A Bonteheuwel family is pleading for assistance as their ill brother is still struggling to get his ID from the Department of Home Affairs.
Ismail Khan, 68, lost his original identity document in 2016 while he was visiting Paarl.
However, after seven years, the oupa is still waiting for Home Affairs to assist him with a replacement.
According to his concerned sister Nashreen Beukes, they have been to several branches in Cape Town to apply for a new ID, “maar dit bly dieselfde storie”.
“Whenever I go to Home Affairs I see somebody else, every freaking time. I never see the same person twice,” she moaned.
Nashreen said Ismail applied for a new ID in 2016, but was told that someone in Limpopo had the same ID number as him.
“Apparently there is a duplicate ID, there is a guy in Limpopo with the same ID number so I don’t know, I’m just dik of Home Affairs, honestly,” she added.
“They told me it shouldn’t be such a big thing, but I asked them what I should do to get my brother an ID.
“It is not seven days but seven years, is there no one who can help me?”
Ismail, too, was disappointment in Home Affairs but hopes that he can get an ID before the end of the year so that he can get his affairs in order.
Siyabulela Qoza, a ministerial spokesperson for the Department of Home Affairs, confirmed that the department will get in touch with Nashreen for additional details.
“ Thank you for your query. We are contacting the family to finalise the matter,” Qoza added.
Meanwhile, Nashreen said that Ismail relies on handouts as he doesn’t receive a Sassa grant, for which he needs an ID to apply.
“We give him whatever we can, clothes he gets from the people on the road,” she added.
“We are worried about when he is going to pass away, we being Muslim, we don’t still want to be running around and stuff like that when a person is dead.”