Question NW1695 to the Minister of Home Affairs
13 December 2019 - NW1695
Sharif, Ms NK to ask the Minister of Home Affairs
What measures is his department taking to assist the transgender community by speeding up the process of changing their sex designation legally?
Reply:
The Department has an Act (Act no. 49 of 2003) in place which administers issues relating to transgender. The Department further participates in committees coordinated by the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development wherein gaps and other concerns identified by transgender communities are discussed and suggestions are made on how best transgender communities can be assisted.
Such meetings triggered a study tour for Government and Civil Society on transgender to learn how transgender community issues are managed in other countries. The Department has also embarked on awareness wherein all managers from its front offices were taken through transgender issues. This amongst others included the following:
- Contents of the Act and Regulations
- Process and requirements for transgender community
The Department has a dedicated unit in place that processes applications for transgender. The unit looks at the compliance and requirements as outlined in the Regulations and standard operating procedure prior to processing.
Successful applications which meet the requirements are processed within a period of 6 to 8 weeks. Non-compliance cases are responded to in a form of a letter to clients. The Department continues to hold dialogues with the transgender communities and is committed to improve on gaps identified either on the legislation or processes as part of continued development.
END