South Africa: +60 children have NO birth certificates in Aliwal North
Published: 22/Feb/2017
Source: SAfm (Johannesburg)
About 67 children of school going aged in Aliwal North in the Eastern Cape have been barred from going to school because they have NO birth certificates.
Fourteen of the children are born to South African parents who NEVER applied for children’s birth certificates because of ignorance- NOW sadly some of the children live in child headed homes and have NO way of applying for the certificates as they don’t have their parent’s documents. The other children are born the Basotho who missed an opportunity to apply for the Lesotho special permits and will unfortunately have to return to their home countries to be documented. All the while, the children are NOT going to class as schools cannot admit them children.
On the Forum@8 which is broadcast on SAfm Sakina Kamwedo spoke to Reverend Father Joe who is a religious Community leader based in Aliwal North who with other members of the community have been trying to assist the children and families get documentations and a Human rights lawyer Liesl Muller who says all children in the country legally or illegally have a right to education