By Bongani Nkosi<\/p>\n
AT 17, Pule Mahluza knows too well he is facing a doomed future and a life in perpetual limbo without an identity document.<\/p>\n
The teenager from Soshanguve, north of Pretoria, has never had a birth certificate, a situation that makes it difficult for him to get an ID document from Home Affairs.<\/p>\n
Pule relates the story told by his father, Martin Mawela, 65, about why he does not have a birth certificate.<\/p>\n
His mother, who died three years ago, never went to Home Affairs to register him after giving birth at the Ga-Rankuwa Hospital, he says. The facility was renamed George Mukhari Hospital in 2003.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mother should have done the right thing from the start,\u201d Pule laments. \u201cNow she\u2019s no longer around to help me sort this out.\u201d<\/p>\n