Court orders Home Affairs to register birth of child of SA soldier who met mother on DRC peacekeeping mission
Published: 7/Apr/2017
Source: The Times (South Africa)
A soldier who fathered a baby while on a peacekeeping mission is helping create clarity on the issue of registering births of children born in South Africa to an SA parent and a foreign national.
The Grahamstown High Court this week ordered the Department of Home Affairs to register the birth of Lawrence Naki’s daughter.
This was after the Legal Resources Centre challenged the Department of Home Affairs’ failure to register the child’s birth because the child’s mother did not have a valid visa and was considered an “illegal foreigner”.
The centre said in a statement the department had refused to register the birth‚ citing the Birth and Death Registration Act Regulations which‚ they argued‚ prohibited the single father from registering the birth of his daughter.
Naki‚ a South African citizen‚ works for the South African National Defence Force and met his wife when he was sent to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) on a peacekeeping mission. They have two children together – the oldest is currently living in the DRC.
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