With less than a month to go before the start of matric exams, a Soshanguve pupil is desperate to get an identity document and break what she calls a “generational curse”.
For years, Thobile Maseko’s mother struggled to obtain the vital document even for herself.
The mother passed away last year and had been unsuccessful in securing a birth certificate or ID for her daughter.
Now, 21-year-old Maseko fears she will not be able to write her final exams and get her matric certificate.
Her mother, a domestic worker, died from cancer last year.
Maseko said her mother had been trying since 2017 to get her and her older sister birth certificates and IDs – but failed.
“My mother couldn’t help me because she also didn’t have any documents. She passed away last year in July and that’s when my problems started.”
Now the grade 12 pupil from the Soshanguve East Secondary School, north of Pretoria, said she was anxious about her future.
“This really affects me because I can’t even apply (to universities and colleges). People have applied for NSFAS and bursaries and I can’t because I don’t have an ID.”
Home affairs officials have told the publication they could help Maseko, but her identity must be confirmed by a family member.
The young woman claims her relatives have not been helpful either, making the situation worse.
Maseko claims to be struggling to get her ID even though, she says, she has done everything required by the home affairs department.
The pupil said her grandmother was the only person with a valid ID in her family but she also passed away.
Armed with several documents, including notice of her birth at the Kalafong Hospital, a copy of her grandmother’s ID, and all records of her late mother’s death – the young woman said she was desperate for home affairs to issue her with her own identity document.
The 21-year-old said adding to her problems now was her age because she was no longer a minor.
“I am in grade 12 now, I don’t have an ID or birth certificate and that affects me because I can’t write my final exam.”
The young woman said she had also been told to get a family member to confirm their relation but this too had proven difficult.
“I’m left with my aunt; she is my mom’s sister, but she doesn’t seem to take this seriously.”
While Maseko said her teachers, social workers, and her mother’s former employer have tried to help her; home affairs officials say they would intervene – but stressed that Maseko’s relatives must cooperate.
Her aunt, meanwhile, denies that she has not stepped in.
Though Maseko claims she was turned away from the home affairs offices in Pretoria earlier this week, she said she would go back again on Friday to try to get assistance with her problem.
The young woman said she had already missed out on opportunities to break the cycle of poverty in her family, and she sometimes felt embarrassed by her situation.
“When we wrote our prelims, I felt like I was being discriminated. I felt alone because the others took out their IDs and I had nothing that I could take out.”
Maseko said she lost friends because of her constant anxiety over the upcoming exams and her life after matric.
She said she dreamt of joining the South African National Defense Force.
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