for her child.”

Limpopo provincial spokesperson for the Department of Health and Welfare, Phuti Seloba said the matter should be referred to the Department of Home Affairs, since his department does not handle the issue of birth registrations.

The national departmental spokesperson for Home Affairs, Leslie Kashokwe, said Mavis should ask to see her local district head of Home Affairs who would gladly investigate the matter and assist her accordingly. He said the head will find out what happened to her three applications and she will get assistance as soon as possible.