The Department of Home Affairs has ignored a court order compelling it to issue birth certificates to 24 children who live in towns bordering Lesotho without requiring their parents to pay thousands for DNA tests – allegedly because one parent is not South African.

This is according to a Daily Maverick report, which says the department requires that a South African-born child cannot be registered if both parents do not have current identity documentation and if both are not present at the Home Affairs office.

They also require that the parents pay thousands of rands for DNA tests before the births of their children are registered.

This rule resulted in a class action case in the Eastern Cape High Court (Makhanda) against the department, which was also aimed at helping 200 families who have been left in limbo because of government demands for expensive DNA tests for their children before they can be issued with birth certificates.

Among other things, the court ordered the department to pay for travel costs, accommodation and DNA tests, if this is what they require before registering a child.

The court also ordered officials to register children where one of the parents was not present. The court ordered in April 2019 that all 24 children who were mentioned in court papers be registered within 30 days, failing which, the department should explain why they are not doing so.

None of this has happened, says the DM report.

‘This is an impact matter handled by Legal Aid SA. We obtained the court order in April 2019. We have been informed that there was no compliance with the order. The next step will be to apply for a contempt of order application in the Makhanda High Court. The papers are being drafted to be served soon,’ said Nzame Skibi, a senior litigator in Legal Aid-SA’s Impact Litigation Unit.

Full Daily Maverick report