ONAKALUNGA – A large number of San in Ohangwena Region are struggling to access identification documents (IDs) and as a result many who are of voting age are unable to register as voters.
Moreover children and the elderly who qualify for the government’s social grant do not have any form of ID, which is required to qualify for a social grant.
Frustrations are high among the San in Onakalunga village, who over the years have not been able to vote or access government social grants including those for the elderly and orphans.
Vikito Hamunyela an elderly San woman is one of a few lucky members of this marginalised community who have an ID.
With her identification card, Hamunyela was able to represent a handful of eligible voters from her community who are also among the few lucky ones to have obtained a birth certificate from the Ministry of Home Affairs mobile centre.
When approached by New Era, Hamunyala had just been involved in a heated argument with home affairs officials who allegedly refused to issue a birth certificate to her niece, Saima Hamutenya.
Hamutenya and her four children were allegedly refused IDs as they could not provide documentary proof of Hamutenya’s deceased parents.
“I explained to them that both Saima’s parents died at the time we used to bury people in the bush. The deceased used to be buried on the day of their passing and the settlements were deserted immediately as we had to run away from death. No death certificates were obtained as a result. Now they (home affairs officials) are asking for birth or death certificates. Do they want us to go and exhume bodies so that they can issue IDs to the corpses or what?” fumed Hamunyela.
Because of not being able to obtain an ID Hamutenya can also not obtain a birth certificate for any of her four children.
She claims that the children’s fathers left the area a long time ago in search of employment and their whereabouts were not known.
The Councillor of Omundaungilo Constituency Festus Ikanda confirmed the plight of the people in his area claiming that in the past, most of the elders from the communities did not care to obtain identification documents and their offspring are now struggling to obtain official documents as a result.
“The other problem is that people that are not from this area come here to collect San people as employees and leave with them with no trace. At times it is not known if these people are dead or alive. Some of them are taken as young adults while some are children,” said Ikanda.
San people from Ombili location in Eenhana are also going through a similar plight. At least 90 percent of the about 200 San people living in that settlement do not have any form of ID, including a birth certificate.
The community there claimed that officials at home affairs demand church membership cards as proof of residence, while none of them is a member of any church.
Naomi Mbuende, a chief administration officer in Ohangwena Region said the ministry is aware of the San people’s plight and it is because of that that officials no longer demand documentary proof of residency from them.
“If the applicant has no documents we only ask them to bring a maternal and paternal guardian to testify that they know the applicant.
“In fact, community members that are not from the San are complaining that we give too much attention to the San at their expense. But these are our people, they have nowhere to go. If we cannot assist them, then no one will,” said Mbuende.
Although Mbuende maintained the case of Saima Hamutenya was not brought to her attention, an unidentified official said they tried to explain to Hamutenya and her aunt the procedures to follow but they were too emotional to listen and stormed out of the church where registration was taking place and left.