| Media release |
| HOME AFFAIRS INTRODUCES ALIVE STATUS VERIFICATION SELF- HELP SERVICE |
HOME AFFAIRS INTRODUCES ALIVE STATUS VERIFICATION SELF- HELP SERVICE
The Department of Home Affairs today (Monday, 23 March 2009) announced the activation of the Alive Status Verification service as part of its Track&Trace system for ID status verification.
The purpose of the service is assist South Africans to check their status to ensure that they have not been fraudulently declared dead on the population register. The Department of Home Affairs has introduced the self-help service to make it easier for citizens to interact with the department without having to visit the Department’s offices.
The Alive Status Verification is the fourth self-help service run on the Department’s Track&Trace system that can also be used to track ID book and passport applications and verify marriage status.
Clients are advised use either the Department’s website or SMS to verify their Alive or Deceased status.
To use the website, people should visit www.dha.gov.za and click on Check your Status (at the top left corner of the Homepage) and choose ID status verification (Alive/Deceased). They will be required to enter their ID number and press the Verify button to see if they are “Alive” or “Deceased”.
Using the SMS service, clients can type in the letter L, followed by the ID number to 32551. A reply SMS will then be sent back confirming status as either “Alive or “Deceased”. Each SMS costs R1 charged by the client’s network service provider.
The two options are also supported by the Department’s call centre on 0800 60 11 90 through which clients can call in to find out about their Alive or Deceased status.
In an event that a person is registered as “Deceased” when they are still alive, they must report to a local Home Affairs office with an affidavit, obtained from a police station, confirming that they are alive.
The Department of Home Affairs will, on submission of an affidavit as proof of their alive status, ask the complainant to fill in a form and take full set of fingerprints to investigate how the client was declared “dead” on the system and will report back within a few weeks to the client on the outcome of its investigation.
For more information please contact:
Siobhan McCarthy
Chief Director: Communications
Contact: 012 810 7338/082 8866 708
Email: Siobhan.mccarthy@dha.gov.za
OR
Joseph Mohajane
Acting Director: Communications
Contact: 012 810 6315/082 909 3543
Email: joseph.mohajane@dha.gov.za
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Released by Chief Directorate: Communication
Enquiries: Ronnie Mamoepa(Head of Communication)-ronnie.mamoepa@dha.gov.za 082 990 4853 | 23/03/2009 |
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