Foreigners
buy the birth certificates of dead SA children to gain South African
citizenship, the department of home affairs says.
- To
prevent that, it is considering "reregistration" of children at
age five, and capturing fingerprints and photos of the iris then.
- It
may also want photos of the ears of babies.
- Allowing
South Africans to apply for a full ID at age 10 will reduce the risk of
matriculants trying to write exams without a smart ID, the DHA
When they turn five years
old, South African children should be "reregistered" with the
government, with a comprehensive set of biometric data captured, the department
of home affairs (DHA) has recommended.
That, it says, is the way
to stop foreigners stealing the identities of dead children.
The department on Thursday gazetted its draft Identity Management
Policy, laying out its thinking on how to update South Africa's
system of identification, under legislation now 20 years old.
It has proposed a system of
random ID numbers, or at least replacing one digit with an "X" to
make provision for people who do not fall into the male/female binary.
South Africa's system of
registering people is fundamentally flawed, the department says, and that will
require changes to how children are registered.
"Any child can lay
claim to the identity of another child and such instances have been recorded.
For instance, there is a practice, especially in borderline communities, where
birth certificates of deceased children are sold to foreign nationals. This
happens when the death of a child is not reported to the DHA."
The plan is to capture
biometric data at birth, to prevent such instances, and the DHA has called for
"stronger cooperation" between it and the department of health in
that regard.
"However, not all
biometric traits captured from children shortly after birth can be used to
verify their identities later in life."
It is considering
photographing the ears of children to help, but also wants to capture
biometrics again during childhood.
"Children must be
reregistered when they reach age five with ten fingerprints and iris and facial
photographs," the DHA says.
It then recommends that the
legal age for applications for an ID be dropped from 16 to the age of 10.
This, and the capture of
biometric data at that point, will "curb identity theft", the
department says. It will also "mitigate a risk of having matriculants who
write matric examinations without smart ID cards.".
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