18 Jun 2014

The Minister of Labour and Home Affairs, Mr Edwin Batshu has urged Batswana whose children have dual citizenship to renounce their other citizenship on time to avoid situations where their identity documents will be taken from them. 

He said this during a kgotla meeting he addressed at Makaleng and Marobela on June 16. Mr Batshu explained that a child born to a foreign parent should decide, which citizenship he or she wanted to keep upon attainment of age 21.

He said the law presumed that anyone who failed to do so would have renounced the Botswana citizenship. He, therefore, appealed to Batswana to state their allegiance in time so they would not feel offended by the rule of law when it takes its course.

In addition, Minister Batshu urged residents to register new babies within 60 days after their birth, noting that they should be registered whether the child was born to foreign parents or Batswana.

He explained that  it was important to register new born babies because it helped the government to plan for developments, adding that often people failed to understand the importance of doing so as some gave birth and never registered their children.

He further noted that late registration for birth certificates when a child was already grown up led to being required to bring proof and witnesses who could testify that indeed the child was yours. Mr Batshu further said it was at that stage that many parents became unhappy. 

However, he explained that it was important for civil and national registration officers to have proof before they could issue identification documents. Minister Batshu also appealed to residents to register deceased persons within 30 days, and to hand over identity documents of such a person. 

He said throughout the current financial year, all people who had not registered for Omang and birth certificates would be exempted from late registration charges as a way of encouraging them to come forward.  Meanwhile, Kgosi Rapelang Khuwe complained about the Omang office in Francistown, saying they referred people to him. 

 Kgosi Khuwe further appealed to the government to consider reviewing permit fees as the charges were not affordable to many people. That, he said, forced some people to employ people without the necessary documents. 

Responding to the concerns, the regional registration officer at Francistown, Ms Ndibadzo Omotoye said they had started to take their services to the people in an effort to address concerns and to explain the requirements for national identification documents. She, nonetheless, raised concern that during their last visit to the village only 15 people came to them whereas they received numerous complaints at their offices.

She further noted they would be visiting them again at the end of June and urged them to come forward so their concerns could be addressed. ENDS