1. Civil registration and vital statistics systems in South Africa

2. Outline of presentation
Availability of vital statistics
Legal framework
Civil registration
Acquiring data on divorces
Process flows
Dissemination of information
Challenges
Key stakeholders
Strategic targets
Concluding remarks

3. Availability of vital statistics
Available statistics
Live births
Foetal deaths (stillbirths)
Deaths
Marriages
Divorces
Not available (or not processed)
Annulments
Judicial separations
Adoptions
Legitimations

4. Legal framework Births, deaths and stillbirths Marriages Divorces
Department of Home Affairs
Births and deaths registration Act (Act No. 51 of 1992)
Marriages
Marriage Act (Act No. 25 of 1961)
Divorces
Department of Justice and Constitutional Development
Divorce Act (Act No. 70 of 1979)

5. Civil registration system (1)
Births registration
Department of Home Affairs
To be registered within 30 days of birth
Between 30 days and 1 year
Between 1 year and 14 years
15 years and older
No registration of birth is done for a person who dies before notice of birth has been given
A forename and a surname are required for registration
Birth outside the country: notice given to the head of SA diplomatic or consular mission, or a regional representative in SA

6. Civil registration system (2)
Death registration
Department of Home Affairs
Natural cause: to be registered as soon as practicable by a person present at death, or who became aware of the death, or who has charge of the burial concerned
Medical practitioners/professional nurses
Other than natural cause: Refer to a police officer (Inquests Act, 1959)
District surgeon/forensic pathologists
Death outside SA: Death certificate or other similar document issued by the authority concerned in the country in which the death occurred required to register the death in SA
No burial takes place unless notice of the death has been given and burial order provided

7. Civil registration system (3)
Stillbirth registration
Department of Home Affairs
At least 26 weeks of gestation
Natural cause: medical practitioner present or who examined corpse shall certify the death; any person present at the still-birth makes the declaration of the still-birth
Any doubt if the child was stillborn: report to a police officer
No burial takes place unless notice of stillbirth has been given and burial order provided

8. Civil registration system (4)
Improvements in birth and death registration
Main stakeholders:
Department of Home Affairs
Department of Health
Department of Social Development
Activities:
Registration at the Department of Home Affairs offices
On-line registration at selected hospitals
Mobile trucks to access hard-to-reach areas
Mobilisation by Department of Social Development for birth registration required for the up-take of child support grant for the poor

9. Civil registration system (5)
Marriages
Department of Home Affairs (DHA)
Civil marriages – undertaken by licensed marriage officers (DHA officials or priests)
Offices of the DHA, chapels or religious buildings
Customary marriages:
Recognition of Customary Marriages Act
Stats SA in the process of acquiring data on registered customary marriages

10. Acquiring data on divorces
Department of Justice and Constitutional Development through its divorce courts
Stats SA designed a form requiring provision of information from divorcees after divorce decree has been granted
Population group
Age at time of divorce
Occupation at time of divorce
Marital status at time of marriage
Duration of marriage
Number of times married
Solemnisation of present marriage
Matrimonial property system
Number of minor children involve (age, sex)

11. Process flow – births and marriages
Department of Home Affairs
(DHA) captures data
DHA makes data available
on main frame
Data editing
Data downloaded via ftp /
Collected from SITA
Data analysis and
report writing
Dissemination of report

12. Process flow – divorces
Divorce forms received
through the post
Sorting forms by year of
divorce and court name
Data editing
Data capturing of all
variables on the form
Data analysis and
report writing
Dissemination of report

13. Process flow: deaths and stillbirths
Data Capture
(ID variables)
Collection
Sorting
Pasting
STORES
Data Capture
& QA
Export to
Editing
Coding
Pre-coding
Derivation
0f UCD
Data
Analysis
Data
Editing
Publication &
Dissemination

14. Dissemination Annual statistical releases
Hard copies
CD containing unit records of data for:
Marriages and divorces
Deaths and stillbirths
Statistical releases and data published on the web:
Special tables provided on request

15. Challenges – births and marriages
No control over collection of information (registration and completion of forms)
No control over data processing
Cannot undertake quality assurance at different stages of data processing
No access to original forms
No way of verifying or investigating non-plausible cases
Not all variables are made available to Statistics South Africa
Limited variables for in-depth analysis
Late or non-registration of births
Registration of customary marriages

16. Challenges – divorces
There are several courts that deal with divorce cases and no central point for collection of the forms
Shortage of questionnaire in courts
No control over completion of forms
Non-response to certain questions
Return of questionnaires by clients
Through the post office which results in delays or forms getting lost
Inability to determine complete coverage of granted divorces
Use court rolls – not all courts send their court rolls
Initiative of the DoJCD in collaboration with DHA and STATS SA to develop a tool for recording cases
Mistakes introduced by capturing

17. Challenges – deaths and stillbirths
No control over collection of information (registration and completion of forms)
No control over completion of forms
Data subject to content errors and omissions
E.g. information on education, occupation, industry, place-name, population group incomplete and therefore limits analysis
Under registration of deaths particularly among children and those in the rural areas
Misreporting and insufficient reporting of causes of death on the death notification forms
Late registration of deaths
Time-lag between the event, registration and publication of information

18. Late registrations

19. Challenges – general Dependence on other departments for data
Limited information for in-depth analysis on births, deaths, marriages and divorces
Non-compliance with legislation governing registration on the side of the public
Inability to provide information at geographic levels lower than province

20. Key stakeholders Department of Home Affairs
Department of Justice and Constitutional Development
Department of Health
Department of Social Development
South African Social Security Agency
Department of Provincial and Local Government
Family and Marriage Society of South Africa
Research and academic institutions
UN agencies
Statistical agencies from other countries
Business community

21. Strategic targets
Collaboration and statistical partnership with suppliers
Building capacity to collect (and process where applicable) quality information
Participate in initiatives on increasing registration coverage
Integrate systems, to enable timely access and proper tracking of information
Process management
Integrated storage management system that electronically tracks received forms across all series
Automate - for timeliness and accuracy
Review and revamp all series - to improve content, quality and presentation of reports
Document procedures and guidelines for processing various series - to enable standard application of procedures

22. Concluding remarks Civil registration improving in South Africa
Live births – 81% (2007); Deaths – 83% (2006)
Improvements required for completeness of registration and complete and accurate completion of forms
Concerted effort by all stakeholders, including the public, required
Statistics produced depend on the quality of input data, and the need for enhanced efforts to register vital events.
Wider use of the data leads to improvements in the quality of the data over time.

23. Contact details Statistics South Africa: http://www.statssa.gov.za
1. Ntebaleng Chobokoane (Executive Manager: Health and Vital Statistics)
2. Maletela Tuoane-Nkhasi (Manager: Births and Deaths)
3. Susanna Ubomba-Jaswa (Manager: Marriages and Divorces)
Department of Home Affairs:
1. Thomas Sigama (Director: National Population Register)