The Ministry of Home Affairs, Immigration, Safety, and Security issued 92 330 birth certificates this year through fixed and mobile registration units, Deputy Minister Lucia Witbooi said on Wednesday.

Speaking at the government information centre in Windhoek, Witbooi highlighted the importance of birth registration, saying it is a human right and establishes a child’s legal identity, which, together with the ascertainment of that child’s citizenship, is essential for accessing a range of services such as education, healthcare and social protection.

She added that birth registration provides vital data that informs policy and planning at national and international levels.

In addition, the ministry has also connected an additional five facilities to the e-birth and e-death notification system, with an additional two to be connected before the end of the year.

“In total, the ministry has 106 facilities that are connected to the e-birth notification system, as well as 128 facilities that are connected to the e-death notification system. This will enable our citizens to access public services efficiently and promptly,” Witbooi said.

The deputy minister noted that the ministry continues meeting the demand for identity cards (IDs), with 116 354 cards printed this year.

“However, the ministry is sitting with uncollected 33 168 ID cards with more piling up at our offices. It is against this background that the ministry urges those who applied for identity documents to collect them.

“Applicants must take note that one can collect his or her ID at the office where he or she indicated to collect it; alternatively, one can also request the ID card to be transferred to the Ministry of Home Affairs office in their respective region,” she said.

The ministry further made inroads as it had managed to reduce the backlog on the capture of historic marriage records from 53 889 in April to 38 545 as of 24 November 2023.

During the same period, the ministry reduced the backlog on the capture of historic death records from 62 563 to 55 578.

Witbooi said these were marriage and death records spanning pre-independence and soon after independence, which are not on the National Population Register System.  - Nampa

Caption: Registrations… Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, Immigration, Safety and Security, Lucia Witbooi.

Photo: Nampa