Travelling with children faces drama in South Africa

South Africa - Less than three months after the dozens of family dramas that played off during the December festive season, more travellers are facing a family travel dilemma because of the South African unabridged birth certificates law.

Although the Departments of Home Affairs and Tourism on 5 February this year announced their long term plan to eventually move away from travellers carrying unabridged birth certificate papers - by means of new passports which will contain all the necessary documents for minors - travellers still have to abide by the current law.

The law requires of every child under 18 to carry unabridged birth certificates that can only be issued by the highly congested Department of Home Affairs (DHA) offices.