Thirty-year-old mother of four, Ndanganine Mudau, has battled for more than a decade to obtain a birth certificate for her 12-year-old daughter, denying her access to a child support grant as the family battles to meet her growing needs. 

According to the law, births should be registered within 30 days, but mothers who have faced bureaucratic hurdles can be locked out of access to services for their undocumented child. 

Mudau says her daughter was born in Johannesburg in February 2014, but she says shortly after the birth she returned home to Tshikudini, in Musina Local Municipality. 

In May 2014, she went to the Department of Home Affairs office in Musina to register her daughter’s birth. She says officials told her she first needed to return to Johannesburg to obtain the child’s birth confirmation record.

“My child was born in Johannesburg, so the same year I travelled back to Johannesburg to get the birth confirmation record.”

After obtaining the record in Johannesburg, Mudau says she returned to Musina Home Affairs. She says the department’s system was down and she was unable to complete the application. Officials told her to go home and wait for a call so that she would not have to travel back while the system was offline.

Mudau says she never received the call.

“Network is a challenge for everyone in Tshikudini. Sometimes we have to walk to a free wifi place provided by a spaza shop owner,” she said.

In 2018, Mudau returned to Home Affairs in Musina. She says officials told her they had previously tried to contact her but could not reach her, and told her to return another time. After three attempts, Mudau says she could not afford another trip to Musina.

“I really cannot do anything more than what I have done. The child is now in Grade 7, and I am not sure what will happen at matric level,” she said, as an ID document is required for learners to receive their qualifications.

Health-e News has previously reported on undocumented people in rural Limpopo who struggle to access healthcare, social grants and other essential services. 

There are no exact figures for unregistered births in South Africa, but late registration remains a problem. According to StatsSA’s latest available data, 76,000 births were registered late in 2024, accounting for almost 9% of all birth registrations that year. 

Missing out on social support

Mudau has four children, three of whom have birth certificates. She survives on social grants but receives a grant for only three of her children.

“Lack of a child support grant is a very serious problem because my child is growing, she needs more things that I am struggling to provide,” says Mudau. 

According to the Cape Town-based Scalabrini Centre, birth registration is far more than an administrative process. It provides legal recognition of a child’s existence and an essential gateway to fundamental rights and services, including healthcare, education and social support. 

For parents like Mudau, late registration adds a number of additional bureaucratic hurdles, including additional supporting documents and a screening interview. 

For more information on the full late registration process, click here.

Distance adds another barrier

For residents of Tshikudini, the distance to the Home Affairs offices adds another challenge. Musina is about 60km from Tshikudini. Residents say public transport is available, but the journey costs about R110. For unemployed families like Mudau’s, who may need to make several trips to complete a birth registration process, the cost for public transport is unaffordable.

Community leaders say Mudau is not an isolated case.

“It is difficult to come up with the numbers of people who do not have birth certificates because such residents do not avail themselves,” says Didzhana Zacharia, one of the community leaders.

According to Lucas Manebaneba, chairperson of the Tshikhudini Concern Group, the Department of Home Affairs has never provided mobile services in the area.

“Home Affairs has never visited our area, but only neighbouring villages such as Folovhodwe and Madimbo,” says Manebaneba.

Health-e News reached out to the Department of Home Affairs about Mudau’s case and what she needs to do to register her daughter’s birth, but had not received a response by the time of publication.