Last-minute birth certificate for couple’s daughter

PRETORIA: The Johannesburg couple who took the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) to court over not being allowed to travel without an unabridged birth certificate for their 15-year-old daughter have withdrawn their case as the department issued the document at the last minute.

The North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria yesterday heard how Paul and Tracy Lee Derbyshire were sent a text message informing them that their daughter’s birth certificate was ready for collection on Saturday, a day after they lodged an urgent application with the High Court . Earlier attempts to get the document had failed.

The family applied for the unabridged certificate for their child on May 13 at the Randburg Home Affairs office, as they wanted to travel to the UK tomorrow, during the school holidays. Legal representative Kaveer Guiness said the family were assured by officials from the DHA that the documentwould be ready by July 1.

On inquiring on June 18, the family were told they would have to wait a further eight weeks to receive it. As a last resort, they sought the intervention of the courts to compel the DHA to act immediately.

Judge Cynthia Pretorius lambasted the DHA for its inability to respond to the matter in time. She denied the department’s request for a postponement while it sought an affidavit in argument against the costs incurred by the family, saying the department had had more than enough time to prepare itself since it was served the order on June 26. Judge Pretorius ordered that Home Affairs pay the cost of the application as the delay was their fault.

Legal representative Guiness said the major problem with the issuing of the unabridged certificates was the lack of clarification on the process to be followed, and receiving them within a reasonable time frame.

Home Affairs spokesman Mayihlome Tshwete said all the information had been communicated to the public on numerous platforms time again, and therefore the decision by the parents to take the department to court was unreasonable. He stressed that temporary letters would only be issued by the Director-General in instances where people had waited longer than eight weeks.