ID hassles see man arrested 6x

2008-02-18 14:10

Thabisile Khoza

Komatipoort - A Mozambican man has been arrested six times, despite being given permanent residence in South Africa in 2005.

Manuel Timane, 30, has been arrested twice at work and four times at roadblocks in Mpumalanga.

Last year, he was deported to Mozambique because he couldn't produce an ID book because Home Affairs has failed to issue him with one for the past three years.

He had to sneak back into South Africa and nearly lost his job as a mechanic in Komatipoort.

"Last year I almost lost my job. When I returned after two weeks, my boss was so angry that he threatened to fire me," Timane said.

Timane has a copy of a letter from Home Affairs, which states that he has permanent residence, but his permanent residence status hasn't been captured in his ID book, because Home Affairs hasn't given him one.

He lost his original ID book in December 2004, and has reapplied for it four times. And he can't get a passport before he has an ID book.

"Each time I was told they were processing it. This year, for the first time, I was told that it couldn't be issued because someone had stolen my identity," he said.

Because he can't produce a proper ID book, he has been unable to withdraw money from his bank account for the past four years.

"It's also very difficult for me to move from point A to B because everywhere I go I'm arrested for not having the ID or passport documents," he said.

Manager for the Department of Home Affairs in Mpumalanga, Robert Zitha, said he had phoned Timane this week and arranged for him to meet with the head of Home Affairs' Komatipoort offices.

He urged people not to reapply for documents, because it led to duplications.

He said they should rather ask to speak to the head of the relevant Home Affairs office to speed up the existing applications.

- African Eye