Query: Minister of Home Affairs and Immigration, do something about the citizenship department, please. There is a delay in printing our documents. Our children don’t have birth certificates because of the delay in providing citizenship documents.

Response: The Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration has committed itself to fulfilling its goal that every Namibian should be able to obtain national documents in a simpler, faster and convenient manner and it is our wish that nobody should be left out. To be specific, citizenship (by descent) certificates are issued to children born outside Namibia from one or both parents, who are Namibian at the time of the child’s birth. However, persons falling under this category must apply for a birth certificate in the country where the child was born. The process of acquiring citizenship takes 30 or more working days, depending on the merit of the application, be it the citizenship by marriage, naturalisation, registration or descent. Additionally, the verification process is not only done within the ministry, but also involves external stakeholders. However, should there be any additional enquiries, the ministry is humbly inviting the public to visit its nearest offices for additional information and services they may
require.

Query: Where can one report crimes related to Ministry of Home Affairs? I know about an NGO that gives jobs to international students, but brings them into the country on a tourist visa while they are in fact working. That’s cheating the system. They have been doing it for over 10 years now.

Response: The Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration understands that fraud and corruption affects us all, it is our common enemy. The ministry, therefore, encourages members of the public to report such practices to its public relations officers at the following numbers: 061- 2922169, 0811253674, or 061-2922068, 0811425849.

Source

Pretoria – He obtained three qualifications and an internship in government and was on the path to carving a great future – but Thokozani Ngubani is unable to realise his dreams because, according to Home Affairs, he is dead.

The 31-year-old from Brooklyn is listed as dead in the national population register.

The department has no idea how he “died”, but has promised to investigate the matter urgently.

Originally from KwaZulu-Natal, Ngubani relocated to the capital after being accepted as an intern at the Department of Economic Development and Tourism.

His nightmare began shortly after he lost his ID in 2014.

He immediately applied for a new ID, but that was just the start of his woes. “I thought since I applied for a new ID my problems would be a thing of the past. However, when trying to switch bank accounts while doing my internship I discovered I had been declared dead.”

“When the bank first told me, I thought it was a joke. It turned out to be real, but I was optimistic the mistake could be rectified within six months as mentioned by the officials,” said Ngubani.

Despite not having an ID, he said, his employer made alternative arrangements to pay him his salary every month.

Source