||Kharas Region – In a significant push to address the issue of undocumented and stateless individuals, more than 2,760 residents of the ||Kharas Region have received national documents since the start of a mass registration initiative by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Immigration, Safety and Security on February 5th of this year.

According to Namibia Press Agency, Deputy Director of Civil Registration, Brandon Boois, revealed during a stakeholder meeting that the initiative has already issued 761 new identification cards to residents turning 16, along with 817 duplicates. The process also included the issuance of 195 timely and 188 late registration birth certificates, alongside the conversion of 23 South African IDs into Namibian ones. Deputy Minister Lucia Witbooi highlighted the ministry’s success in doubling its initial target of serving 50,000 people, with current figures standing at 104,871. Witbooi also discussed upcoming legislation aimed at resolving the status of undocumented and stateless individuals, which she hopes will be enacted before next year’s regional and local elections. Additionally, she expressed concern over the large number of uncollected identification cards at various ministry offices, urging timely collection to facilitate proper citizen identification and legal compliance.