[WATCH] Cape Town parent challenges Home Affairs refusal to register son’s indigenous name

A Cape Town parent has expressed concern over her family’s struggle with the Department of Home Affairs after trying to get her son’s ID correctly done. 

Lesle Jansen said the Department is refusing to capture her son !Khūboab Oedasoua Lawrence’s name correctly, because it begins with an exclamation mark and contains diacritic characters.

She said that Home Affairs has been unable to process it due to technical limitations. 

“I think that South Africa should be ashamed because this goes to the fact that we have not recognised the Khoi Khoi and San people as fellow cultural and indigenous people in South Africa.”

The characters in his name are part of the Khoekhoegowab language, spoken by the Nama people, a branch of the Khoisan indigenous community.

Jansen emphasised the importance of recognising and respecting the indigenous languages and cultures of South Africa, which are reflected in the country’s coat of arms. 

She argued that it is unacceptable for the government to deny her son his cultural identity.

“In 2026, there can be no valid excuse, no justifiable reason for not being able to give my son his identity document in his cultural name that his family gave him.”

Home Affairs responds

“The Department of Home Affairs is actively implementing system enhancements to ensure that all names containing special characters are fully accommodated across all civil registration and identity management platforms, in line with Constitutional and human-rights obligations,” says spokesperson Thulani Mavuso.

“In the meantime, !Khúboab Oedasoua Lawrence can visit a non-live capture office to submit an application for a Green ID Book whilst the Department is working on the implementation of system enhancements.”

To listen to Jansen in conversation with CapeTalk’s Lester Kiewit, scroll down to use the audio player below:

Full response by Home Affairs