The parents of a now 11-year-old girl had to turn to the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) in their bid to obtain her legal birth certificate. A Cape Times report notes it had emerged that a fraudulent birth certificate was issued shortly after her birth. The Cape Town parents of the girl, identified only as ‘I’, told the court that the Department of Home Affairs steadfastly refused to issue them with a birth certificate for ‘I’.

She was born in May 2007 at the Netcare Parklane Clinic in Johannesburg. Her parents, who are both South African citizens, were shortly after her birth offered a registration of birth service, provided by a private company trading as BK Registrations. Her father stated in court papers that they completed the application forms and paid the applicable fee to the company. They were informed after 10 days that the certificate had been delivered to the hospital, and that they could fetch it.

Six years ago, the girl’s first passport expired and her father went to Home Affairs to renew it. It was for the first time that he heard that the birth certificate issued to her was fraudulent.

The department said it could not simply hand out birth and identity documents. It said that there had to be clear proof that a person was a SA citizen.

The father subsequently handed a maternity certificate issued by the Parklane Clinic to the court as proof that the child was born there. It is unknown how the department issued the initial passport with the fraudulent birth certificate. The court ordered that the department had to furnish the father with a birth certificate within 14 days.

Full Cape Times report (subscription needed)