Durban - Home Affairs Deputy Minister Njabulo Nzuza has urged new mothers to ensure that their newborn babies are registered in the national population register which satisfies them as South African citizens.
Nzuza was speaking at KwaDukuza's General Justice Gizenga Mpanza Hospital where he was accompanying KwaZulu-Natal Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane, who was monitoring the birth of babies born on Christmas Day.
He said the department has implemented an early-bird registration programme inside hospitals which allows mothers to register for their children’s birth certificates as it happens without travelling to home affairs offices.
“We have had problems where a mother gives birth in a hospital and then has to go to the home affairs office in order for them to register for a birth certificate for their child. But that was not much of a working solution. We then decided to have our offices present in hospitals so that the birth of a child is instantly registered before leaving the hospital,” said Nzuza.
Nzuza said the early-bird registration programme allows mothers to register the birth of their children with home affairs within 30 days. He added that they have expanded to 50 centres in hospitals, including private health facilities, across KZN.
He said through the programme, they made more than 850 000 out of one million in the past year.
“For a child to be registered or recognised legally and to be a person that exists in the country they have to be registered in the national population register which satisfies them as citizens through a birth certificate with an identification number.
“This ensures that the future of the child is secured and can benefit from the government whatever it provides to citizens. It also avoids the department having adults without identity documents because they were not registered when they were born,” said Nzuza.
Nzuza further urged men to be present in their children’s lives to avoid the rise of birth certificates without fathers’ names on them.
Daily News