MUMMY, when are we going to school like other kids?
This was the question Nonqaba Ngcumbe’s kids asked her on Monday, 15 February as thousands of children returned to school.
But the 32-year-old mother of three from Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape, can’t enrol her seven and six-year-old in school or apply for social grants as she is unable to get birth certificates for them.
“I’m unable to get birth certificates for my children because my mother refused to do the documentation so that I can have an ID.
“Without birth certificates, I’m unable to enrol my kids in school or apply for social grants,” said Nonqaba.
She said she has been pleading with her mother for the past 13 years to sign the documents, but she refused.
“She told me she wants me to suffer like she suffered. On this basis Home Affairs refused to issue me an ID.
“Not having an ID means I won’t be able to register my children’s births and their future is doubtful. I have tried everything to get documentation, but my efforts have been in vain,” she said.
Nonqaba said she has missed a lot of opportunities and can’t even apply for a job or register for the Covid-19 social relief grant.
“I survive on piece jobs,” she said.
Social Development provincial spokesman Mzukisi Solani said: “It is a very sad situation where you find children being prejudiced against because they don’t have documents.
“The department will profile these children and their mother and liaise with the relevant departments. We want these children to benefit from what is their constitutional right to education.”
Daily Sun’s attempts to get hold of Nonqaba’s mother were fruitless as her house was locked.
