San Community Grateful For National Registration Process
The San Community in the Mtshina area, Tsholotsho, Matabeleland North, is grateful after the Government instituted a nationwide mobile registration exercise to assist vulnerable communities to access identity documents in 2022.
ZimLive reported that the registration exercise has brought access to social services and opportunities to the San Community which did not exist previously.
Speaking during a recent media tour organised by UNICEF- Zimbabwe, a village head of the San community Mandlela Maphosa said:
I am happy that many people from my community received birth certificates and identity documents as a result of this government initiative, though a few did not.
Right now, I am proud that two distinct members of my community are now prison officers, thanks to this registration exercise.
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We urge the government to track down and assist members who did not receive national IDs or may have lost them.
The San community consists of 55 households with a maximum of 14 people and a minimum of 5 people on average.
Sibongile Mpofu, a member of the San community, said the registration exercise has enabled women to access maternity healthcare. She said:
Women from our community in Mtshina now have unhindered access to healthcare, particularly pregnant women who were previously shunned due to the lack of national identification.
I have seven children, those above 16 recently obtained national IDs while those below 16 acquired birth certificates.
Now my children will be able to attend school without encountering any difficulties from the school administration.
We want to thank the government for finally recognising our community as citizens.
Nicholas Maphosa, another member of the San community, said getting national identity cards has enabled men to get jobs. He said:
With national IDs, it is now easier for us men to get work, and our children can go to school without worry, knowing that when they finish their education, they will be able to find work.
Before I had a national identity card, it was difficult for me to secure piece-work, and potential employers were suspicious of me and assumed I was some sort of criminal because I did not have identity documents.
Now that I have a national ID, being frowned upon when looking for piecework is now a thing of the past.
The San peoples, or Bushmen, are the members of the indigenous hunter-gatherer cultures of southern Africa, and reportedly the oldest surviving cultures of the region.
More: Pindula News
