Ishmael Mkandla
THERE is joy and jubilation among the San community of Tsholotsho following the launch of an identification documentation exercise in the district on Monday by the government.
The San Community has been stateless and neglected since the country attained it’s independence in 1980.
The mobile exercise by the Registrar Generals (RG’s) office will run for a month, the acting RG Henry Machiri told The Zimbabwe Times at the launch at Mtshina primary school.
The San did not have birth certificates and IDs, resulting in Cabinet announcing a deliberate targeted exercise aimed at this marginalised community.
“I am so happy. It’s a dream come true for me. I had long resigned to the fact that I will never have an ID,” said one Idah Maphosa in an interview.
Most of the San community are so poor that they could not afford to travel over 60km to Tsholotsho Centre to seek birth certificates and IDs.
Maphosa added:” We never thought this exercise will be a reality following the promises by government officials. This is because we have been used to such promises which never come to fruition.”
The Acting RG told journalists: “This is a 30-day mobile exercise that we are doing in Tsholotsho. They are going to be told in advance where we are going. I have been to the mobile centres we have set up and I’m pleased with the response.”
Cabinet has said other interventions to improve the lives of the San community such as the construction of social amenities like schools and clinics for the San will be undertaken soon.
