Mhlongo hanged himself last week. Mhlongo’s relatives who attended the funeral also wept when his suicide note was read.

In a letter he explained that a Pinetown Home Affairs official tore up his application for an identity document, effectively preventing him from getting a job.

According to the suicide note, Mhlongo was informed by officials he could not get an ID because he was not accompanied by his parents when he made the application. His parents died when he was still young. "I have persevered too long. I have lost my job because my ID application was turned down. It hurts to see my friends going to work," Mhlongo wrote in the note.
It also stated that Mhlongo had decided to hang himself because he did not want to become a criminal as he could not get a job without an ID.
"I don’t want to steal. I prefer to die than to go to jail."
Dlamini-Zuma said Mhlongo’s death was to be a turning point for her department, which she said needed a clean-up.
"There are so many young people who steal and kill but Mhlongo decided not to do it. This shows that we still have good young people out there who do not steal even if they struggle in life," she said.
Dlamini-Zuma vowed to make sure that no one else would commit suicide because of problems they encountered when applying for IDs.

She said two officials suspected of having ill treated Mhlongo had been suspended. Former home affairs minister and Inkatha Freedom Party leader Dr Mangosuthu Buthelezi and the KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Social Development Meshack Hadebe were among those who attended the funeral service. Buthelezi did not speak during the event.

Source: Pretoria News