Thank you very much House Chairperson, with regard to the Births and Deaths Registration Act of 1992, all children born in South Africa must be registered within 30 days of their birth. The department has 412 front offices where births can be registered and clients can be issued with birth certificates on the spot.
In addition, as I mentioned in my Budget Speech on 10 July, the Department of Home Affairs has started a joint venture with the Department of Health whereby all the 1 445 health facilities where the delivery of babies takes place will be fitted with the necessary equipment and be provided with the appropriate human resources so that no new born baby can leave the hospital without a birth certificate in their possession. It is envisaged that this process will be completed by 2021. This means
that by 2021, any child leaving the hospital will be having a birth certificate. At the moment, they get it within 30 days.
The department has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Department of Basic Education about service delivery regarding the issuance of enabling documents; mainly identity documents to learners. Identity documents are issued to learners in accordance with the Identification Act when they turn 16 years. Unfortunately, out of the 412 offices, only 193 offices are able to issue smart card IDs. We do have a problem in this regard. However, we are in the process of finalising the upgrade of more than 100 mobile trucks which will be fitted with live-capture so that they get deployed to schools because currently, we do find learners queuing at Home Affairs offices during hours even though any learner in uniforms is prioritised. This is still a problem to us. We think they shouldn't be coming to Home Affairs. We will go them in schools. We are about to complete the fitting of those trucks. We will be able to send them. Thank you very much.