A Gauteng man’s 15-month battle to get a smart ID card and whose fingerprints allegedly matched those of another person is about to end.
The home affairs department has confirmed that Bathandwa Mfundisi’s long-awaited ID is being printed after they investigated an anomaly on his profile. The ID will be ready in about a week for collection, the department’s spokesperson, Thulani Mavuso, said on Wednesday.
Mfundisi, 33, of Tembisa, had to apply for his document twice after he was told that his fingerprints matched someone else’s – a rare issue, according to the department.
Mfundisi told Sowetan he first applied for his ID card in June 2024 and the department said he should return after two weeks to collect it. However, when he went to collect it, he was told the card was not available and to return again after a few weeks.
He returned in November but was told the department was investigating his fingerprints.
“While I was still speaking to one of the people that were assisting me, they received a call,” he said.
“After the call, when they rechecked the system, my application had been deleted. I was asked to reapply and pay another R140.”
Mfundisi applied in April and made a follow-up in May, when he was informed his application was at the verification stage.
“The application has been under verification and even when I followed up in July, they said that,” he said.
“They suggested that they were investigating my fingerprints, as it seems like I might be sharing fingerprints with someone. I don’t know what to do anymore; it’s affecting my life. I tried opening a bank account not so long ago, but they want a smart ID, not my green ID book.”
Mavuso explained that “during the production process, an anomaly was noticed on [Mfundisi’s] profile. Therefore, the application had to be investigated, which entailed the manual retrieval of records and extensive comparison of profiles, resulting in the delayed process.”
Mavuso added that “the application is on track and at the printing stage and [the ID] is anticipated to be ready for collection within a week”.
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