On 29 July 2026, the Western Cape High Court declared several birth registration regulations unconstitutional, ruling that children of undocumented foreign nationals, children whose parents do not possess valid passports or immigration documents, and adults who were abandoned or orphaned as children must be able to have their births registered.
The Court held that the regulations unjustifiably limited the rights protected by section 28(1)(a) of the Constitution, which guarantees every child the right to a name and a nationality from birth. The Court further emphasised that this constitutional protection does not lapse merely because a child reaches adulthood and that birth registration, in itself, does not confer South African citizenship.
The declaration of invalidity has been suspended for 18 months to allow the Department of Home Affairs to amend the regulations. In the interim, affected applicants may apply for birth registration by following the affidavit-based process ordered by the Court.