Corruption by officials is breeding false birth certificates

CORRUPT Home Affairs officials collaborate with criminals and fraudulently issue birth certificates. This comprises a secure and accurate national population register and the department plans to halt this practice by December 31.

Birth certificate related fraud varies from illegal immigrants using falsified means to attain South African citizenship, to using birth certificates to access social grants.

And the fraud can happen if a birth is registered late, department spokesman Thabo Mokgola said this week.

“Most of these documents are genuine though they have been attained fraudulently, in certain instances with the co-operation of some of our corrupt officials.”

By not registering births early – at the health facility after birth or within 30 days – it becomes easier to fraudulently access birth certificates and entries in the population register, said Matome Malatsi, department deputy director-general.

He was speaking at a community engagement session held at the Bertha Solomon Recreation Centre in Jeppestown last month.

Malatsi said the department was seeking to close this security gap by encouraging citizens to register all births within 30 days, helping build a secure, accurate and credible national population register with a single point of entry.

“Parents are encouraged to apply for their child(ren)’s unabridged birth certificates to ensure that both parents’ details appear on the document. The process takes up to eight weeks and costs R75.”

Possible reasons for late registrations include postponing to name a child because of cultural reasons; mothers leaving health-care facilities without registering the birth of their babies; mothers having no proof of birth, such as a clinic or hospital card because they gave birth at home, and in cases where both parents do not have valid identity forms.

Malatsi said late registration of birth are now subject to strict approval processes to limit fraudulent practices.