LOST IDS: 21-DAY WAITING PERIOD FOR NEW DOCUMENTS?

MBABANE – You might have to wait for 21 days before attaining a new national identity card (ID), travel document or even your driver’s licence should you lose it.

This will apply to all government documents that are lost through theft or other means. Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs Anthony Masilela revealed that there were ongoing talks of enacting a regulation whereby people would have to wait for 21 days after reporting their stolen or lost government documents before applying for new ones.

He emphasised that this idea was still at initiation stage and nothing had been finalised. “We are still in talks of implementing the 21 window period between reporting the loss of certain documents and starting the process of making new ones. I should highlight that this still at a budding stage. No commitments have been made to this idea, but just talks and debates,” said Masilela.
He also informed this publication that no dates had been attached as to when this ‘21-day rule’ will come to being.

“We have not reached any agreement on the matter at hand so no dates have been committed to it. This idea is still at its early stages and nothing concrete has been made of it,” he revealed.
The motivation behind the introduction of this new regulation is the fact that people did not make it their priority to thoroughly search for their stuff through all possible stations before making new documents.
In the past, it was a norm for people to even approach national radios in search of their lost items, including national ID cards and travel documents but it has been ascertained that nowadays, people make new ones without making an effort to search for the lost ones.

“We are trying to curb a situation where by people get reckless with their documents,” he said.
Masilela also highlighted that this rule was also driven by the shortage of travel documents which the country has witnessed in the past year. “Instant claims of travel documents became a contributing factor to the shortages we had. With this new rule, we are hoping to save the government from another shortage of travel documents,” he said.
He said the police and national radio station were on board and any suggestions from the public would be welcome.
In the meantime, Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Khulani Mamba urged the public to continue reporting their lost items as soon as possible, especially those linked to identification.

“We still advise people to report their items; especially identification documents, and bank cards as soon as they are lost. As much as in these things cannot be recovered, it is safe for police to know as some may be used in criminal activities,” he advised.

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