Funeral in SA for ID suicide man
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8235324.stm
It is difficult to obtain documents if no parent can vouch for your identity
A 22-year-old South African man who committed suicide after being refused identity documents he needed to start a job is being buried in KwaZulu-Natal.
Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma will address the mourners at Skhumbuzo Mhlongo's funeral.
The minister broke down in tears before journalists earlier this week when she was telling them about the case.
She is expected to announce the outcome of an investigation. She said she suspected an official expected a bribe.
"The minister has vowed to leave no stone unturned to ensure that the perpetrators of this act are brought to book and indeed to safeguard against any other citizen of this country suffering the same fate," her spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa said in a statement.
Complaint line
In his suicide note, Mr Mhlongo explained how an official had torn up his application, calling him a foreigner.
The BBC's Pumza Fihlani in Johannesburg says the Department of Home Affairs has come under heavy criticism over the years for its inefficiency in issuing ID documents, birth certificates and passports, with some people claiming to have waited up to four years.
She points out it would be even more difficult to obtain the documents if you have no parents to vouch for your identity.
In response to the case, the Department of Home Affairs has set up a hotline for people to register complaints about its civil servants: 0800-2044-76.
The line, which did not work when the BBC tried it on Monday, is now accepting calls.
Mr Mhlongo, who will be buried in Hillcrest near Durban in Kwa-Zulu Natal Province, had been due to start the new job at a factory which manufactures bird food on Monday.
Mr Mamoepa said the Department of Social Development has assisted the family with the burial arrangements.
Mr Mhlongo had been raised by his mother, who disappeared in 2000, leaving him to care for his younger siblings.
He had apparently been trying to get an ID card for some time without any luck and had been told to bring someone who could vouch for his nationality.
But the official did not believe that the man he brought along was his father, tore up Mr Mhlongo's papers and called him a "kwere-kwere" - a derogatory term used for foreign nationals.
He apparently left the suicide note before hanging himself.