The City of Johannesburg’s (CoJ) Citizen Relationship and Urban Management team had a community engagement session recently in Region F, Jeppestown.
The session was focused on identity documents and birth certificate applications. The challenges regarding late registration of births was also discussed.
The main speaker was Mr Matome Malatsi, the deputy director-general at the Department of Home Affairs.
He spoke about the department’s drive to eliminate the late registration of births by December 31.
“The LBR poses a serious security risk and exposes South Africa to possible fraudulent entries in the national population register. The department is seeking to close this security gap by encouraging citizens to register all births within 30 days,” he said.
“This will help build a secure, accurate and credible national population register with a single point of entry,” said Mr Malatsi.
“We have been given a mandate to reach out to underprivileged communities so that by the end of 2015 all people, including unregistered individuals, are able to get access to the services they need,” he said.
LRB is defined as any birth registered after 30 days due to the following reasons:
- Deferring the naming of a child because of cultural reasons.
- Mothers leaving healthcare facilities without registering the birth of their babies.
- Mothers having no proof of birth, such as a clinic or hospital card, because they gave birth at home.
- Mothers who are not in possession of an identity document and cases in which both parents do not have any valid form of identification.
Residents were happy with the session as they gained a lot of information.
According to the local ward councillor, Clr Mike Spadino, such sessions are important, especially in reaching out to the elderly.
