It was, of course, the perfect storm. Anything to do with government departments is pretty much a storm. This time around, it was the Department of Home Affairs.
My amazing kiddo is heading into matric and needs an ID to write finals. Plus, she needs an ID to apply to universities because they won’t – for whatever reason – accept any other form of identification. So, off to the Home Affairs website I go to book an appointment.
This is a careful scheduling process. I need to be able to balance an appointment (needed) with school (also needed), especially exams when I suspect there may have been more gaps. For reasons beyond everyone’s control, a previous appointment during school hours had to be skipped.
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This is when I discovered, logging on in November to try to get a slot in the first two weeks of January before school starts, that Home Affairs thought the world would come to an end on December 31, 2025. Its calendar didn’t extend beyond that date until around mid-December, when I was finally able to get a slot in Johannesburg’s Newtown, which is not as safe as it was a few years ago.No, you can’t do first time ID applications at a bank. I don’t know why either.
Before embarking on getting the ball rolling on sorting out an ID, various people had told me various things about what was required. It seems that some people who were applying for an ID for the first time didn’t need a parent. Others did.
With all this information at hand, and the fact that the area is a bit dodgy, I asked my ex-husband to take kiddo even though I bought her a taser for Christmas. We live in Jozi after all. My ex drew the short straw because I work for myself, which means that – wherever possible – I am available when my clients need me.
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