My parent's ID is blocked. Can I still apply for an ID at Home Affairs?

The long answer

Let’s start with the blocked ID issue: 

The High Court ruled on 16 January 2024 in P.P.M and Others v Minister of Home Affairs and Others that it was unconstitutional for IDs to be blocked without following a fair procedure. So now, before blocking an ID, Home Affairs has to give people notice in writing that a problem has been found with their ID, allow people reasonable time and opportunity to present their side of the story to Home Affairs, conduct a proper investigation, and then give written reasons to the person for why their ID will be blocked, and, if necessary, obtain a court order. 

Home Affairs said that individuals with blocked IDs from before 2022 must visit any Home Affairs office, excluding refugee reception centres and banks, to submit representations by 10 July 2026.

The Minister of Home Affairs said on 2 December 2025 that some IDs were still blocked because they were waiting for the people affected to come to the Home Affairs offices to submit documents and make representations. 

But most importantly for you, the court ruled that Home Affairs must allow children and adult descendants of parents with blocked IDs to register for their IDs, whether their parents’ IDs were blocked or not. So Home Affairs has a strict legal obligation to capture an adult son's details and biometrics for a first-time ID application, regardless of whether his parent's ID is currently blocked.

TPN Credit Bureau said that if the parent's ID is blocked, the local system of Home Affairs will trigger a security flag. The branch office’s responsibility is to package these captured biometrics alongside all supporting primary evidence and send the file to the DHA Head Office in Pretoria for manual verification and a formal status investigation.

To ensure the Head Office can successfully verify the application manually, you and your father would have to present extensive documentation linking you to South African citizenship. (Only one parent has to be South African): 

• For you: Original birth certificate (unabridged or handwritten), clinic card, hospital proof of birth records, and primary school registers or reports. 

• For your father: his physical ID document (even if it is blocked). 

• Affidavits & Support: An affidavit from your father confirming your identity, birth details, and maternal/paternal linkage.

Which, of course, brings us to the question of your Abridged Birth certificate, which you only have a copy of. ID Checker said in March 2026 that you cannot be issued a 13-digit ID number without a birth record in the National Population Register. They went on to say that photocopies of birth certificates on their own were not accepted and that one had to present the original, and the DHA official would make a certified copy on-site. 

So perhaps you have to start by taking the copy of your birth certificate to Home Affairs and asking whether they have an original unabridged birth certificate for you, and whether you are registered on the NPR. 

If Home Affairs has no record of the birth in their system, you would have to apply for Late Registration of Birth (LRB), as without a birth certificate, you cannot apply for an ID. So I’m afraid it would not be legally plausible for them to capture your details as well as biometrics to submit them for manual verification at their Head Office, until you have an original unabridged birth certificate.

And unfortunately, the LRB process is another long-drawn-out Home Affairs debacle which requires additional supporting proofs and an interview.

These are the LRB documents you would need to present to Home Affairs (DHA):

• DHA 24/LRB (notice of birth);

• Children born at health facilities: DHA 24/PB (proof of birth);

• DHA 288/A (affidavit giving reasons for LRB);

• DHA 288 (affidavit to be completed in black ink with block letters and signed under oath in front of an authorised Commissioner of Oaths or a Home Affairs official)

• Biometrics (ID-size photo and fingerprint) of the person to be registered;

• Fingerprints of parent/s;

• ID/Passport of parent/s;

• Where applicable, death certificate of parent/s

• Proof of payment of a fee.

But even if you can’t provide all these documents, the 2018 Naki judgment (Naki and Others vs Director-General of Home Affairs and Others) found that a person’s application for late registration of birth must still be accepted and considered. 

If you run into repeated difficulties with Home Affairs, you could approach an organisation like Lawyers for Human Rights, which has a great deal of experience with Home Affairs. These are their contact details:

• Lawyers for Human Rights

Email: [email protected]

Tel: Musina 015 534 2203

Durban: 031 301 0531

Pretoria: 012 320 2943

Johannesburg: 011 339 1960

Cape Town: 021 424 8561

Wishing you the best,
Athalie