Fathers need more proof than mothers to obtain child birth certificates

Deputy Home Affairs minister Ziyambi Ziyambi says fathers would need more proof of parentage than their spouses when obtaining birth certificates for children.

Ziyambi said it was a security issue that the position remains that way and government would make sure it remains like that.

"If it is the mother, she can register but if it is the father, ordinarily, you do not take care of the child so we need to be sure that the mother is there," Ziyambi said.

"For us to register a child in the absence of the mother, we then require you to bring proof that the mother is there for us to register."

Ziyambi said government has provisions which allow for registration of orphaned and that no child will fail to go to school because they cannot obtain a birth certificate.

"We have set procedures that if the mother is not there, certain relatives can accompany the father so that the child can get a birth certificate. In Shona we say gomba ha rina mwana , so we need to be very sure that it is indeed the father,"Ziyambi said.

"The issue of birth registration of orphans and people whom we cannot ascertain their parents; the department requires that witnesses come to ascertain that the child that is being registered was born in Zimbabwe and is a Zimbabwean citizen."