# Population Registration Act, 1950/1973-04-18

This is the text of the Population Registration Act, 1950, as it was on 18 April 1973, after it was amended by the Population Registration and Identity Documents Amendment Act, 1973, which came into force when it was published on that date. The amendments made to sections 1 and 19 were deemed to be retroactive to 2 July 1953 and 22 June 1956 respectively.
Act
To make provision for the compilation of a Register of the Population of the Union; for the issue of Identity Cards to persons whose names are included in the Register; and for matters incidental thereto.
as amended by
Population Registration Amendment Act, No. 71 of 1956 Statistics Act, No. 73 of 1957 Population Registration Amendment Act, No. 30 of 1960 Population Registration Amendment Act, No. 61 of 1962 Bantu Laws Amendment Act, No. 42 of 1964 Population Registration Amendment Act, No. 64 of 1967 Population Registration Amendment Act, No. 106 of 1969 Bantu Homelands Citizenship Act, No. 26 of 1970 Population Registration Amendment Act, No. 29 of 1970 Population Registration and Identity Documents Amendment Act, No. 36 of 1973
Be it enacted by the King’s Most Excellent Majesty, the Senate and the House of Assembly of the Union of South Africa, as follows:―
1. (1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise indicates—
“alien” means an alien as defined in section one of the Aliens Act, 1937 (Act No. 1 of 1937);
“Bantu” means a person who is, or is generally accepted as, a member of any aboriginal race or tribe of Africa;
“board” means a board constituted in terms of section eleven;
“coloured person” means a person who is not a white person or a Bantu;
“ethnic or other group” means a group prescribed and defined by the Governor-General in terms of subsection (2) of section five;
“fixed date” means the date upon which the census is taken in the year 1951 in terms of section three of the Census Act, 1910 (Act No. 2 of 1910);
“identity document” means an identity document referred to in section 13, and includes—
(a)
(b)
“identity number” means an identity number referred to in section 6;
“Minister” means the Minister of the Interior;
“prescribed” means prescribed by regulation;
“register” means the register referred to in section two;
“regulation” means a regulation made under section twenty;
“Secretary” means the Secretary for the Interior and includes any person employed by the State or the holder of a post in the public service acting under a delegation from or under the control or direction of—
(a)
(b)
“this Act” includes the regulations;
“white person” means a person who—
(a)
(b)
but does not include any person who for the purposes of his classification under this Act, freely and voluntarily admits that he is by descent a Bantu or a coloured person unless it is proved that the admission is not based on fact.
(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in subsection (1) or any other law, but subject to the provisions of section 5 (5)—
(a)
(b)
(c)
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
and in his association with the members of his family and any other persons with whom he lives;
(d)
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
(e)
(3) When in any form or return referred to in section 3 or 9 or in any application for an identity document the race of any person is described as “mixed” or “gemeng”, that description shall for the purposes of subsections (1) and (2) of this section be deemed to be a reference to a coloured person unless such person proves that he is in fact not a coloured person.
2. There shall, as soon as practicable after the fixed date, be compiled by the Secretary and thereafter maintained by him, a register of the population of the Union.
3. (1) The particulars required for the compilation of the register in respect of the population of the Union as at the fixed date shall be extracted by the Secretary from the forms and returns received by the Director of Census under the Census Act, 1910 (Act No. 2 of 1910), in connection with the census taken on the fixed date and from such other records as may be available to the Secretary.
(2) The particulars required for the maintenance of the register shall be extracted by the Secretary from such records as may be available to him.
4. There shall be included in the register the names of—
(a)
(b)
(c)
Provided that, subject to the provisions of section 10, the other provisions of this Act, except the provisions of sections 3 and 7 (1) (a) and (b) and (d) to (n), both inclusive, shall not apply to any person referred to in paragraph (c) of this section, unless he is also such a person as is referred to in paragraph (a) thereof.
5. (1) Every person whose name is included in the register shall be classified by the Secretary as a white person, a coloured person or a Bantu, as the case may be, and every coloured person and every Bantu whose name is so included shall be classified by the Secretary according to the ethnic or other group to which he belongs.
