My mother died in another country and I don't have her death certificate. How do I apply for an ID if I lost my birth certificate?

The long answer

Let’s start with your lost birth certificate, as that is a simple matter: 

You can apply for a replacement birth certificate using your ID number, because your  ID number proves that the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) has a record of your birth. So they can make you a copy of your birth certificate. It will cost you R75 for a replacement certificate. 

When it comes to your mother’s death in 2007 in another country, you need to get a death certificate from Home Affairs. Home Affairs will issue a death certificate when you give them the notification of death. So how do you get this notification of death, so long after her actual death? 

If you can contact your late mother’s husband, that would probably be the easiest way, as he must surely have reported your mother’s death in his country. But if you do not have his contact details, you may have to go through the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO).  They can help in cases when a South African person has died in another country.

They can act as the connecting point or liaison between you, as the family and the foreign authorities in the country where she was living. They can also help you with what you need to register your mother’s death with the South African authorities. This usually requires a legalised copy of the foreign death certificate. 

The documents you would need to submit to Home Affairs are the following:

• Application for Death Certificate form (BI-132)

• Original South African ID and passports of the deceased (for cancellation)

• Long-form foreign death certificate containing the cause and date of death

• Completed DHA-1663 form 

These are the contact details for DIRCO:

Phone: 012 351 1000

Email: info@dirco.gov.za

Physical Address: OR Tambo Building, 460 Soutpansberg Road, Rietondale, Pretoria, 0084

Consular Services & Emergencies:

• Consular Incident Command Centre (CICC): 012 351 1754  or 027 12 351 1756

• Emergency Email: CICC@dirco.gov.za

• Rosahelp (Registration of South Africans Abroad): rosahelp@dirco.gov.za

 Legalisation Services (Authentications & Apostilles):

• Email: legalisation@dirco.gov.za

Perhaps you could start by phoning them and explaining the situation with your mother dying in a foreign country in 2007, and asking for assistance to get her death reported to Home Affairs. Explain that you cannot get your ID without this and ask if and how they can help you.  

You could also ask for advice on how to get your ID in your situation (with Home Affairs requiring signatures), from one of the following organisations:

• The Black Sash (which gives free paralegal advice)

email: help@blacksash.org.za and info@blacksash.org.za

Tel (national office): 021 686 6952

Helpline: 072 66 33 73, 072 633 3739 or 063 610 1865.

• Lawyers for Human Rights

Email: info@lhr.org.za

Tel: Musina 015 534 2203

Durban: 031 301 0531

Pretoria: 012 320 2943

Johannesburg: 011 339 1960

Cape Town: 021 424 8561

• Legal Resources Centre

Email:info@lrc.org.za

Johannesburg: 011 836 9831

Cape Town: 021 481 3000.

Durban: 031 301 7572

Wishing you the best,
Athalie