Durban - Unable to gain access to his bank account because of a fingerprint recognition issue, Bongani Zikhali was told to visit his Home Affairs Department office for verification where, to his surprise, he was told he was dead.
The past month has been a nightmare for the Germiston father of four, who believes someone who found his lost identity document used it to take out a life insurance policy and then had him declared dead to claim it.
Zikhali, 42, made the discovery last month when he tried to make transactions on his business account. However, he was told to head to a Home Affairs office for fingerprint verification.
“I was told my fingerprints did not match those of my business account.”
At the Home Affairs office in Germiston, he was told he had “died” on May 27 in Nquthu, northern KwaZulu-Natal.
Zikhali, from Mtubatuba, said he was deployed to Nquthu for the May elections by his political party, the African Independent Congress, and while there he lost his ID.
“I phoned Home Affairs in Nquthu and was told that someone had arrived with a burial order and a burial notice, wanting a death certificate for Bongani Zikhali,” he said.
Zikhali said he was told he had been declared dead at Nquthu’s Charles Johnson Memorial Hospital on May 27.
“It seems there is some fraud going on, because when I got to the hospital I was told they were in the middle of an investigation around this very matter.”
The Daily News learnt from a reliable source that it was believed a hospital employee had stolen forms from the Home Affairs office in Nquthu and worked with another man to take out a life insurance policy. The source said the employee, believed to be working at the hospital’s mortuary, was apparently in cahoots with a doctor at the hospital.
Zikhali said he sent several emails to the Home Affairs head office and an official said it would be investigated.
“She said it would take about four to five years to sort this out. This has frustrated me emotionally and financially because I can’t access my bank account. I’m an entrepreneur and I get some jobs through tenders, but I can’t do that because my company is not active any more.”
Zikhali said his family in Mtubatuba relied on him as a breadwinner, as did other relatives.
“I was supposed to go to Swaziland for work, but I can’t because my passport is marked as deceased; everything of mine is marked as deceased. I have had to sell some of my belongings to pay rent here in Gauteng.”
Health Department spokesperson Noluthando Nkosi said it was concerned about the allegations.
“Hospital management has met the complainant to gather the facts and has instituted an internal investigation. This matter has also been reported to the police, and the department is prepared to co-operate with the police investigation.”
Home Affairs provincial manager Cyril Mncwabe said the matter was under investigation and “will be resolved soon”.
Mncwabe said the police would be called to investigate if the department’s internal probe detected fraud.