Johannesburg - Is Phineas Ndlovu a South African, a Lesotho national or a Zimbabwean? Is his real name even Phineas Ndlovu?
According to the 63-year-old man and his family, he was born at the then Coronation Hospital (now Raheema Moosa Mother and Child Hospital) and lived his whole life in Soweto, where he attended Motsaneng Lower Primary School in Mapetla.
However, the Department of Home Affairs and its officials disagree. They say their records indicate that Ndlovu is a Lesotho national who committed a crime there in 1969 when he was 17 years old, while other records show that he is actually a Zimbabwean man.
It was only when he went to apply for a smart card that all this was revealed, leaving him confused because Home Affairs issued him an ID in the past without any problem. Today, however, he finds himself without any form of identity book because Home Affairs officials seized it and blocked it after telling him that he was a foreigner.
Ndlovu does not know how he landed in the situation he is in today, but traced everything back to when he was 17 and went to the Home Affairs office in Market Street in Joburg to apply for a dompas.
Instead of getting the document, he was allegedly accused of being a Lesotho national, arrested, bundled into a vehicle and driven to the Lesotho border. “However, I told the official that I’m not from Lesotho and do not know anyone from there,” Ndlovu recalled.
He did not cross into Lesotho but instead found his way back to Joburg. The following year, Ndlovu’s grandmother helped him obtain a dompas and The Star is in possession of the affidavit in which the old woman explained that her grandson was born in Joburg.
Years later, he got a job at a company where he worked for 30 years, got a green barcoded ID book, voted and even applied and received an old age pension. But when he recently went to apply for a smart card ID, he was told that records show that he was Zimbabwean and was wanted in his country for a crime he had committed there.
Confused, Ndlovu went to another Home Affairs branch. There, the official assisting him punched his ID number into the computer and sent him to the immigration section of the building. There, Ndlovu was told that he was from Lesotho, his name was Eric Mboro and he had committed crime there too.
His ID book was taken and later blocked. The Department of Home Affairs has instituted an investigation to resolve the matter. Spokesman Mayihlome Tshwete said officials from head office will contact Ndlovu with a view to attaining more information to assist with the probe.
“As a principle, we would not want to deport a genuine South African but equally, if it is found that the complainant is in the country illegally, we will have to follow due process and implement the Immigration Act,” he said.
The Star
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