Nearly two years after the Pretoria High Court ruled that the mass blocking of IDs by the Department of Home Affairs was unconstitutional, civic movement Soil of Africa (SOA) has taken to the streets of Tshwane, demanding urgent action.
The group, led by chairperson Bongani Ramontja, is marching to “shut down” the Home Affairs offices, accusing the department of ignoring the 2024 court order that instructed it to restore thousands of citizens’ identity documents.
‘We’ve been here since yesterday’
Speaking at the protest site, Ramontja said the group represents people who have suffered for years due to the unlawful blocking of their IDs. This problem, he added, continues to rob them of their rights and dignity.
“We’ve been here ever since yesterday. There are more than a thousand people here, crying because their IDs have been blocked, some for 18 years now,” he told broadcaster Newzroom Afrika.
He said the crisis has rippled across generations.
“Some of these people’s children can’t go to school or university because their parents’ IDs are blocked,” he said.
“We’re sitting on 750 000 people whose IDs are blocked, and if you count their children, that’s more than 1.2 million people who can’t do anything with their lives.”
The Department of Home Affairs had not responded to The Citizen’s request for comment by the time of publication.
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A protracted legal battle has been ongoing over the matter since the Pretoria High Court handed down its judgment in January 2024, with the department accused of dragging its feet.
Home Affairs said the process of unblocking the IDs was ongoing.
Ramontja said his organisation had repeatedly engaged with Home Affairs officials, offering assistance to trace affected people, but was met with bureaucratic resistance.
“We went out ourselves and brought them a list of more than 10 000 to 15 000 people. We even gave them the first 50 names they requested, but they never came back to us.”
The movement reportedly met with Home Affairs in July, where it was apparently agreed that they would send volunteers to speed up the unblocking of IDs.
“Home Affairs has asked us to send at least 50 of our volunteers to them, as they are short-staffed, so that they can help in accelerating the process of unblocking the said IDs. These volunteers will present themselves to Home Affairs on Friday.
“We must be patient with the Department of Home Affairs,” Ramontja told Tshwane Talk at the time.
To comply with court ruling
SOA said it will continue its demonstrations until the department takes visible steps to restore all affected IDs and comply fully with the court ruling.
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