My late father used another child's birth certificate to apply for an RDP house. The child was listed as the beneficiary and has passed. What can I do to correct this?

The long answer

Just to use the correct terminology to avoid misunderstanding: the actual beneficiary of the RDP house was your late father. The child would not be a beneficiary as such, but would have been listed as a dependant when your father applied for the RDP house. 

If your late father had no children and “borrowed” the child’s birth certificate in order to qualify for the RDP application, that would certainly be fraudulent. Fraud is defined in law as follows: "Fraud is the unlawful and intentional making of a misrepresentation which causes actual prejudice or which is potentially prejudicial to another". The fact that both the child and your father have died does not negate the fraud.

Perhaps you should start by going to see the municipality where your father applied for the RDP house. Take as many documents to prove your relationship to your father as you can – like a certified copy of your birth certificate, a death certificate for your father, and any evidence you have that the birth certificate used in your father’s RDP application did not belong to any child of his. 

Ask the municipality to get out your father’s file and confirm that the birth certificate used was fraudulent. If the fraud is confirmed, tell them that you want to file a formal complaint. If they are unhelpful, you may have to escalate the complaint to the Housing Department or the MEC for Housing (Human Settlements) in your province.

If the municipality finds that your father was the rightful owner, you may be able to inherit the house.

If your father and mother were married in community of property, they would have shared a joint and undivided estate. If they divorced, both would be entitled to 50% of the joint estate, including both assets and debts.

If either of them died, the surviving spouse would automatically inherit 50% of the joint estate. If your father left a will, his 50% would be left to whomever he chose to leave it to.  

But if your father died without making a will, he is said to have died intestate, and the Intestate Succession Act, which is based on blood relationship, would apply in the following order:  

• The spouse/s of the deceased

• The descendants of the deceased

• The parents of the deceased (Only if the deceased died without surviving spouse or descendants)

• The siblings of the deceased (Only if one or both parents are predeceased)

• When the deceased leaves only spouses and no descendants, the wives will inherit the estate in equal shares.

• When the deceased left spouses and descendants, the spouses and descendants will inherit the estate in equal shares, but

• Each wife should inherit at least R250,000

• When the estate is not large enough to allow each wife to inherit R250,000, the spouses will inherit the estate in equal shares while the descendants will not receive anything.

Your legal rights are that if your father died without a will, you would have been one of the children along with any surviving spouse to share in the deceased estate. If your mother has also died, the children would inherit in equal shares. 

You could contact the Housing Enquiries of the Department of Human Settlements at the toll-free customer service hotline: 

0800 146 873 or 012 421 1915

They could also give you the contact details of your province’s MEC for Housing. The MEC can review decisions of the municipality on a case-by-case basis.

You can also contact the Fraud and Anti-Corruption Hotline on 0800 00 2870.

If the fraud is confirmed, the municipality or the Housing Dept could initiate the process of transferring the RDP house to its rightful owner/s.  

You might want to ask advice from an organisation like the Black Sash, which gives free paralegal advice. These are their contact details:

Email: [email protected] or [email protected]

Tel (national office): 021 686 6952

Helpline: 072 66 33 73, 063 610 1865 or 072 663 3739

You could also take all your documents and ask Legal Aid for advice and assistance here:

Email: [email protected]

Please Call Me: 079 835 7179 

Tel: 0800 110 110 (Monday to Friday 7am to 7pm) 

Wishing you the best,
Athalie