Johannesburg – Twins Mandla and Vusi Ndlovu, 24, from Lillydale in Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga, cannot further their studies because they do not have identity documents.
The brothers do not know their father’s whereabouts and live with their mother, a Mozambican who also does not have documentation.
The twins are part of thousands of stateless people who are found in Mpumalanga, especially in Nkomazi and Bushbuckridge.
Stateless people are persons who do not have documents to prove that they were born in a particular country.
The Department of Home Affairs has also reportedly refused to assist them.
In a recent interview with Sunday World, Mandla said what makes the situation worse is the fact that Home Affairs officials do not give them an explanation or advice on a way forward.
“They just tell us that we do not qualify. When I asked what we should do, they said it was not their job to advise,” said Mandla.
“My brother and I passed matric with flying colours and we wanted to become economists. Now our lives are on hold because of this problem.”
He said his mother relocated to South Africa in late 1970s due to civil war in Mozambique.
She works as a domestic worker and Mandla is worried that he might inherit her poverty.
The twins completed grade 12 in 2016 at Hlomani High School in Lillydale.
The Scalabrini Centre in Cape Town, an advocacy group fighting for the rights of immigrants, has recently urged the government to amend the regulations to the Births and Deaths Registration Act to make sure children who are born within South Africa’s borders regardless of their parents’ nationality get access to birth certificates and be regarded as citizens.
According to the latest report by Lawyers for Human Rights, there are over 15-million unregistered or undocumented people in South Africa, with almost 3-million under 18 years.
Home Affairs spokesperson Siyabulela Qoza distanced his department from the problem.
“The twins’ situation is bad but being born here in South Africa by foreign parents does not mean they automatically qualify to get an identity document,” said Qoza.
Have you read: Qualified youth feel the pain of unemployment
Human Rights Commission Mpumalanga’s manager Eric Mokonyama said they would not be able to assist the twins.
By Masoka Dube
Follow @SundayWorldZA on Twitter and @sundayworldza on Instagram, or like our Facebook Page, Sunday World, by clicking here for the latest breaking news in South Africa. To Subscribe to Sunday World, click here.
Sunday World
