Independent Newspapers
A South African identity book. File photo: Independent Newspapers
Durban – For more than a year, Overport resident Lynette Naidoo has been battling to reclaim her identity and her life after finding out that, according to the Durban Department of Home Affairs, she is married to two men, neither of whom she has met.
She also claims that someone else shares her identity number.
Naidoo, who has been back and forth to Home Affairs to solve the problem, said that the mistake was ruining her life.
“I haven’t been able to claim UIF, and that means I have no money,” she said.
Naidoo said she had not been married and was surprised that the department had married her off – not once, but twice. “This is bigamy – marrying two people. The first time I went there, I was told I was married to one man. Then the next time I was married to another man,” she said.
Both her “husbands” use her maiden name.
Naidoo said that when she told people about her predicament, they didn’t believe her.
“My landlord thinks I’m lying. They don’t understand the pain and stress I’m dealing with,” she said.
Her driving licence had expired and she could not renew it, she said. KZN Home Affairs provincial manager Albert Matsaung said that the department had been aware of Naidoo’s problem for a year now.
“The system records show she got married in the 1980s. It also shows that there’s a duplicate of her identity document. We did not find information on a second marriage, though,” he said.
Naidoo said that she had also been made aware of someone who shared her name using the same identity number as her.
Matsaung said that the reason it had taken a long time to resolve the case was because it was still being investigated.
“We have to look into many things – like, is the marriage fraudulent, or does the complainant know about it, but now wants it changed? We also have to look at whether the complainant could have two IDs,” he said.
Matsaung said the marriage could be legitimate for the other Naidoo, but obviously not for Naidoo, the complainant.
“Our investigators will try and locate the man she is married to. We will double-check signatures and fingerprints. We cannot just issue a new ID number and block the other. There is a lot to look into,” he said.
The Mercury
