A GOGO from Qina in Centane, near Butterworth has a bone to pick with Home Affairs.
Nokhumshile Mxhadi (66) said her nightmare started in 2006 when she applied for an ID.
It was issued with the incorrect name and date of birth.
According to her ID, she was born in 1965 but the gogo was actually born in 1951.
Because of the error, Nokhumshile is unable to receive a social grant, which she wanted to use to clothe and feed her family.
“I have been to the Home Affairs branch in Centane several times.
“The last time I went there was in 2015 and I was told my date of birth cannot be rectified.
“Home Affairs officials were no longer willing to hear my story and I was told to go home.
“That’s when my life turned into a nightmare,” said Nokhumshile.
She said her peers receive grants while she sometimes goes to bed on an empty stomach.
“I took the decision not to go back to Home Affairs because I have lost hope in their officials.”
She said she would rather live with an ID that has the wrong details than return to home affairs.
Chief Buyisile Ntleko said such cases are very common in the area.
He said he had been to Centane Home Affairs numerous times but the officials have not been able to fix problems.
He said: “We have lost hope in the Centane branch because the people who go there end up suffering and getting sick.
“We ask government to intervene and save gogos from this nightmare before they die.”
Home Affairs official Buzani Fezile said some people change their date of birth so they can benefit from job opportunities reserved for the youth.
He said a Home Affairs’ assessment committee would look into the matter and take a decision.
Addressing more than 500 community members at the Sassa outreach programme in Centane on Friday, Fezile said the department had called on people to come forward between 1997 and 2007 to have such mistakes rectified.
However, he said these cases can be rectified only if the victim came with witnesses and an affidavit written by a local chief.
