Soil of Africa vows seven-day sit-in at Home Affairs until all blocked IDs are cleared

The civil movement Soil of Africa has vowed to stage a seven-day sit-in at the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) offices in Pretoria until officials assist all citizens whose identity documents (IDs) have been blocked.

The ordeal dates back to 2005, when the Department blocked an estimated 2.5 million IDs flagged for fraud.

READ: Home Affairs DDG promises action on 300,000 remaining blocked IDs

The organisation, representing people whose IDs have been blocked, staged a protest outside the Department’s head office in the capital on Monday. It argues that the Department has been moving at a "snail’s pace" to resolve the issue, noting the severe negative effect on those affected.

Soil of Africa Chairperson, Bongani Ramontja, highlighted the considerable effort made by the protestors to attend the sit-in.

“These people come from very far. They drove all the way. They drove eight to nine hours, some they drove 16 hours, some they drove 18 hours, so we can't say go back home,” he said.

While Home Affairs Deputy Director-General, Thomas Sigama, has promised that at least 100 affected individuals will be assisted tomorrow, Ramontja affirmed that the organisation will continue to support the aggrieved.

“We are not going to leave. We are going to sleep here in town. We're gonna utilise the offices that we are going to get. We are going to decide then, according to those offices that they spoke about. We are gonna take them to Akasia, some of them we gonna take them to Mabopane, some we gonna take them here in town to make sure that all of them they submit, not only submit, they screen them, they do all the due diligence after they have given them their temporary ID's then we can depart,” Ramontja stated.