/ 30 August 2009

Dlamini-Zuma lashes home affairs dept following suicide

Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said she would not tolerate officials who ‘think they rule the world” following the suicide of a man whose identity document application was allegedly torn up by an official.

”People who work in those offices, [the] majority of them, [think] they rule the world,” said Dlamini-Zuma at a media conference in Umzimkhulu, KwaZulu-Natal, where a service delivery workshop was taking place.

In a sound clip of the conference supplied by the department, she said she had received a distressing call on Friday night to inform her that Douglas Skhumbuso Mhlongo had killed himself, after an alleged incident at the Pinetown Department of Home Affairs.

She explained that from what she understood, Mhlongo, who was born in 1987 — and did not seem to have parents — had been trying to apply for an ID.

Obtaining an ID without a birth certificate requires late registration and involves drawing on statements from South Africans who can vouch for the applicant.

”The person who was conducting the interview was not satisfied with the information and then said this young man was lying and tore the papers and threw them at him, and said that clearly they are not even South African and used this derogative word that they use for foreigners, and basically chased him away and condemned this young man to no life.

”And of course what is worse is that he was looking forward to starting a job but obviously they had said he must bring his ID when he comes to work and if he doesn’t have an ID then they [will] give it to someone else.

”And of course when it became clear that they are not prepared to give [him] an ID, they are not even prepared to accept him as a South African, he then decided to end his life.”

Sounding upset, Dlamini-Zuma said: ”Obviously as a person who has that portfolio it’s very difficult, so we hope that it won’t happen again. We are going to find the person who acted in that way and we won’t have tolerance for people like that.”

Dlamini-Zuma said they would identify the official who allegedly tore up the documents, but said: ”That’s not enough because we have to get rid of this culture”.

She said the department was a ”difficult” one, which had never had a proper culture of service. – Sapa