Minister of Home Affairs, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, has, today Tuesday, 4 October, directed the department to put in place urgent measures to assist victims of the tornado destruction in Ficksburg and Nigel in the Free State and Gauteng provinces respectively.
Accordingly, the department is despatching mobile trucks, fitted with satellite facilities linked to Home Affairs services, to enable the department to deliver services to such affected communities with enabling documents as, Identity Document (ID’s), birth and marriage certificates.
Plans are already afoot for the deployment of Home Affairs mobile units to Ficksburg on Wednesday, 5 October, where Home Affairs officials will join their counterparts from the Department of Social Development and South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) in extending services to the community. Plans for Gauteng will be announced later during the week.
In this regard, Minister Dlamini Zuma, expresses the hope that the deployment of mobile units will assist in the issuance of basic documents that victims may have lost during the tornado such as ID’s, Temporary identity certificates (TICs), birth and/ or marriage certificates. As stated in our previous commitments “destruction of such documents as ID’s, birth, marriage and death certificates due to floods, fire, tornadoes will be replaced free of charge” said Minister Dlamini Zuma.
Minister Dlamini Zuma joins the government and people of our country, in extending her condolences to bereaved families, while wishing those wounded a speedy recovery. “Our thoughts and prayers reach out to all those affected by the tornado in both the Free State and Gauteng provinces,” concluded Minister Dlamini Zuma.
Enquiries:
Ronnie Mamoepa
Cell: 082 990 4853
Home Affairs responds to tornado victims in Ficksburg
