Home Affairs Empowers Mabopane Residents With IDs and Birth Certificates

Joining the Deputy Minister is Gauteng’s MEC for Social Development, Faith Mazibuko, who will lead her department in offering a wide array of social support services to the community.

In a landmark initiative aimed at restoring dignity and enabling access to essential services, Home Affairs Deputy Minister Njabulo Nzuza is today presiding over the official handover of 100 birth certificates and identity documents (IDs) to residents of Mabopane, Tshwane, who successfully applied for late registration of birth. The event is being held as part of a broader effort to reduce statelessness and ensure that all citizens are registered on the National Population Register.

Joining the Deputy Minister is Gauteng’s MEC for Social Development, Faith Mazibuko, who will lead her department in offering a wide array of social support services to the community. These services include social grant applications, family and child welfare services, substance abuse interventions, and counselling for vulnerable groups such as the elderly, women, and children.

Weeks-Long Late Birth Registration Drive

The handover marks the culmination of a concentrated campaign by the Department of Home Affairs in recent weeks. Officials have been deployed across Mabopane to identify and assist individuals—many of them adults—who were never registered at birth and therefore lacked legal identity.

According to the department’s statement, “Home Affairs officials have, for the past few weeks, been on a late registration of birth drive in the Mabopane area, where they had a high number of people who were not registered on the National Population Register and never owned birth certificates or IDs.”

The effort is part of the department’s broader mandate to strengthen civil registration and eliminate barriers to government services. Late registration of birth, while legally permitted, involves a stringent verification process that includes witness affidavits, school records, clinic cards, and other supporting documents to confirm a person’s identity and date of birth.

Opening Doors to Social and Economic Inclusion

Today’s recipients will be receiving their identity documents for the very first time—an event that is not only symbolic but transformative in practical terms. With legal proof of identity, they are now eligible for a range of government services, including social grants, healthcare, education, and job opportunities.

“The 100 successful applicants will, for the first time in their lives, own birth certificates and IDs, enabling them to access services such as social grants,” the department confirmed.

The partnership between Home Affairs and the Department of Social Development demonstrates the government’s commitment to collaborative service delivery that meets people where they are. The inclusion of social workers, grant officers, and health outreach teams ensures that the beneficiaries of today’s handover receive more than just documentation—they receive comprehensive support aimed at improving their quality of life.

A Step Toward Eradicating Identity Exclusion

While today’s milestone is cause for celebration, it also underscores the broader challenge of identity exclusion that still affects many communities across South Africa. Late registration of birth remains a pressing issue, particularly in rural and underserved areas, where access to registration services is limited.

Both departments have emphasized the need for early birth registration and community education to prevent future generations from suffering the consequences of identity invisibility. Parents are urged to register their children within the legally required 30-day period after birth to avoid the arduous late registration process.

The event in Mabopane serves as a blueprint for similar initiatives in other regions, aiming to empower more citizens with the foundational right to identity and access to services.