Tougher restrictions on registration of births

Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba announced plans to clamp down on the late registration of births, which he claimed was the cause of significant inaccuracies in South Africa’s National Population Register.

Gigaba said he intended to end all late registration of births by the end of December next year.

Thereafter, applications for late registration would go through an appeal and adjudication process before being considered, Gigaba said.

All newborns must be registered within 30 days of birth and failing to do so would result in the birth not being entered into the population register, he added.

“Timely registration of birth must, and will soon be, the only way in to the National Population Register,” he said.

“During the past financial year, 64 percent of all births were registered within 30 days, which constituted an improvement of five percent on the prior financial year.”