South Africa: When the government fails you all your life!
Published: 17/Nov/2016
Source: Lawyers for Human Rights
The right to a name and nationality is one of the most fundamental human right, however, a lot of children in South Africa spend much of their lives without this legal identity and the benefits and protections it affords. Children who are not registered do not officially exist.
Njabulo** was only two years old, when he was found abandoned in Moroka, Soweto. A foster mother, Ms Ntuli** took him and his 2 brothers in, to care for them. Because, Njabulo and his brothers were not registered/no birth certificate was found with them, Ms Ntuli could not apply for a foster grant. Nonetheless she was willing to raise them on her own finances. When she attempted to register their births the system failed them, because there were no hospital birth records. As a result, Njabulo and his brothers remained undocumented and unable to access their citizenship.
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