MAKHADO (LOUIS TRICHARDT) – The lady who received her identity document with another person’s photo inside has still not received her correct ID document five months later.

Mrs Frauke Marie Katarina van Rensburg (72) was promised that her case would be treated as a matter of urgency. What happened was that Mrs Van Rensburg, a resident of Ons Tuiste, received her ID document with a photo of a lady of about 50 years younger and clearly of another race. Her birth date, 1932-11-29, was correct. Her ID number was 321129 0008 002. When she received the envelope on July 18, her first question was “Is this supposed to be me?”

Mr Jack Rampaga, District Head of the Louis Trichardt Home Affairs Department, said on July 20 that it is an urgent case and expressed the hope that it would be rectified within two weeks. Five months later, Mrs van Rensburg is still without an identity document.

In the meantime, Mrs Van Rensburg needs an ID to be able to get a Certificate of Life, without which her pension will not be paid out.

“The deadline is January 30 and I’m sitting with a problem,” she says.

Mrs Van Rensburg supplied the Department of Home affairs with a new set of photos, attached the page on which the wrong photo appeared, and sent it along with a form with her fingerprints on.

“They promised me that my ID would be here as soon as possible and mentioned two weeks. The two weeks have long gone by now,” Mrs Van Rensburg says.

On Tuesday, Mr Jack Rampaga said that he did not know why the case was taking so long and that he did not have the name of the person who dealt with the case. He said that the applicant should mention the name of the person who served the applicant, the time, the room number and the name of the person to whom the matter was referred. When supplied with the ID number, Mr Rampaga managed to see on the computer that the application had been handled on September 9 by Head Office.

“Unfortunately, there is no indication that the ID has been issued or posted,” Mr Rampaga said.

Mr Rampaga said that Head Office moved their offices recently and that it was very difficult to get hold of anybody, but he promised to pursue the matter.