Fhumulani Gadisi (20) of Muhuyu Village happily went to Makawrela Home Affairs to apply for an ID in 2004. Her happiness turned into a nightmare when her ID was issued with a wrong surname in May 2004.

Since then, the confused young lady has been trying to correct the mistake, without success. She then approached Mirror for help.

"I am Fhumulani Gadisi, not Fhumulani Madi, as indicated in the mistaken ID. This thing is almost killing me, because my life has been turned into a misery. I have done everything to have the ID corrected, but I have been playing a losing game for the past two years," said Fhumulani.

She explained how her misfortune started: "I made my first application in 2004 and happily went to our headman’s kraal to collect my ID. My happiness turned into sorrow when I opened the ID and found that the surname was not mine. I went back to Home Affairs and filled out different forms and officials told me to come back after three months. Their promise did not materialize and I then made the second application, hoping that I would succeed, but the situation remained the same. They issued me with a letter to indicate that I am waiting for the corrections on my ID but that does not serve the purpose because I only want my ID to bear the correct surname."

Fhumulani further added that the inconvenience makes her life difficult as she cannot access other services because she does not have a valid ID. "My life has been reduced to a nightmare by Home Affairs. They must sort out their problem and fix up the whole mess because I believe that there is someone who is not doing his job properly. I do not think it could take three years to rectify that small mistake they made in a matter of few seconds."

A senior official at Makwarela Home Affairs, Mr Mmboneni Mphigalale, advised Fhumulani to come straight to his office so that he can assist her personally. At the time of going to press, Mphigalale said he would check on the system to find out what had happened to Fhumulani’s previous applications.