Pretoria - The key to a better life for many South Africans relied heavily on their identity documents (ID), said Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma
Speaking at the launch of the Free State Provincial Stakeholder Forum in that province on Thursday, Dlamini Zuma said IDs were crucial to the alleviation of poverty and underdevelopment.
"An ID enables citizens to access all other social opportunities, including healthcare, education, as well as social relief in the form of child support and other grants. Citizens are also able to access employment opportunities since many employers require identity documents as a condition of employment," she explained.
Those who did not have birth certificates usually encountered problems when applying for their IDs later on in life, the minister noted.
Dlamini Zuma urged parents to register their children within 30 days of birth to avoid such problems.
"The registration of births within 30 days, as much as it is the law of this country, also assists in securing our national population register (NPR). Through the NPR campaign, we aim to build a secure and credible national population register with a single point of entry, at birth."
Registering newborns within 30 days would also help government make long terms plans to address the needs of South Africans.
The minister said figures of how many children were registered in a year would inform government's plans for education, healthcare, housing and other social needs.
"A secure and credible population register can therefore only be achieved when we all recognise the importance of registering the births of our children," she added.
The minister met with Free State MEC for Social Development, Sisi Ntombela, district and municipal representatives, as well as officials from the Department of Home Affairs and South African Social Security Agency.
The launch of the Provincial Stakeholder Forum follows the establishment of local district stakeholder forums, which are aimed at improving service delivery at local communities
