Durban - The Durban teenager who tried to commit suicide because a birth certificate bungle kept her out of school is going to class on Monday.
But her mother has lost faith that Home Affairs will keep its promise to help her daughter, 13, get a birth certificate after she was mistakenly declared dead.
Without the certificate, the teen could not enrol in high school.
On Tuesday, the mother met Jabu Mgobozi, office manager of Home Affairs in Durban, reassured her.
“I was expecting their call, but nobody has bothered to inform me about what’s happening. I did try to call them, still nothing,” she said.
The teen struggled to enrol for Grade 8 because she did not have a birth certificate.
Rossburgh High School accepted her after the department issued the school with a letter stating she was alive, and reassuring them the matter was getting priority attention.
“When she came here, the girl was stressed and afraid about being turned away. We weren’t sure about her situation at first, but the department reassured us that she had all the documents except her birth certificate but it was working on it,” a spokesperson for the school said.
“We have been informed that she will be in class on Monday. But, as the school we have to follow up on the certificate because it becomes a problem during exam time especially in matric.”
The mother confirmed that her daughter had been discharged from hospital.
She said the department had apologised for the delay and promised to get her daughter’s documents as soon as possible. “Unfortunately, they still didn’t have an explanation why she was declared deceased in the first place. I was told that my daughter wasn’t on the system and was mistaken with a deceased girl. The situation doesn’t look promising, I doubt they’ll have her documents on time,” she said.
The mother spoke to Mgobozi on Friday about the progress of the certificate and was told not to worry, despite the lack of communication, because they were still busy with it.
“He said I must keep texting them to remind them and they’ll get back to me,” the mother said.
The department did not respond to requests for comment before deadline.