There are still 700,000 IDs in South Africa that are being held by Home Affairs. Are you one of them? Look Here: The Gauteng High Court in Pretoria said that the Department of Home Affairs’ (DHA) practice of blocking South African IDs is illegal. This is a major decision that could affect the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.
700,000 IDs Are Still Blocked by Home Affair
This decision is a big relief for a lot of people who have been stuck in legal limbo because their IDs were randomly blocked, making it impossible for them to get to services they needed.
Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR), Legal Wise South Africa, and the Children’s Institute are leading the legal fight, which shows how bad the DHA’s actions were. In order to protect the National Population Register’s integrity, the department stopped IDs that it thought were fake without giving anyone advance notice or following fair administrative procedures. Many people were left without a state and unable to do basic things in their daily lives because of this practice.
The Unconstitutional Practice of Blocking IDs
In May 2012, the DHA started a program to get rid of duplicate IDs in the National Population Register. This is where the problem began. Starting with 29,000 IDs, the problem quickly got worse. By 2020, more than a million IDs had marks put on them, which blocked them. Since then, the department has unblocked 1.8 million IDs, but more than 700,000 are still blocked, putting those people in a dangerous position.
In her ruling, Judge Elmarie van der Schyff of the Gauteng High Court said that the DHA’s actions were unfair, inappropriate, and against the South African Constitution. The court made it clear that just thinking someone was trying to commit fraud was not enough to block their IDs without first taking the right administrative steps.
The Human Cost
Because of this behavior, many bad things have happened. People who are affected are unseen to the government because they can’t get passports, travel, go to school, get medical care, or even open bank accounts. This “ghosting” effect not only makes things hard for adults, but it’s also very bad for kids whose parents’ IDs have been blocked.
The first entry was made by Phindile Mazibuko, who is from Eswatini but has lived in South Africa since 1998. She was afraid she would lose her legal residency because her ID was blocked. LHR and Legal Wise South Africa joined this case because it was important for the public to get the IDs unblocked and the people who were hurt to get their rights back.
In their founding declaration, LHR said that blocking IDs was against the Constitution because it made people without a country to live in. The group said, “They become ghosts in the system—they can’t get passports and travel, they can’t get medical care or education, and they can’t open or access bank accounts.”
The Court’s Decision
Judge Van der Schyff said in her decision that the Director-General is responsible for keeping the national population register safe, but if they do this without taking the right administrative steps, that is bad behavior. She said that fear alone wasn’t enough to block IDs without a court order, which meant that the DHA had gone too far.
In its answering affidavit, the DHA accepted that the IDs were taken away without a fair and just administrative process. They also said that this was against the Constitution. Since then, the department said it had made a method that is fair and easy to understand, but it still involves putting up markers or blocking IDs.
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Moving Forward
The court told the DHA to find out within 90 days what the situation is of LHR and Legal Wise clients and decide if unblocking the IDs that are currently blocked would be a security risk. The statement has been put on hold for one year, giving the DHA time to follow the order.
The decision was praised by LHR as a major step toward a fair and just administrative process. Palesa Maloisane, LHR’s Legal Consultant for Statelessness, stressed how important this ruling is for stopping people from becoming stateless and giving those who have been affected back their identity and dignity. She said she hoped the DHA would quickly settle the cases, especially those involving children, so the people involved could get back to living their lives and get to services they needed.
Check Your Status
If you think your ID might be one of the 700,000 that are still blocked, you need to check your state and do what you need to do. Make sure your rights are recovered by contacting the DHA or getting help from groups like LHR. For everyone in South Africa who is affected by this unfair practice, this decision is the start of the path to justice and respect.
Conclusion
This is a very important win for human rights and the rule of law in South Africa from the Gauteng High Court. It shows how important fair governmental processes are and how people’s rights need to be protected against actions taken by the government without reason. In order to follow the court’s order, the DHA is working hard. Those who are impacted should soon be able to fully participate in society without having to worry about their ID being blocked.