MBOMBELA – No child will be registered on the home affairs database and be issued with the necessary documents such as birth certificates by 2015, if they haven’t been registered within the 30-day window period of birth.

This was a clear message from Ms Naledi Pandor, home affairs minister during her visit to Rob Ferreira Hospital in Nelspruit where she issued birth certificates to parents of new-born babies.

Pandor, accompanied by MECs Ms Candith Mashego-Dlamini and Mr Madala Masuku, the Mbombela executive mayor, Cllr Cathy Dlamini and Ehlanzeni district’s acting speaker, Cllr Johan Mavuso, told the media that the main reason for this move was to help curb identity theft, which she said was giving government a headache.

“We have set up home affairs offices within all our public health-care institutions, including private hospitals, to make this process much easier and more efficient.

We want to intensify our efforts and make sure that these satellite offices are able to issue birth certificates to newborn babies within the first 30 days of birth. We want to encourage our communities to make use of these facilities to ensure that they are issued with birth certificates,” she said.

“One of the biggest problems is identity theft. If you haven’t registered your child, you may use the name but someone else might approach home affairs offices and claim to have that name and even use the particular birth date and be issued with a birth certificate.

“When somebody else comes along with the same name, birth-date claim and a duplicate certificate is issued you sit with a case of identity theft.

“It’s a problem, whereas if the parents have the appropriate documents at birth they are assured that they are in possession of the identity of their children,” concluded Pandor.