Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba has tasked his Director General with assisting community members, who were part of the Mancoba Seven Angels Ministry in Ngcobo in the Eastern Cape, to get identity documents.
“I have given an instruction to the Provincial Manager for Home Affairs in the Eastern Cape, through the Director General, to visit the area and conduct an audit to determine the extent to which these vulnerable members of society have been affected, with a view, of course, to begin the process of documenting them to ensure that they reflect on the National Population Register,” said Minister Gigaba.
The controversial ministry is at the centre of the police massacre in the Ngcobo area, as some of its members are alleged to have ambushed and killed five police officers and an off duty soldier at a police station.
According to the police, members of the Mancoba ministry were forbidden to have identity documents, while children were not allowed to have birth certificates and prohibited from attending school.
“Section 20 of the Constitution states that no citizen may be deprived of citizenship while Section 28 (1) (a) guarantees the right to a name and a nationality for every child from birth. To this end, without a birth certificate, any individual’s nationality cannot be affirmed, thus rendering them stateless,” said Minister Gigaba.
He expressed his dismay at the disregard of the law by those implicated and has declared that government will not watch on the sidelines while people’s constitutional rights are being trampled on.
“Of particular concern to me is the exploitation of children and women whose rights have been blatantly disregarded by being denied their basic right, their sense of belonging, their birth right to identity. No individual has the authority to deny any citizen of our Republic their constitutional right to identity through the imposition of their irrational beliefs,” said the Minister. – SAnews.gov.za
