A drawn-out bungle over 20 years has left a young East London woman feeling like a “zombie” who does not exist, carrying a birth certificate which actually belongs to a male who has the same name.
All Yamkela Jali, 21, wants to do is further her studies and get her driver’s licence – but she cannot without an ID book, for which she needs an authentic birth certificate.
The Department of Home Affairs has refused to issue Yamkela with an ID book for years as the birth certificate in her possession belongs to someone else and her details are not on the central database.
Yamkela was born on December 24 1997 in East London, with another Yamkela Jali – a male – born a day earlier in Bizana.
For years her mother, Nokuthula, 43, has battled to correct the error.
She had applied for the birth certificate at a Home Affairs branch in East London shortly after her daughter’s birth.
But when she went to collect the document two months later, she immediately noticed the incorrect date of birth and gender.
She was never able to convince the department to correct the blunder after numerous visits to the branch.
“Eventually I gave up trying to fix it and after years went by I had to register my child at pre-school using the male certificate,” Nokuthula said.
While in Grade 10 at Sakhikamva Public School, Yamkela discovered to her shock that the long-standing bungle prevented her from obtaining an ID book.
“While at school in 2014 I was told to submit my birth certificate so I could be captured on the school system,” Yamkela said.
She said a clerk had then told her the certificate was not hers and merely a copy that belonged to someone else.
“I thought the certificate was mine and that the gender and birthday was just a misprint.”
Along with her mother, she went in 2014 to the same Home Affairs branch, where she was told that the certificate was for the Yamkela Jali born in Bizana.
“I couldn’t believe it. I went to rectify the errors on my birth certificate but instead I was told I don’t exist,” she said.
She had asked for the error to be fixed, but the official had blamed her mother for not doing it years earlier.“The officials told me to get a confirmation letter from the doctor stating I am a female and proof of birth from the hospital I was born in.”
Yamkela then requested her proof of birth from Cecilia Makiwane Hospital, but was told all files from the 1990s had been lost.
Eventually, Yamkela managed to get a letter from the hospital and a doctor. She then applied for a birth certificate days later but it has never arrived.
“My life is at a standstill. I’m alive but I don’t exist,” she said. “I can’t get a proper job, study further, or get my driver’s licence. I am nothing but a walking zombie.
“Since 2014, the department kept on sending me from pillar to post with no help. Whenever I inquire, they tell me to wait another six months.”
Last year, Yamkela was almost prevented from writing matric.
“At school, they told me I needed an ID book or temporary ID to write my exams.
“I went to the Home Affairs branch again and I almost died when they told me there was nothing they could do.”
Sakhikamva Public School principal Lucky Macozoma said when they registered the Grade 12 class he had noticed Yamkela had an ID number belonging to a male. The last four digits of an ID number are used to define gender.
“We went to Home Affairs to try to sort it out, but were told it could only be changed in Pretoria,” Macozoma said.
He said they had not been willing to wait for such a long process and approached the Department of Education.
“We couldn’t deprive her of her right to education. We had to write an affidavit stating she was one of our pupils.”
But despite passing, Yamkela is unable to get a matric certificate as she does not have a valid ID.
“My dream in life was to further my studies and secure a job and break the chains of poverty at home, but now all that is shattered,” she said.
East London Home Affairs branch manager Feziwe Mbebe said the birth certificate belonged to a male named Yamkela Jali who was born in Bizana.
She said the duplication of the ID number was being investigated.
Home Affairs spokesman Thabo Mokgola said: “There are various factors that cause such challenges and these are individually probed. A thorough investigation will reveal the factors behind the mistake.
“Once we have concluded the investigation, [Yamkela’s] status will be updated on our system and she will be issued with a correct document.”