Chairperson and hon members, I am indeed privileged to introduce the Births and Deaths Registration Amendment Bill for the consideration of this House. Let me again thank the portfolio committee and its chair for their hard work and co-operation.
It is only correct that we recognise that births and deaths are cardinal stages in the life cycle of any human being. Birth is indeed an embodiment of all that is new, developing and representing the future. Therefore, it is important that we take care of our children as the late Oliver Reginald Tambo once said that a nation that does not care for its children has no future.
It became necessary for us as a department to make these amendments as they identified some gaps and weaknesses in the legislation. I just want to quickly spell them out. The Bill seeks to streamline the procedures relating to the following.
Who should register the birth of a child other than the parents? This includes the next of kin or a legal guardian, but not a paid agent. At the moment, we have lots of paid agents going around registering children and causing some problems. The amendment also streamlines the issue of by whom and how orphans and abandoned children should be registered, because there are lots of problems around that. We want to simplify that process.
When a child or an adult's surname is changed, which procedures should be followed? This is especially important in our culture, where some children are born in an environment wherein their mothers are not married, and they end up using their mothers' surnames, and later on they want to change it. We want to make sure that it is not as difficult as it is now.
We have noticed a trend and would like to correct it, where parents register a child and later come back to inform us that the father was not the real one and they want to register the second one as the real father. As the department, we are saying that we will take your word when you come to us for the first time; but the second time round, you have to proof paternity if you are going to change the surname. We think that is fair enough because we can't tell who the real father is.
The birth registration has to be done within 30 days. When you come after 30 days, it would then be considered as a late registration of birth. We would like to just streamline the processes that govern that. There are sensitivities around the registration of adopted children. We would like to make sure that the children and the parents who are adopting them are protected.
We also want to amend and outline procedures for persons who want to change their sex status at a later stage; when they were born as one sex, registered as that, and later want to change to the opposite sex. We want to make sure that there are procedures for doing that.
We also want to register all undertakers, because they register deaths. Sometimes there are problems and you find that the undertaker was not registered and they cannot be found anywhere. We want to make sure that they are registered and that they are able to register deaths. That does not take away the rights of the parents or relatives also to register a death.
Lastly, we are changing the penalties in the Bill. Otherwise, I hope the members will support the Bill. I thank you. [Applause.]