Be vigilant with newborn registration, warns government

Source: IOL, 01/11/2018

Durban - The Department of Home Affairs has advised new mothers to be
extra vigilant and only seek the assistance of designated health
officials at all times.
This comes after two male fraudsters, who had official Home Affairs
name tags, attempted to collect mothers from Addington Hospital with
their newborns under the guise of registering and issuing birth
certificates last month.
Paseka Mokhethea spokesperson for the Department of Home Affairs said
his department and the department of Health have collaborated in a
programme to register children at health facilities after birth.
“Home Affairs officials deployed form part of the staff complement of
that particular health institution. It is for this reason that the
health official was able to recognise the rogue officials and alert
the law enforcement,” he said.
The sister on duty refused to release the mothers with their babies
without an official letter of confirmation.
Reports indicate that the nurse was alerted to the fact that the men
were imposters when they were unable to produce the letter and left
which caused her to raise the alarm.
Mokhethea commended the health officials at the hospital for their
vigilance while ensuring the safety of the newborn babies and their
mothers.
“The relations between Home Affairs and Health departments continue to
strengthen in a bid to ensure the early registration of birth and
thereby upholding the integrity of the National Population Register,”
he said.
In terms of the legislation, added Mokhethea, a child must be
registered within 30 days of birth.
“A parent, guardian or any other person legally responsible for the
child may register the child at a Home Affairs office. In this
instance, the office will be located at a health facility. A birth
certificate will be issued thereafter,” he said.
Ncumisa Mafunda, spokesperson for the KwaZulu-Natal department of
Health confirmed that the matter was reported to the Department of
Home Affairs.
“The Department does have a security system at the hospital.
Furthermore, the Department would like to exercise its right not to
comment further on security matters,” she said.