Durban - Four Durban whizz-kids’ chances of representing South Africa at an international literary quiz in the US next month have been jeopardised because of a delay in issuing unabridged birth certificates to three of them – forcing parents to take the Home Affairs department to court.
The pupils beat teams from 130 schools in a national literary quiz competition, and the families had to raise funds for them to represent South Africa in the International Lit Quiz Competition to be held in Connecticut in the US on July 8.
The unabridged birth certificates were applied for in February, and the Manor Gardens Primary pupils are meant to leave in three weeks.
The new requirements for travelling into or out of South Africa with children, which came into effect on the first of this month, have seen parents from all over the country complain bitterly of the long wait for the documents to be processed.
Although the Home Affairs department recently said it had cleared its backlog, this could be the first of many court applications to try to hurry it along.
The new visa regulations have been criticised not for their intention, but for the difficulty experienced in trying to comply.
The unabridged birth certificates must reflect the names of both a child’s parents. If only one parent is travelling with the child, the other must give permission in the form of an affidavit.
In an urgent high court application filed on Monday, the parents of the Manor Gardens Primary pupils explained how they had had to raise funds to cover the children’s travel expenses by selling second-hand books at markets and by appealing for donations.
Grade 7 pupils Ezra Katz, and twins Saneha and Tejal Rajoo had entered the literary quiz along with a fourth team member, William Humphrey (who already had an unabridged birth certificate).
The four managed to beat 39 other teams in the regional round of the competition, before trumping 10 other teams to win the national leg.
The literary quiz – in which 130 South African public and independent schools participated – tests the knowledge of pupils in grades 5 to 7 on various themes in children’s literature.
On July 8, Ezra, Saneha, Tejal and William should be in the US to compete against pupils from New Zealand, Austria, Canada, the UK and Singapore.
The competition organisers are footing the bill for accommodation, and for excursions including visits to the Mark Twain Museum in Connecticut and the Natural History Museum in New York.
Because only the children’s mothers will be travelling with them, their fathers had all provided parent consent affidavits.
In the court papers, the parents say they have repeatedly been told by Home Affairs that the unabridged birth certificates are still “in the system” or “should be issued within the next week or two”.
Ezra’s mother, Kerry Katz, the first applicant, said she and the other parents no longer had faith in the assurances of the department.
“It would be devastating for the children if they were to be denied the opportunity to travel to the US for this competition simply because the respondent (Home Affairs director-general Mkuseli Apleni) had failed to fulfil his duties, and ensure that we were issued with unabridged birth certificates for the children within a reasonable time.”
A letter of demand sent to Apleni by lawyers acting on behalf of the parents on Tuesday, June 2 had gone unanswered.
If by the end of this month the certificates still had not been issued, the parents sought an order directing Apleni to allow the children to leave and re-enter South Africa without the documents.
Home Affairs spokesman Mayihlome Tshwete called the court action “dramatic” and “unnecessary”.
Tshwete said dedicated telephone lines had been established to efficiently assist parents who had been waiting longer than six weeks for the certificates.
He maintained that the backlog had been cleared, and that for parents to experience lengthy delays was an “anomaly”.
The matter will be heard in the high court on Thursday.
* The telephone numbers provided by the Home Affairs Department to assist parents experiencing delays in the processing of unabridged birth certificates are 072 634 0589, 072 634 0614, 073 567 6208 and 073 567 5968.
The Mercury