South African Genealogy Research

I am not really sure why, perhaps a reader could enlighten me, but South African “Civil Registration” is not available for public viewing. Basically that means no index or personal searching. However if you have sufficient information about a ancestor you can order a Birth, Marriage or Death Certificate from the South African Department of Home Affairs. Cerificates cost R40 (about 7 USD or 4 GBP) and you can download a PDF application by clicking on the following: Birth Certificates ; Marriage Certificates and Death Certificates. If you have your ancestors Identity Number it is supposed to speed up the process, however don’t be in too much of a hurry to receive a certificate, staffing is limited and of course people requesting their own certificates are a priority. This is not the place to begin your research unless you have a full name, date of event and depending on the certificate you require parental information.

If you feel a little disheartened by this, especially since the SA survining census’ are apparently only statistical, there is good news! Two words… okay four: Death Notices and Estate Files!!!
In a coming post I will talk a bit about these records. However for the moment I will connect you to NAAIRS (National Automated Archival Information Retrieval System) where you can search the online index or Death Notices, Estate Files, Wills and other useful documents. Please be sure to read the help page first – I know we (of maybe its just me?) usually disregard instructions, but these are imperative to understanding this system. >>>> NAAIRS help.