Stateless since start, she was called a “border hopper” by House Affairs officials
- Primrose Modisane, now 36, was born in Zimbabwe nonetheless is entitled to South African citizenship as her grandmother was South African.
- Modisane was unable to total matric and her name does no longer appear on her kid’s start certificates.
- For decades, she was despatched from pillar to post by House Affairs officials, till she took the department to court and received a court reveal.
Primrose Modisane, who has persisted a lifetime of statelessness and a decades-long battle with the Department of House Affairs (DHA), has finally received her South African start certificate.
Pretoria Excessive Court Desire Mandla Mbongwe dominated in April that House Affairs must effort Modisane, who was represented in court by Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR), with a start certificate within 30 days.
However this did no longer happen. Most fascinating 5 months later, and after Modisane, LHR and retired Constitutional Court Desire Johann Kriegler scheduled a media briefing to publicly shame DHA on Tuesday, did the department finally follow the court reveal.
Modisane will now be able to apply for a South African Identification Doc, allowing her to vote, access grants, and enrol her younger individuals at school.
GroundUp previously reported on the jam of Modisane, who was born in Zimbabwe nonetheless is entitled to South African citizenship by her grandmother, who is composed alive.
Tuesday’s scheduled media briefing, which was to be held at Structure Hill in Johannesburg, was cancelled on Monday afternoon after Modisane was notified that her South African start certificate was ready for series.
Modisane received her start certificate on Tuesday at the Germiston Department of House Affairs with her granny and supporters by her facet.
“The first thing I am going to do when I get my ID is open my own bank account, get my name added to my children’s birth certificates, and register my youngest child for school. Then I will go to my mother’s grave and tell her that this suffering is over,” she said.
Modisane’s mother, Phumulani Tshuma, received her possess documentation handiest weeks ahead of she died of untreated cancer in 2023. She had for years been denied hospital access because she was undocumented.
Retired contemplate intervenes
In a statement, Justice Kriegler said: “This should never have taken this long. It should not take a court order, and a threat of a media briefing for a South African citizen to be acknowledged in her own country.”
In an interview with GroundUp, Kriegler said LHR had followed up with the department dozens of instances after the court reveal nonetheless received no response.
He said he had approached the minister personally by an intermediary. “I have no doubt that the threat of public disclosure precipitated the sudden production of the birth certificate.”
He said Modisane’s claim to citizenship was confirmed because her grandmother composed had her dompass.
“If a busy-body old judge hadn’t got angry, where would we have been? … I think there is a whole nation of stateless African people, who are born and live and die somewhere, coping and managing. Heaven knows how.”
Opposed encounters
In her court application, Modisane detailed her many “hostile encounters” with House Affairs officials all by her battle to total her statelessness. She said she, her mother and her grandmother, who was 80 years worn, have been accused of being “border hoppers”, although her grandmother was born in South Africa. They have been passed from pillar to post. Even DNA exams, which proved their South African heritage connections, have been no longer vital by the department.
Now a mother of two, Modisane came upon her “statelessness” lawful ahead of her matric exams when the department visited her school to assist learners glean their ID paperwork in reveal to sit down for exams. However she had no start certificate and was denied assist. She later learned that it was because her mother was unregistered and undocumented in South Africa.
Each Modisane and her mother have been born in Zimbabwe (Modisane came to South Africa when she was 5), nonetheless their South African lineage traces back on the maternal facet to Modisane’s grandmother. This entitles them both to South African citizenship.
After her mother was finally granted citizenship, House Affairs remained insistent that Modisane must manufacture her start certificate from Zimbabwe. However her start had never been registered there. Modisane said in court papers that she also may no longer travel to Zimbabwe to access start data because she had no ID or passport from Zimbabwe or South Africa.
Modisane said she had hoped to see to change into a social worker. However, after being denied an ID, she may no longer write her matric or see additional. She became a home worker.
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Without legal recognition in either Zimbabwe or South Africa, Modisane said she had been stateless for most of her lifestyles, unable to commence a bank account or access social grants. She was left in a perpetual state of legal limbo.
Although she married a South African and had two younger individuals with him, her name was no longer reflected on the kid’s start certificates because she had no identification document.
It was handiest by DNA exams that the father’s paternity was established and her younger individuals got start certificates.
“I have suffered severe trauma, emotional harm and blatant infringement of my basic human rights caused by the unjust and inhumane treatment inflicted on my family and me by DHA officials. I was unable to complete my education. I have never voted. My mother never had the opportunity to vote because she died within months of receiving her ID,” Modisane said in her affidavit.
She said her mother had fought alongside her “up until her death”.
The Department of House Affairs did no longer answer to a query for remark.