(2) The State President may by proclamation in the Gazette prescribe and define the ethnic or other groups into which coloured persons and Bantus shall be classified in terms of subsection (1), and may in like manner amend or withdraw any such proclamation or any proclamation purporting to have been issued in terms of this subsection.
(3) (a) The State President may in any proclamation referred to in subsection (2) whereby a previous proclamation, including a proclamation purporting to have been issued in terms of that subsection, is amended or substituted, state that anything done or purporting to have been done under the provisions of that previous proclamation, which could be done under that proclamation as so amended or under the new proclamation whereby that proclamation is so substituted, shall be deemed to have been done under the amended or new proclamation, as the case may be.
(b) A proclamation under subsection (2) may be issued with retrospective effect as from a date not earlier than the seventh day of July, 1950.
(4) (a) If at any time it appears to the Secretary that the classification of a person in terms of subsection (1) (other than a classification in accordance with a decision of a board) is incorrect he may, after having given notice to that person and, if he is a minor, also to his guardian, specifying in which respect the classification is incorrect alter the classification of that person in the register after affording such person and such guardian (if any) an opportunity of being heard.
(b) If at any time the Secretary doubts whether any such classification is correct he may, after notice to the person in question and, if such person is a minor, also to his guardian, refer the case to a board for decision as to whether the classification of that person in the register should be altered.
(c) The Secretary may at any time with the concurrence of any person, or, in the case of a minor, also with the concurrence of his guardian, alter in his discretion the classification of such person in the register.
(4A) If any case is in terms of subsection (4) (b) of this section referred to a board for decision, the provisions of subsections (5) to (9), inclusive, of section 11 shall mutatis mutandis apply with reference to such case: Provided that in any such case an appeal shall only lie against a decision of a board if such decision results in the existing classification of the person in question being altered.
(5) In the application of this section and notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in this Act—
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
(f)
(6) The provisions of subsection (5) with reference to the classification of a parent of any person—
(a)
(b)
6. (1) The Secretary shall assign an identity number to every person whose name has been included in the register.
(2) The identity number shall be compiled in the prescribed manner out of figures and shall, in addition to a serial number and a control number, consist of a reproduction, in figure codes, of the following particulars, and no other particulars whatsoever, of the person to whom it has been assigned, namely—
(a)
(b)
(c)
7. (1) There shall, in respect of every person whose name is included in the register, other than of a Bantu, be included in the register the following relevant particulars available to the Secretary, and no other particulars whatsoever, namely—
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
(f)
(g)
(h)
(i)
(j)
{{SLi|(k) the particulars recorded in terms of section 42 (1) of the Arms and Ammunition Act, 1969 (Act No. 75 of 1969), in the register mentioned therein;
(i)
(m)
(n)
(2) There shall, in respect of every Bantu whose name is included in the register, be included in the register the following relevant particulars available to the Secretary, and no other particulars whatsoever, namely—
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
9. (1) If the name of any person whose name is by this Act required to be included in the register, does not appear on the register, that person or, if that person has not attained the age of sixteen years, his guardian, shall furnish the Secretary in the prescribed form with such particulars in regard to himself or, as the case may be, his ward under the age of sixteen years, as may be necessary for the inclusion in the register of his or his ward’s name.
(2) In the application of subsection (1) the furnishing of particulars for the registration of a birth in the form prescribed in terms of the Births, Marriages and Deaths Registration Act, 1963 (Act No. 81 of 1963), or deemed in terms of the said Act to be so prescribed, shall in the case of a person born in the Republic after the fixed date, be deemed to be also the furnishing of particulars for the purposes of that subsection in the form referred to therein.
10. (1) Every person whose name is included in the register and the guardian of every such person who has not attained the age of sixteen years, shall within fourteen days or, in a particular case, such longer period as the Secretary may allow, after any permanent change in the ordinary place of residence or postal address of that person or of his ward under the age of sixteen years, as the case may be, notify the Secretary in the prescribed manner of that change of residence or postal address.
(2) If any person to whom an identity document has been issued takes up permanent residence on any premises belonging to any other person the person who consented to such residence shall, after the expiry of fourteen days after the taking up of such residence, take the prescribed steps to ascertain whether the Secretary has in terms of subsection (1) been notified that such premises is the place of residence of the first-mentioned person.
