Parents encouraged to register their children after giving birth
Kwatsaduza – In an effort to cut down on fraudulent attempts made by people to obtain citizenship of the country, the minister of Home Affairs, Malusi Gigaba, has urged parents to register the birth of their newborn babies within 30 days.
According to Gigaba, this is because his department will be stopping late registrations as of December 31.
He says parents who have not registered their children should do so before the end of the year to avoid any difficulties from next year.
He explains that from January, the late registration of births will be more difficult to do and the department will increase checks on all late applications.
The minister adds that in the past the process of registering late births was a necessity due to the huge backlog during the early years of democracy.
He says the late registration of births had become a problem as it had become an opportunity for non-South Africans to fraudulently attempt to obtain South African citizenship.
Gigaba believes that the best way to protect the identity and status of all South African and to ensure an accurate National Population Register is for the department to make sure that all child registrations are done as soon as possible after birth.
In an effort to see this initiative become a success, the department will visit various health facilities to help parents in the application process of unabridged birth certificates after birth.
Siphesihle Sithole (30) of KwaThema says this is a good initiative as some parents tend to leave this matter for years without attending to it.
Noxolo Tshabalala (27) of Tsakane says this will also help when children are orphaned and have to live with their grandparents, as it is a struggle for the elderly to apply for birth certificates for their grandchildren.
