MBOMBELA – In an attempt to reduce the late registrations of births (LRB), home affairs will from January 1 next year introduce a new programme which will allow new-born babies to be issued with free birth certificates within 30 days.
The minister of the Department of Home Affairs, Mr Malusi Gigaba, said civil registration is something which is taken for granted in developed countries. People are born, usually in a hospital, they receive a birth certificate as part of the routine administrative processes before being discharged, and their citizenship is confirmed as a routine matter.
“Many Africans are born, live and die without their existence and citizenship status being acknowledged and recorded through a simple birth record and accompanying certificate of birth. For a citizen to fully access and exercise their rights, they must first be recognized as a citizen,” said Gigaba. The minister said late registration of births presented risks. If the birth of a child is not registered early, a person’s identity and citizenship status are at risk.
“If they are separated from their parents, for whatever reason, they can find themselves literally separated from who they are, forced to exist at the margins of society, unable to vote for the government of their choice, or participate easily and meaningfully in the economy. In addition to these anti-developmental impacts, LRB creates an opportunity for non-South Africans to fraudulently access South African citizenship,” he said.
In 2010 the president, Mr Jacob Zuma, signed the Birth and Death Registration Amendment Act into law. Since then the department has intensified its efforts to establish early birth registration and end late registration.
“We have expanded online birth registration at hospitals, so that people can register the birth of their children and receive unabridged birth certificates before leaving the hospital. If we can register all hospital births we will come that much closer to universal early birth registration. It reduces the risk of a child’s identity and status going unrecognised, secures our National Population Register by drastically reducing opportunities for fraud and is convenient for parents,” he concluded.
The universal early birth registration aims to save parents having to make a second trip to a home affairs office. Recently the department introduced online birth registration at 389 health facilities. From January 1, 2016, registering births after 30 days will be more costly.
