Pretoria - Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma has instructed her department to do all it can to put an end to the problem of duplicate identity documents.
The department's Director-General, Mkuseli Apleni, said in a briefing on Tuesday that the minister had expressed serious concern over the number of duplicate IDs in the system and believed the situation was untenable as it led to the disruption of the lives of ordinary people.
Currently, 83 000 South Africans have more than one ID number, while a further 38 000 share their ID number with someone else.
"The minister has directed the department to bring an end to the misery. The minister is fully cognisant that these duplicate IDs create a situation in which lives of ordinary people [come] to a standstill, in that they are unable to transact with business, banks, insurance companies, educational institutions, government agencies such as Social Development," he added.
A list of those affected will be published in national print and electronic media, as well as the department's website, inviting them to approach Home Affairs offices to rectify the situation.
The department was working hard to resolve the issue as quickly as possible and apologised for the "slow process of redressing these imbalances".
Apleni appealed for co-operation and patience from those affected.
"We will spare neither strength nor effort in restoring the dignity of those affected by the scourge," he said.
More good news was the announcement that the department would not be increasing the tariffs for IDs, passports, birth and death certificates.
"We are satisfied that the costs of producing these documents, in a manner that ensures not only their integrity but the security of each of our citizens, are being met by the tariffs currently in place. A review of tariffs will be undertaken at the end of the forthcoming financial year and an appropriate announcement will be made," Apleni added.
He reiterated the department's call for babies to be registered within 30 days of birth, in accordance with the Births and Deaths Registration Act.
Once regulations related to the implementation of the amendments to the Registration of Births and Deaths as well as the Citizenship Acts were finalised, penalties will be imposed on parents and caregivers who do not register babies within 30 days of delivery, he warned.
"Although a further announcement will be made on the finalisation of the regulations for the Amendments, we would like to appeal to all parents and caregivers to comply with the law to register babies within 30 days of delivery," Apleni added.
The current process of late registration of birth will also be affected. If babies were registered within 30 days of birth as required, in due course there would be no need for late registration of birth applications.
"...although a further announcement will be made in due course as to how the new processes for late registration of birth will be implemented, we want to inform citizens that late registration of birth applications will henceforth only be accepted under exceptional circumstances. And again, if child births are registered within 30 days of delivery, these exceptional circumstances will be few and far between," he said.
