Applying for an amendment to your ID document at the Department of Home Affairs can be tedious and could take up to two years depending on what you need.
First you have to apply for a name change. This could take from four months up to a year in practice. Only once you have received that ID document with your new name, can you apply for gender amendment, which in theory is supposed to take from six to eight months. However, in practice it could take up to a year before this ID document is issued.
So, in reality, a new identity document with a name and gender amendment can take up to two years and that is ridiculous, says Robert Hamblin, Advocacy Manager at Gender DynamiX.
Charl Marais has been waiting for gender amendment since March 2009. In November he was informed that his forms had been lost and he had to reapply - which he did immediately. At the time of publication he was still waiting. Tebogo Nkoana has been waiting since end of October 2009.
According to Justine Howard, her current ID document is “invalid” and is no longer being accepted at institutions such as the bank because the photo “is not a true reflection of the person presenting the ID book.”
“The green ID book is a legal document for as long as the contents therein or related to the issuing of the ID book remains the same, but if your face changed in such a way as to be not the same as the person presenting it, it is therefore no longer a valid document. ..I am a ghost in South Africa. I have no provable identity,” Justine lamented.
Robert is currently lobbying Home Affairs to make a better policy regarding this important amendment. DHA is focussing on amendments turnaround this year, so it is paramount that they give attention to gender amendments this year, he said.
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