Woman finally gets ID card after four-year struggle
|Published
Winnie Nkuna with her ID card. Picture: Rudzani Matshili Winnie Nkuna with her ID card. Picture: Rudzani Matshili
Pretoria - Winnie Nkuna could hardly contain her excitement after she finally received an ID card from the Department of Home Affairs after a 4-year struggle.
Nkuna previously faced insurmountable problems as she was married without her consent.
Home Affairs records indicated that Nkuna had been married since 2015 to a man she didn’t know and had three children with him.
But in real life, the Soshanguve resident has never been married and has just two children.
In April last year, the Pretoria News reported that on finding out that she was married and had three children, Nkuna immediately turned to Home Affairs, but was sent from pillar to post for years.
Nkuna, who works as a security officer, said she was shocked to learn that she was married when she had gone to renew her Securities Industry Regulatory Authority certificate. She said she was informed her ID had been cloned.
The 32-year-old was over the moon when the Pretoria News caught up with her.
“I got my ID on Wednesday this week. I’m very excited because I can now live a normal life.
"I’ve already opened a bank account using this new ID and I did not have any problems.
“One thing that stressed me most was that if they started insourcing security guards I would not be one of those because my security certificate would not be renewed,” she said.
She recalled the day she found out: “It was in 2015 when I learnt that I was married to 67-year-old Thomas Mathebula.
"I had gone to renew my certificate and when they took my fingerprints, the picture of the woman who appeared on the system was not me.
“I immediately went to Home Affairs in Ga-Rankuwa to enquire.” T
here she was advised to apply for the smart card ID, which she did, but the card was not issued.”