"Home Affairs also says that you must be a South African citizen or permanent residence permit holder with a valid South African ID
The following question is part of Groundup's Answers to your questions series and comes from a reader who wants to know if an abandoned child can get a birth certificate from Home Affairs.
The short answer
Yes, but you may need help to get Home Affairs to comply.
The whole question
My child's friend was abandoned by her mother - we do not know where she is. I am now looking after her, but she does not have any documents to apply for a birth certificate. She is 15 years old.
The long answer
All birth registration is regulated by the Births and Deaths Registration Act of 1992. Late birth registration is split into three categories:
1. After 30 days but before one year
2. After one year but before 15 years
3. After 15 years.
These are the documents that Home
Affairs says are needed to register a birth after 15 years:
Application for an ID (Form B1-9)
Completed Forms DHA-24, DHA-24/A x 2 and DHA-288 for the registration of birth
Supporting documentation and written reasons why the birth was not registered within 30 days of birth.
Home Affairs also says that you must be a South African citizen or permanent residence permit holder with a valid South African ID.
Under Level 3 lockdown regulations, which we are in again (June 2021), a person had to make an appointment with Home Affairs to apply for late birth registration, so this is probably the case now.
Even though Section 28 of our Constitution says that every child has the right to a name and nationality from birth, many undocumented children struggle to be issued a birth certificate by Home Affairs.
In 2018 Lawyers for Human Rights took Home Affairs to court to force them to issue a birth certificate to an abandoned child, which they had been refusing to do.
The Pretoria High Court ordered Home Affairs to issue a birth certificate to the child.
One of the problems with Home Affairs, though, is that officials are not always aware of court rulings and may not always comply with them. Because of Covid-19, Home Affairs has also got a significant backlog, and it may take even longer than usual