Pretoria - Minister of Home Affairs, Naledi Pandor, will tomorrow, Monday 4 March 2013, visit the Netcare Parklane Hospital, in Parktown, Johannesburg, where she will issue unabridged birth certificates, on the spot and free of charge, to parents of newly born babies, as part of national efforts to secure the integrity of the National Population Register.
Minister Pandor’s visit to the Netcare Parklane Hospital comes within the context of the announcement earlier this year that, with effect from Monday 4 March 2013, it will end the practice of the issuance of abridged birth certificate in favour of unabridged birth certificates, to parents of new born babies.
The issuance of the unabridged birth certificate will minimize turnaround times for the production of such certificates while ensuring a speedy, efficient and accurate service delivery by the Department of Home Affairs to the citizenry. Simultaneously the unabridged birth certificate will be more secure and reliable and will contain apart from information of the new born babies, details of both parents including their ID numbers.
The issuance of the unabridged birth certificates should be viewed also within the context of national efforts aimed at the creation of a paperless home affairs department in the long term. This will be enhanced by the issuance of only one certificate per birth in contrast to the previous practice of issuing two certificates
These latest and improved service delivery efforts to the citizenry are enhanced by the IT Modernisation Project and are a consequence of the review of the Birth and Death Act of 1992 and the Citizenship Act of 1995 undertaken by the department which resulted in the promulgation of the South African Citizenship Amendment Act of 2010, whose provisions are now being implemented.
Media is invited to the visit of Minister Pandor to the Netcare Parklane Hospital as follows:
DATE: MONDAY 4 MARCH 2013
TIME: 12H00 FOR 12H30
VENUE: NETCARE PARKLANE HOSPITAL, 12 JUNCTION AVENUE, PARKTOWN, JOHANNESBURG
Issued by Ronnie Mamoepa at 082-990-4853
For more information contact Lunga at 082-566-0446 or Manusha at 082-389-3587