A Soweto woman has been struggling to get a birth certificate for her daughter for the past 18 years because of an unknown child that is linked to her ID.
This has prevented Gugulethu Florence Mahlinza's child from having a birth certificate and an ID book.
As a result, the teen has missed out on state programmes such as the child support grant.
In 2006 on May 22, Mahlinza gave birth to Sortina Buhle Mahlinza at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital.
When she went to apply for her daughter’s birth certificate a year later, she discovered that according to home affairs records, she had another “daughter” Thulani Fezile Mncube born in the same year as hers.
The alleged baby girl, however, was born on August 8 2006 and registered under Mahlinza.
There is no address or day attached to the child's name.
“I was confused because I did not know this child that they were talking about. This child has been standing in the way of my daughter being registered and, for more than 18 years, the department of home affairs failed to remove her name and register my [existing] daughter,” Mahlinza said.
She also mentioned that she found out in March 2006 that the child had already been attached to her in the system before she even gave birth.
The department had given the mother a copy of the birth certificate of the undisclosed child.
Speaking to Sowetan, Mahlinza said she returned to Orlando home affairs in 2010 and was told that her query was being restarted. She has however never received any help from the department.
“The department told me to fax them instead of coming to their offices. In 2023, I went to Legal Aid to ask for help. [Legal Aid] told me to go to their [offices] in Braamfontein, but I did not go,” she said.
Mahlinza has four children, the first one born in 1999 and two others who were born after 2006. All of them have birth certificates except for Sortina, and have been able to get the child support grant, said Mahlinza.
Without the birth certificate, Mahlinza had to provide the school with an affidavit to have Sortina enrolled.
Sortina said lacking a birth certificate affected her a lot in primary school.
“Pupils would make fun of me, calling me a foreigner. The teachers would say, 'if you don't have a birth certificate, you are not allowed to eat from the feeding scheme'. It was painful," Sortina said.
Teen denied birth certificate because her mom is linked to another unknown child
Sortina dropped out of school, her son is also undocumented
A Soweto woman has been struggling to get a birth certificate for her daughter for the past 18 years because of an unknown child that is linked to her ID.
This has prevented Gugulethu Florence Mahlinza's child from having a birth certificate and an ID book.
As a result, the teen has missed out on state programmes such as the child support grant.
In 2006 on May 22, Mahlinza gave birth to Sortina Buhle Mahlinza at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital.
When she went to apply for her daughter’s birth certificate a year later, she discovered that according to home affairs records, she had another “daughter” Thulani Fezile Mncube born in the same year as hers.
The alleged baby girl, however, was born on August 8 2006 and registered under Mahlinza.
There is no address or day attached to the child's name.
“I was confused because I did not know this child that they were talking about. This child has been standing in the way of my daughter being registered and, for more than 18 years, the department of home affairs failed to remove her name and register my [existing] daughter,” Mahlinza said.
She also mentioned that she found out in March 2006 that the child had already been attached to her in the system before she even gave birth.
The department had given the mother a copy of the birth certificate of the undisclosed child.
Speaking to Sowetan, Mahlinza said she returned to Orlando home affairs in 2010 and was told that her query was being restarted. She has however never received any help from the department.
“The department told me to fax them instead of coming to their offices. In 2023, I went to Legal Aid to ask for help. [Legal Aid] told me to go to their [offices] in Braamfontein, but I did not go,” she said.
Mahlinza has four children, the first one born in 1999 and two others who were born after 2006. All of them have birth certificates except for Sortina, and have been able to get the child support grant, said Mahlinza.
Without the birth certificate, Mahlinza had to provide the school with an affidavit to have Sortina enrolled.
Sortina said lacking a birth certificate affected her a lot in primary school.
“Pupils would make fun of me, calling me a foreigner. The teachers would say, 'if you don't have a birth certificate, you are not allowed to eat from the feeding scheme'. It was painful," Sortina said.
She eventually dropped out of school in grade 9 as she was tired of being taunted over her lack of a birth certificate. Today, aged 18, she is the mother of a two-year-old child who also does not have a birth certificate.
Just like his mother, the boy also can't receive the child support grant as he doesn't have a birth certificate.
Sortina said she desperately needed her birth certificate matter to be resolved so that she could have an ID and go back to school.
“Going back to school would improve my chances in life, and help me to properly care for my son.”
Her elder sister, Simphiwe Mahlinza, 25, said their childhood was difficult as their single-parent mother was not employed.
“It was a challenge when our mother was raising us [herself and Sortina] with just one social grant. Our mother was unemployed and our fathers were not present. We had to survive on my child support grant; it's been hard,” she said.
The child support support today is R530.
Simphiwe empathises with Sortina over her reasons for dropping out of school.
“This [lack the of the birth certificate] affected her a lot. She dropped out because she feared her efforts would be in vain as she doesn't exist as a citizen of this country.
“What would have been the purpose of her continuing with school when she would not get anywhere with her education? She even became suicidal,” she said.
Albert Matsaung, home affairs acting provincial manager, told Sowetan that Sortina case should have been resolved a long time ago.
“I need this matter to be resolved. I can see that the mother has submitted this request and I am going to talk to the officials who are supposed to work on this matter," Matsaung said.
"I need to give you a story that says it has been resolved and I don't want to say we are still investigating, because it is an old matter.”