Makhanda (Grahamstown) father desperate to keep his family together has won a landmark legal victory after a judge ruled that a law barring him from registering the birth of his child was unconstitutional.<\/p>\n
Liesl Muller, of Lawyers for Human Rights, said the judgment was highly significant as it removed clear gender discrimination from home affairs regulations.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany of my clients are single dads trying to register their children\u2019s births [in cases] where the mother is foreign and undocumented or absent, or where she has abandoned the children,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis judgment will help many children.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lawyers for Human Rights have handled 780 similar cases since January last year.<\/p>\n
Without a birth certificate, children cannot access social welfare or health benefits, or go to school.<\/p>\n
Last week, acting judge Apla Bodlani, sitting in the Grahamstown High Court, declared as unconstitutional a blanket ban on birth registrations by parents whose circumstances do not adhere to the department\u2019s checklist, and has sent the regulations back to parliament to be fixed.<\/p>\n