Durban – The Department of Home Affairs announced this week that it will replace birth certificates and Identity Documents of people who lost theirs during the recent flooding that washed through KwaZulu-Natal.
Home Affairs said they are working with the eThekwini Municipality and the district municipalities of Ilembe, Ugu, and Umgungundlovu to identify the people in need.
It said that temporary ID’s will be issued but only to people affected during the floods, and not if they lost it at another point in time.
“People will be allowed to apply and collect documents from mobile trucks. This service is available only to people who have lost their documents during the disaster. Any person who lost their documents at another time will not be covered by this intervention.
“Local councillors will verify the names of people supplied to the Disaster Management Operations Centre, and after approvals, the lists are forwarded to Home Affairs for processing. Services to some of these communities commenced earlier today,” Home Affairs said.
Deputy Home Affairs Minister, Njabulo Nzuza, together with city officials, visited emergency relief sites on Friday to assess damages done on the ground.
Around 13 500 homes were said to have been affected by the flooding.
The death toll in KZN has risen to around 430 while scores more are missing.
KZN was declared a state of disaster following a visit by President Cyril Ramaphosa last week. Ramaphosa visited the homes of people who had lost loved ones during the floods, which is said to be the worst to hit the province in 60 years.
