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700 000 SA IDS BLOCKED, EMASWATI AFFECTED

05/02/2024 08:52:00 Timothy Simelane

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MBABANE – EmaSwati are among 700 000 people whose South African IDs were blocked by the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) because their citizenship is under investigation.

In reality, the total number of SA identity (ID) cards blocked for this purpose was 1.8 million, until more than half of this number was unblocked for varying reasons. The blocking of IDs in the neighbouring State had been a subject of litigation, as Lawyers for Human Rights and other organisations, have launched High Court applications to have the IDs blocking exercise declared unconstitutional and affront to basic human rights. In court, it was explained that on a practical level, ID blocking meant that when a person against whose ID a marker has been placed approached any office of the DHA, a bank, SASSA office, or any other institution that requires an ID, they would be denied the service they sought, and be informed that their ID had been blocked.

The blocking of IDs prevents individuals from engaging with the world in any way that requires that person to use their ID. These individuals cannot obtain a travel document and they can’t vote, access healthcare or education systems, or open bank accounts. In the most recent case, heard at the North Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, an Eswatini-born citizen, who was granted permanent residence in SA, Phindile Mazibuko, emerged victorious after applying for an order to unblock her ID.

Applications

The case was before High Court Judge J Van der Schyff. Supporting Mazibuko’s applications, as second and third applicants were lawyers for Human Rights and LegalWise South Africa, respectively. The minister of Home Affairs and the DHA were respondents in the matter. The court was informed that the exercise of ID blocking was so prevalent, that the respondents confirmed during the court proceedings that it recently unblocked more than 1.8 million IDs, with more than 700 000 still being blocked at the time the application was heard. Non-South African citizens who entered the republic unlawfully were said have often employed various means to obtain identity numbers, under the pretence that they were either born as South African citizens or awarded permanent resident statuses.

“This abuse of process allows for illegal foreigners to access benefits reserved for South African citizens and permanent residents. The use of fraudulently obtained identity documents creates a dilemma for the government and the country on different levels,” reads the judgment. To address this dilemma, the Department of Home Affairs resorted to ID blocking, to block any suspiciously processed identity number while investigating whether a person registered in the national population register is a South African citizen or permanent resident. The application commenced when Mazibuko approached the court, seeking relief to interdict the DHA from threatening to take or taking any steps to revoke her status as a permanent resident of SA.

She wanted them to also desist from confiscating her SA identity card, or deport her, pending a final decision to do so in terms of Section 8(3) of the Immigration Act 13 of 2002.
She also wanted the court to review and set aside the DHA’s decision to place markers and block her ID and substitute such a decision with a decision confirming her status as a lawful South African permanent resident, alternatively remitting the decision to the respondents for reconsideration within 30 days. The court identified Mazibuko as an adult citizen of the Kingdom of Eswatini.

Permanent

“She is a permanent resident of South Africa. She holds a Swaziland (Eswatini) passport and a South African identity document. She has been a permanent resident of SA since 1998. Her permanent residency status has been updated as and when necessary.” The court also said Mazibuko stated that she was born in Eswatini. “She met her husband in 1993, while studying at the University of Eswatini. They got engaged and concluded a marriage by traditional rites in 1996. “Her husband, thereafter, returned to South Africa to take up employment. She stayed behind to complete her degree. Upon completing her degree in August 1997, she travelled to South Africa using a valid visitor’s visa. She concluded a civil marriage with her husband in Pretoria on August 13, 1997.

“She was granted permanent residency in South Africa on March 12, 1998, and received her identity document on March 19, 1998. Two children were subsequently born of the marriage.”
During 2012, Mazibuko received a notification from her bank, that money had been fraudulently deducted from her account. She was informed that it appeared to the bank that someone had accessed her personal details, including her full name, fingerprints, and a photograph and was using this information to impersonate her. She was advised to approach the offices of the DHA for assistance in investigating a possible case of identity theft.

“Mzibuko attended the offices of the DHA in Centurion around November 28, 2012. She informed officials of her ordeal and asked them to assist her. She was informed that the DHA’s records reflected two identity numbers linked to her name, the one she used and one unfamiliar to her. She was then requested to attend to her local police station to depose to an affidavit setting out the facts of her situation. She was to provide an affidavit accompanied by copies of her permanent residency permit, identity document, marriage certificate and her husband’s identity book to the DHA in Pretoria Central to investigate the matter. She duly complied and provided the documents to the DHA in or around the period between November and December 2012. She received a case number and was advised that the DHA would investigate the situation. She was told to return in four to six months to ascertain the outcome of the investigation. “Mazibuko returned to the Centurion offices of the DHA in March 2013 and was informed that the investigation was ongoing. The matter was assigned to a Mr. Msiza and a Mr. Baloyi of the DHA.”

Investigation

The court heard that since March 2013, various attempts were made to ascertain the outcome of the investigation. On December 10, 2018, Mazibuko and her husband attended the DHA office in Centurion to apply for a new passport for one of their daughters. She approached Baloyi for an update on the investigation and was referred by him to the office manager, a man by the name of Bongani. “She was informed that the investigation was completed. The investigation revealed that the unfamiliar identity number was obtained in 1997 by an unknown individual at the Mbunzini Immigration Office, in Mpumalanga. She was told that it appeared that her permanent residency and South African identity document were obtained unlawfully and the matter had been handed over to the legal department at the DHA’s headquarters in Pretoria.

She was informed that she would be contacted between February and March 2019, and in all likelihood, her permanent residency permit would be withdrawn and her identity document revoked, resulting in her being deported and criminally charged,” the court heard. Despite numerous requests, Mazibuko was not furnished with reasons for the allegations that her permanent residency permit and South African identity document were unlawfully obtained. Last month, this newspaper also revealed how another liSwati had his SA ID blocked and a deportation order issued against him after it was revealed that the document had not been obtained legitimately.