Seven years ago, Rose and her daughters visited the Department of Home Affairs in Tzaneen to submit a letter to register for her pensioner’s social grant. To their surprise, they were told there is already someone registered with the same name and ID number as Rose’s. “Officials at the department summoned the lady with the same details as my mother,” Oumah Mkhari, one of Rose’s daughters told the Herald. “When she arrived, the supervisor asked her where she got her ID from since the fingerprints state that it was my mother’s ID.”

Oumah says the woman did not respond and was asked to bring her parents’ documents for proof of identity. Rose and her daughters followed up with the department on a regular basis. “One day in 2018 we arrived and the same supervisor instructed an official to take my mother for fingerprints and a new ID photo.” Rose was shocked to find her ID details appearing on the system with a photo of the lady with the false ID. On previous occasions, the woman’s photo was absent from the system.

“Every proof they requested from my mother was provided, the other woman did not have proof. We then found out that the woman had received an ID card from Home Affairs. Officials then informed us that not my mother, nor the other woman, were going to receive IDs before the matter is not resolved. But the other woman already had an ID.” Oumah says her mother was then asked to provide her parent’s IDs, which she submitted and officials made copies of them. On another occasion, another of Rose’s daughters wanted to add Rose as a beneficiary to her policy.

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But the daughter of the woman with Rose’s ID had a similar policy and she had added her ‘mother’ to her policy. “We were told that because of the confusion, the policy was going to be terminated,” she said They say that it is hurtful and frustrating as every time they visit the department, they claim that the problem is being sorted out. “We went to Ritavi Police Station to report the matter and they told us that they will not open a case and we must call the Home Affairs’ head office.

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“We explained that we have already done all of that.” Rose’s daughters allege that the same supervisor that said that their mother was the rightful owner of the ID, is also responsible for everything that has gone wrong. It’s hard because every three months my mother must ask for a letter from Home Affairs to receive her grant. She spends all her money on trips to Home Affairs to address the problem,” said Olga Mkhari, Rose’s other daughter. Rose says that living with the knowledge that she shares her identity with someone else, scares her.

“I am sick and it is tiring to visit Home Affairs. I don’t know what kind of life the other lady is living. I may as well one day find that I have committed a crime,” she said. Herald contacted the Hawks in Limpopo and the Home Affairs Investigating Unit. They undertook to investigate the matter. The Tzaneen office of Home Affairs was contacted on numerous times, but they were not available for comment.