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.<\/p>\n
The Grahamstown High Court this week ordered the Department of Home Affairs to register the birth of Lawrence Naki\u2019s daughter.<\/p>\n
This was after the Legal Resources Centre challenged the Department of Home Affairs\u2019 failure to register the child\u2019s birth because the child\u2019s mother did not have a valid visa and was considered an \u201cillegal foreigner\u201d.<\/p>\n
The centre said in a statement the department had refused to register the birth\u201a citing the Birth and Death Registration Act Regulations which\u201a they argued\u201a prohibited the single father from registering the birth of his daughter.<\/p>\n
Naki\u201a a South African citizen\u201a 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 \u2013 the oldest is currently living in the DRC.<\/p>\n