At least 250 000 South Africans waiting years for birth certificates: Home Affairs taken to court over backlog
The Children’s Institute is taking the Department of Home Affairs to court over its late birth registration backlog.
FILE: The queue outside Barrack Street Home Affairs in the Cape Town CBD. Picture: Lindsay Dentlinger/Eyewitness News
702's John Perlman talks to Claire Rankin, candidate attorney at the Legal Resources Centre.
The Children’s Institute has taken the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) to court over its late birth registration backlog.
At a conservative estimate, at least 250,000 people have been waiting years for their applications for late birth registration to be processed, the Institute says in papers filed with the Western Cape High Court.
The Children’s Institute is being represented in the matter by the Legal Resources Centre (LRC).
John Perlman talks to Claire Rankin, who is working on the case as candidate attorney with the LRC.
Rankin explains that they want the Department's approach to be declared unconstitutional, and for it to be ordered to develop a comprehensive plan to tackle the current backlog and prevent future backlogs.
She points out that South Africans' right to documentation is enshrined in our Constitution and that not having a birth certificate has a serious impact on people's lives.
"The knock-on effects have a very real impact on people's ability to access education, to access healthcare, and a whole host of other socio-economic rights. These aren't just things that are privileges or just enjoyments; these are in fact basic rights being impacted here."
Claire Rankin, Candidate Attorney - Legal Resources Centre
Some of the clients the Centre is representing in the case have been waiting for up to six years to have their late birth applications decided, Rankin says.
"If we look at the processes the Department follows when it comes to late registration of birth applications it's very clear that those processes haven't been updated in a long time."
Claire Rankin, Candidate Attorney - Legal Resources Centre
"We're still working on a very paper-based system, something that gives rise to significant bottlenecks and facilitates delays in processing applications, not even to start on idiosyncrasies between departments or between different offices and provinces and the like."
Claire Rankin, Candidate Attorney - Legal Resources Centre
For more detail, listen to the interview audio at the top of the article