Court Orders RG’s Office To Allow Fathers To Take Children’s Birth Certificates

Patience Nhamburo

Harare High Court judge, Justice Owen Tagu has ordered the Registrar of Birth and Death registration to allow fathers to apply for and obtain birth certificates for their children born out of wedlock if the mothers deserted or abandoned their children.

The judgment which was handed down on 8 November 2021 after Bernard Tashu together with the Child rights activist, Petronella Nyamapfene approached the High Court to compel the Registrar to comply with the Birth and Death Registration Act which allows the fathers to apply for birth certificates for their children in circumstances where the mother abandoned or deserted the child.

The Registrar was refusing fathers to secure birth certificates of their children without a marriage certificate or without the mother of the child, stating that only the mother knows the true father of her child.

Darlington Marange of the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum said they now wait for action after the order was made.

“The court has set out the order and we now wait for action, as all fathers are now allowed to take birth certificates for their children in the absence of the mother”, he said.