Declared dead three decades ago by the home affairs department and thus denied by Sassa his old age grant, Ernest Hendriks (67) from Kraaifontein is very much alive and kicking and even voted in last year’s local elections.
Some 15 years ago when Hendriks applied for unemployment benefits he was told that he had “died” in Braamfontein, Johannesburg in 1990. “We could not understand this, we had never even been in Johannesburg. For years we struggled with home affairs to get this right. We tried and tried and were sent here and then there, but never got the right help,” says his wife, Desirée.
When Hendriks seven years ago applied for his Sassa old age grant, he was told the same thing. “We could not apply for pension as Ernest did not exist on the register and it has been a constant struggle for us. Sassa could not help us and life was hard.”
The couple lives in a small settlement at the Moravian Church just off Mosselbank Street.
Ironically enough, the only time Ernest’s ID number was accepted was when he voted.
“In this time he voted three times, no problem. They took his ID and he voted. Last year we voted at Aristea Primary school and had no worries, they checked his ID and he could vote,” says Desirée.
When TygerBurger investigated the matter it was established and confirmed by the home affairs department that Ernest’s identity was fraudulently obtained by a third party who utilised it to register a fraudulent death.
Samuel Plaatjies, a spokesperson at the Western Cape office of home affairs confirmed that Ernest’s status was now corrected and a document that serves as proof hereof was issued to Ernest in December 2021.
“It can be confirmed that the death particulars were removed from Mr Hendriks’s identity number and his live status were reinstated in the National Population Register,” Plaatjies said.
Sassa spokesperson Shivani Wahab confirmed that Sassa had no record of the client. “There is nothing registered on the system for this ID number. Once the issue is resolved Mr Hendriks will have to approach a Sassa office to assist him to apply for his social grant,” she says.
The Hendriks’s are overjoyed at the prospect of finally being able to apply for an old age grant for Ernest. “My heart is now finally at rest and we can live a better life,” she says.
Inexplicably and nonsensically, Ernest remained on the certified voters roll all this time as a registered voter.
“The Voters Roll is based on the voter registration system which is linked to the National Population Register of home affairs, and if according to their records he was deceased, he would have appeared on the rejected portion of the Voters Roll as deceased, and thus not eligible to vote,” says Chris Balie spokesperson at the IEC.
TygerBurger sent the IEC documentary proof of Ernest’s previous “deceased status”. No response was received at the time of going to print.