(3) If any person taking such steps does not ascertain that the Secretary has been so notified, he shall, in the prescribed manner and within forty-five days after the taking up of such residence notify the Secretary that the premises concerned is the place of residence of the person concerned.
(4) If two or more persons are in terms of subsection (2) or (3) required to take any steps and one of them has taken such steps, the other or others shall be deemed also to have taken such steps.
(5) The provisions of this section and any amendment thereof shall also apply in the territory of South-West Africa, including the Eastern Caprivi Zipfel.
11. (1) Any person who considers himself aggrieved by his classification, or the classification of a minor of whom he is the guardian, by the Secretary in terms of section 5 may within thirty days, or such longer period not exceeding one year as the Minister may allow, after the said classification became known to him, but in no circumstances later, object in writing to the Secretary against that classification.
(2) A minor may himself object in terms of subsection (1) against his classification.
(3) Every such objection shall be lodged in the form of an affidavit setting forth fully the grounds upon which the objection is made and stating the date on which the classification in question became known to the objector.
(4) Every objection received by the Secretary in terms of subsection (3) within the period referred to in subsection (1), shall be referred by him for decision to a board of not less than three persons, including the chairman, constituted for the purpose or for the purposes of section 5 (4) by the Minister, and presided over by a person appointed by the Minister, who is or has been a judge of the Supreme Court of South Africa, or a magistrate.
(5) (a) The provisions of the Commissions Act, 1947 (Act No. 8 of 1947), except section 1 thereof, shall apply mutatis mutandis with reference to any board constituted under subsection (4) of this section: Provided that the Secretary and every objector and every person whose classification has in terms of the provisions of section 5 (4) been referred by the Secretary for decision to a board, and, if that person is a minor, also his guardian, shall be entitled to appear before the board concerned either in person or by counsel or attorney on his behalf, to cross-examine witnesses and to adduce such evidence as may be relevant to the matter before the board: Provided further that all sittings of a board shall be held in public or in camera as the person whose classification is in issue or, if he is a minor and his guardian is present at the sittings in question. such guardian may elect.
(b) In any proceedings before a board any relevant form and return referred to in section 3 or 9, any relevant report referred to in section 12, and any relevant application for an identity document shall be admitted as evidence.
(6) The decision of the board shall be final and binding upon all persons: Provided that any person who considers himself aggrieved by a decision of a board in regard to his own classification or the classification of his ward, or the Secretary, if he considers it necessary for the performance of his duties in terms of this Act, may appeal against that decision by way of application on notice of motion to the provincial or local division of the Supreme Court of South Africa having jurisdiction in the area within which the person to whose classification the decision relates, is ordinarily resident, within thirty days after the decision of the board has been given or within such further period, not exceeding two months, as the said court may for sufficient cause allow.
(7) (a) The sittings of a division of the said Supreme Court shall, while any such appeal is being heard, be held in public or in camera as the person whose classification is in issue, or, if he is a minor, his guardian, or, if such person or minor is represented by a legal representative, such legal representative, may elect.
(b) The division of the said Supreme Court to which appeal is made may confirm, vary or set aside the decision of the board and give such other decision as in its opinion the board ought to have given, or remit the case to the board with such instructions as the said division may deem fit, and may make such order as to costs as it may deem fit.
(8) Any judgment given or order made by a provincial or local division of the said Supreme Court in terms of subsection (7), shall be subject to appeal to the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of South Africa in the same manner and on the same conditions as a judgment given or order made in a civil proceeding in that provincial or local division.
(9) A decision by the court in terms of subsection (7) or (8) relating to the classification of any person shall, for the purpose of this Act, be deemed to be the decision of a board.
(10) A member of the board who is not a member of the public service may be paid such remuneration for his services as a member of the board as the Minister may, in consultation with the Minister of Finance, determine.
12. The Secretary may—
(a)
(b)
13. (1) The Secretary shall as soon as practicable after—
(a)
(b)
and subject to the succeeding provisions of this section, issue an identity document to such person: Provided that no identity document shall be issued to any person to whom a certificate of citizenship has been issued in terms of the Bantu Homelands Citizenship Act, 1970 (Act No. 26 of 1970).
