At least 62% babies born last year have no record of their fathers

Over 60 percent of children born last year had no father listed, Stats SA has revealed, Rekord Centurion reports.

Stats SA’s statistician-general Risenga Maluleke said 989 318 children were born, over 200 000 of them in Gauteng.

“Data showed that 62% of the births had no reliable information on fathers,” said Maluleke announcing statistics on the register of births.

According to the statistician, the father’s details on the majority of the notice of birth forms were missing.

In 2015, the Maintenance Amendment Act, which provides, among others, for parents who default on child maintenance to be blacklisted by credit bureaus was signed into law and came into effect this year.

In a statement, the Department of Constitutional Development and Justice said it had hoped that this act would reduce absent fathers.

“The enhancement of the maintenance system and help ensure that the most vulnerable in society, which are women and children, are provided for by those who have an obligation to maintain them remains a priority of the Department.

The amendment also deals with tracking down of parents for the purpose of maintenance.If a father responsible for maintenance cannot be traced, the court may now issue an order to an electronic communication service provider, e.g. Vodacom, MTN, Cell C or Telkom, to provide the court with their contact information, if any of those service providers have the contact information being sought. This order may only be granted if the court is satisfied that all reasonable efforts to locate the defaulter in question have failed.”