Happy ending for ‘dead man’

News
A BULAWAYO man, who has been failing to acquire new identity documents after being told he was recorded as dead by the provincial registry offices, has finally received new particulars.

A BULAWAYO man, who has been failing to acquire new identity documents after being told he was recorded as dead by the provincial registry offices, has finally received new particulars.

Blondie Ndebele

In an interview yesterday, an excited John Mhlanga from Gwabalanda suburb expressed gratitude to the people that helped him get back his citizenship.

“They gave me a new ID and a birth certificate on Tuesday last week,” he said.

“I am very happy that I am now recognised as a citizen of this country. I can now do most things I couldn’t do because I had no ID.” Mhlanga said he would be going to register to vote in July when the voter registration team gets to his ward.

He expressed gratitude to the Registry officials, including the Bulawayo provincial Registrar Jane Peters who helped him obtain his identity back.

“I am no longer interested in knowing the people that caused my misery all these years,” he said. “I am now a happy man. I was not expecting the process to be this fast.”

Mhlanga lost his ID in 2003 and efforts to replace it were in vain, as he was told that he had been recorded as dead in 2008.

He could not register to vote in the first phase of mobile voter registration.

Mhlanga’s story was first  published by Southern Eye  in May.