News / Regional
Mat'land South leaders appeal for registry office
27 Aug 2014 at 15:40hrs | Views
TRADITIONAL leaders in Umzingwane district are appealing to the Registrar General Tobaiwa Mudede to set up an office in the area to ease the burden on villagers who have to travel long distances to acquire identity documents.
Chief Lenati Mathe and Village Headman Samson Sibindi lamented that villagers, mostly youth, in their jurisdiction had no form of identification or birth certificates since there was no such office in the area.
In an interview with Radio Dialogue, Chief Mathe said Silobi Village -Ward 10 even facilitated for an office located at the shopping centre to house the registry office.
He said the office, vacant at the moment was even used by mobile registration officials during the election period last year.
"Normally when people want to take their birth certificates or identity cards, I or a village head sign their papers so that they have proper reference points but when they go to town they are sent back and told the information is wrong or something is missing. It is as if these officials undermine my authority as chief notwithstanding the villagers would have used their hard-earned money to travel," he said.
The chief also condemned the current functional registry process saying he had spoken out against it on several fora.
"I complained about this issue at one gathering where the then Matabeleland South governor, Angelina Masuku was present. I said it was regrettable these issues were prioritised when elections were near.
"The matter exploded into a heated debate, as I argued national identity cards are of dire importance. When one is involved in an accident or anything that might befall someone, those cards are crucial for identification. I always carry mine for that purpose but what of those who don't have," he said.
Headman Sibindi added that the registry office should have a permanent post in the area. "Documenting people should not be a once off. Children are born everyday, people die everyday and teenagers grow everyday. In each life cycle, documentation is required and these papers are linked to each other. Lack of these identification papers, make it difficult for people who start running around when their relatives have died," he said.
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Chief Lenati Mathe and Village Headman Samson Sibindi lamented that villagers, mostly youth, in their jurisdiction had no form of identification or birth certificates since there was no such office in the area.
In an interview with Radio Dialogue, Chief Mathe said Silobi Village -Ward 10 even facilitated for an office located at the shopping centre to house the registry office.
He said the office, vacant at the moment was even used by mobile registration officials during the election period last year.
"Normally when people want to take their birth certificates or identity cards, I or a village head sign their papers so that they have proper reference points but when they go to town they are sent back and told the information is wrong or something is missing. It is as if these officials undermine my authority as chief notwithstanding the villagers would have used their hard-earned money to travel," he said.
The chief also condemned the current functional registry process saying he had spoken out against it on several fora.
"I complained about this issue at one gathering where the then Matabeleland South governor, Angelina Masuku was present. I said it was regrettable these issues were prioritised when elections were near.
"The matter exploded into a heated debate, as I argued national identity cards are of dire importance. When one is involved in an accident or anything that might befall someone, those cards are crucial for identification. I always carry mine for that purpose but what of those who don't have," he said.
Headman Sibindi added that the registry office should have a permanent post in the area. "Documenting people should not be a once off. Children are born everyday, people die everyday and teenagers grow everyday. In each life cycle, documentation is required and these papers are linked to each other. Lack of these identification papers, make it difficult for people who start running around when their relatives have died," he said.
Courtesy of
Source - www.radiodialogue.com
