28,000 people have so far registered for national documents since the launch of the Mass Registration for National Documents campaign in February.

The Ministry of Home Affairs, Immigration, Safety, and Security is conducting the mass registration outreach programme across all 14 regions of Namibia.

So far, 13,060 new identity documents have been issued, while 4,198 duplicate IDs have been given. 

 Another 114 IDs were converted from the pre-independence South West African ID to the new national identity document.

A total of 2,248 birth registrations were recorded, while 7,501 late birth registrations were done.

"So what are the requirements? Because that is the question we get more: one needs to bring proof of birth from the hospital. We are aware some births occur at home; therefore, we ask for a letter from the headman or a witness to the birth. We are also asking for supporting documents from parents; if it's an older person, we are asking for a letter from the headman, sibling IDs, and a baptism card just to be sure. If it's a child, a new-born baby, they don't have a history like an older person; we will just ask for proof of birth from the hospital and parent documents," elaborated Margaret Kalo, the ministry's Chief Public Relations Officer.

Kalo also stated that the mass registration programme does not apply to stateless citizens seeking citizenship in Namibia.

"We are not registering them, but we are writing down their names to have them in our database so that when we decide that we are going to register the people who entered Namibia a long time ago, we already have the data."

She urges members of the public who are not yet in possession of national documents to register and obtain such documents.

"The process is going very smoothly in the regions, and we are very happy with the citizens that are showing up to apply for national documents. We are encouraging more people to come forth; our officials are at the registration points, only waiting for the citizens to register for national documents."

The Mass Registration for National Documents outreach programme is expected to come to an end in July this year.