Over 90 000 individuals served with national documents

WINDHOEK: The Ministry of Home Affairs, Immigration, Safety, and Security will conclude this year's mass registration outreach exercise at the end of this month, having served over 90,000 individuals with national documents. The mass registration to all 121 constituencies started on 05 February 2024 and is scheduled to end on 31 July 2024. During that period, Deputy Minister Lucia Witbooi said on Wednesday that the ministry managed to assist 94,317 people until Tuesday. She said the outreaches aim to provide national documents such as birth certificates, identity documents, and duplicate documents, and accept citizenship applications from those who meet the requirements. 'We are working closely with constituency councillors, especially in the identification of registration points and in ensuring that the communities are informed about the dates of the mobile visits to their respective localities. This programme ends on 31 July and people are encouraged to make use of this opportunity. It must be noted th at during this exercise, no applicant will be turned away without his or her details being taken,' Witbooi said. She added that during the mass registration exercise, the ministry also documented the information of undocumented and stateless individuals residing in Namibia. Their details will be verified, and their applications will be handled accordingly. The details of those who are undocumented and stateless will be captured in the functional register, which will assist in identifying and tracing them once the relevant bills to address the issue of stateless and undocumented persons are passed, she said. To regularise the status of undocumented persons, Witbooi said her ministry has drafted the Regularisation of Status of Certain Residents of Namibia, their Foreign Spouses, and their Descendants Bill. She emphasised that the bill will 'especially cater for those still in possession of South West Africa IDs, their foreign spouses and their children who do not meet the requirements of the current legisla tion to acquire Namibian citizenship.' To deal with statelessness, Witbooi said the Statelessness Determination and Protection Bill will soon be tabled in parliament. Source: The Namibia News Agency