(2) If a person referred to in subsection (1) is not a Bantu his identity document may contain only the following relevant particulars, and no other particulars whatsoever, in relation to him, namely—
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
(f)
(g)
(h)
(i)
(j)
(k)
(l)
(m)
(3) If the person is a Bantu his identity document may contain only the following relevant particulars, and no other particulars whatsoever, in relation to him, namely—
(a)
(b)
(c)
(4) An identity document issued in terms of subsection (1) to a person who has not attained the age of sixteen years, shall lapse on such person’s attaining that age.
(5) An identity document issued in terms of the Identity Documents in South-West Africa Act, 1970, to any person, shall, so long as such person is such a person as is referred to in section 4 (a) of this Act, be deemed to have been issued to him in terms of this section.
14. (1) Any peace officer (as defined in section 1 of the Criminal Procedure Act, 1955 (Act No. 56 of 1955)), may, whenever he is under section 22 (3) of the said Act entitled to call upon any person to furnish such peace officer with his full name and address, request that person, if his name is by this Act required to be included in the register and he has attained the age of sixteen years but is not a person to whom a certificate of citizenship has in terms of the Bantu Homelands Citizenship Act, 1970 (Act No. 26 of 1970), been issued, to produce to such peace officer his identity document.
(2) Every person who is in terms of subsection (1) requested by a peace officer to produce to him his identity document shall, within seven days of the date of such request, produce his identity document to that peace officer or at a police station indicated by him and recorded by the peace officer.
(3) If any person fails or refuses to indicate a police station in terms of subsection (2) the peace officer concerned shall for the purposes of that subsection indicate and record the police station which he considers nearest to the ordinary place of residence of the said person.
(4) The State President may by proclamation in the Gazette declare that the provisions of subsections (1), (2) and (3) with reference to peace officers shall mutatis mutandis apply also with reference to the persons or classes of persons specified in the proclamation and under the circumstances specified therein.
15. (1) Any person to whom an identity document has been issued which contains any particulars which are incorrect or which by reason of any change of circumstances or by reason of the alteration by the Secretary in terms of section 5 (4) or by a board in terms of section 11 of the classification in terms of section 5 of the person to whom it relates, have become incorrect, or on which the photograph of the person to whom the identity document relates has ceased to be a recognizable image of that person, and the guardian of that person, if he has not attained the age of sixteen years, shall, on the written request of the Secretary, surrender the identity document in question to the Secretary who shall thereupon issue, free of charge, but subject to the provisions of section 16, a fresh identity document to that person.
(2) (a) Whenever it comes to the notice of a Bantu Affairs Commissioner or the Secretary that any person to whom an identity document on which such person’s race is reflected as native or Bantu has been issued, is in possession of an identity document on which such person’s race is not reflected as native or Bantu, such Bantu Affairs Commissioner or the Secretary, as the case may be, shall forthwith seize the identity document on which the race of the person in question is not reflected as native or Bantu, and transmit, in the case of the Bantu Affairs Commissioner, such identity document together with the relevant particulars to the Secretary.
(b) If the identity document seized was issued to the person in question after the issue to him of the identity document on which his race is reflected as native or Bantu, the Secretary shall cancel the first-mentioned identity document.
(c) If the identity document seized had been issued to the person in question prior to the issue to him of the other identity document and the Secretary is satisfied that such person’s race is reflected correctly on the first-mentioned identity document, he shall return such identity document to the person in question.
(d) If the Secretary is not so satisfied the provisions of section 5 (4) shall apply in the same manner in which they apply if it appears to the Secretary that any person’s classification is incorrect or, as the case may be, he doubts whether any person's classification is correct.
16. (1) Every person whose name is included in the register, except a person who has not attained the age of sixteen years, shall, at his own expense and as often as it is or becomes necessary to issue an identity document to him, furnish the Secretary with two copies of a recent photograph of himself, and whenever a photograph of which copies have been so furnished, is no longer a recognizable image of the person concerned, he shall again so furnish the Secretary with two copies of a recent photograph of himself.
(2) One copy of a photograph referred to in subsection (1) shall be placed in the identity document issued to the person concerned, and the other copy shall be filed in the register, in the case of copies of a new photograph of the person concerned, in substitution of the copies of the old photograph of himself.
