By: Sbusisiwe Buthelezi

Glee and laughter were the order of the day as residents of Ward 31 flocked into the park at the corner of Moses Kotane and Randles Road in Sydenham on Saturday.

An initiative of eThekwini Municipality in partnership with the Department of Home Affairs saw a mobile Home Affairs station being brought to the Sydenham community. Identity documents, identity photos and the issuing of birth certificates was the main task for the day.

“Research conducted by the municipality revealed that there are many people who are not registered as part of the South African population. With that came the initiation of this project,” said Musa Makhuvele from the Department of Home Affairs.

When asked about the criteria for first time ID applicants who are over 18 he said, “I can’t tell you the exact questions we ask, they are confidential, but I can assure you that we are very thorough before issuing one with the ID.”

The residents expressed their joy of having the mobile station in their area.

“I came to make a birth certificate for my two-year-old daughter. I’m happy because I didn’t have to fill the form in myself. That made things very easy for me,” said Rozelda Kammies. Christopher Adams shared similar sentiments. “It helped me tremendously, I’ve been battling for months to get to home affairs,” said Adams.

Like with everything else, there were things the residents were unhappy with about the initiative.

“I don’t understand why they have brought the station to us but expect us to collect our things from Pinetown. That is nonsensical if you ask me,” said an unhappy Tessa Brown.

Residents said that they did not care about the government’s motive but were glad that something good was being done for their community. The mobile stations are set to go on as a national project.