Ntsebeng Motsoeli
MASERU — Home Affairs Minister Joang Molapo on Friday said more people than anticipated had come to register births to be able to acquire identity cards.
Spirits were high at the Maseru Post Office where Basotho queued in numbers to apply for a birth certificate at Post office building in Maseru last week.
Some of the applicants complained that they were turned back several times because they did not bring necessary documents.
Molapo said about 2 000 people came for services every day since the civil registration and identity card programme was launched.
He said some had to be turned away because the system can currently take only 600 applications.
“The biggest roadblock is the huge number of people coming for the service. It shows that there is a huge demand that has been building up over the years,” Molapo said.
He however said plans have been put in place to ensure that the system has enough capacity.
He said the system which was installed in Mohale’s Hoek, the production house, is already running well.
In Mokhotlong the system is about to be installed, followed by other districts.
Leribe will be the last district to have the system running, he said.
He added that public awareness campaigns will start this week to inform people of the requirements needed for registration.
He said recent media reports have not helped to ease the confusion among people about what is required of them to register births and apply for identity cards.