17. (1) No person employed for the purposes of this Act, no person to whom an identity document is produced in terms of section 14 or the regulations or any other law, and no person making an entry in any identity document in terms or by virtue of the provisions of this Act or any other law, shall, subject to the provisions of subsection (2), publish or communicate to any other person, otherwise than for the purposes of this Act or any criminal proceedings or the performance of his functions in terms of any other law, any information thereby acquired by him, and no person who has come into possession of any such information which to his knowledge has been communicated to him in contravention of the provisions of this section, shall publish or communicate to any other person that information.
(2) The Secretary may, notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (1)—
(a)
(b)
(3) The Secretary shall not furnish any person with any particulars under paragraph (b) of subsection (2) unless the purposes for which the information is required, are set out fully in the written application referred to in that paragraph.
18. (1) Any person who—
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
(f)
(g)
(h)
(i)
(j)
shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction—
(i)
(ii)
(2) If any person whose name was included in the register after he had attained the age of sixteen years has failed to lodge with the Secretary, as soon as practicable after it became known to him that his name had been included in the register or, if any person whose name had been included in the register prior to his attaining the age of sixteen years has failed to lodge with the Secretary, as soon as practicable after he attained that age, an application for an identity document in the prescribed form, completed by him or on his behalf, together with two copies of the photograph referred to in section 16 (1), and such person is charged with a contravention of subsection (1) (f) of this section read with section 14, he shall have no defence that he had lawful cause for failing or refusing to comply with the provisions of the said section 14.
19. (1) A person who in appearance obviously is a member of an aboriginal race or tribe of Africa shall for the purposes of this Act be presumed to be a Bantu unless it is proved that he is not in fact and is not generally accepted as such a member.
(1A) If any person for the purposes of his classification in terms of this Act or such classification of a minor of whom he is the guardian alleges that he or such minor is a white person or a coloured person or a member of any ethnic or other group, the onus of proving that he or, as the case may be, such minor is such, shall be on him, and he shall prove it beyond reasonable doubt.
(1B) If in any form or return referred to in section 3 or 9 and completed by or in respect of any person or in an application for an identity document completed by or on behalf of any person there appears a statement to the effect that such person is a member of any race or group into which coloured persons may be classified, it shall be assumed that on the date on which such form, return or application was so completed, and at all times thereafter, such person was accepted as such a member, unless he proves that on that date he was not accepted as such a member.
(1C) Subject to the other provisions of this Act hearsay evidence of declarations as to pedigree shall not be admissible in evidence in proceedings before a board.
(1D) If a reference book has under the Bantu (Abolition of Passes and Co-ordination of Documents) Act, 1952 (Act No. 67 of 1952), been issued to any person, such person shall for the purposes of this Act be deemed to have been notified, on the date on which such reference book was so issued to him, that he has been classified as a member of the ethnic group indicated in such reference book.
(2) It shall be no defence to a charge under section 18 (1) (f) for failing to comply with the provisions of section 14 (2) that the name of the accused has not been included in the register or that an identity document has not been issued to him, unless he proves that it was not due to any failure or neglect on his part.
(3) If in any prosecution under section 18 (1) (c) it is proved that any identity document was imitated, altered, defaced, destroyed or mutilated, it shall be presumed, until the contrary is proved, that such identity document was imitated, altered, defaced, destroyed or mutilated with intent to deceive.
20. (1) The Governor-General may make regulations as to—
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
(f)
(g)
(h)
(i)
(j)
(k)
and, generally, as to all matters which by this Act are required or permitted to be prescribed or which he considers it necessary or expedient to prescribe in order that the purposes of this Act may be achieved.
(2) Any regulations made under sub-section (1) may prescribe penalties for any contravention thereof or failure to comply therewith not exceeding a fine of fifty pounds or imprisonment for a period of six months.
(3) Any regulations made under sub-section (1) shall be laid on the Tables of both Houses of Parliament within fourteen days after promulgation thereof if Parliament is then in ordinary session, or if Parliament is not then in ordinary session, within fourteen days after the commencement of its next ensuing ordinary session, and shall remain on the said Tables for at least twenty-eight consecutive days, and if Parliament is prorogued before the necessary twenty-eight days have elapsed, such regulations shall again be laid on the said Tables as aforesaid within fourteen days after the commencement of its next ensuing ordinary session.
(4) If both Houses of Parliament by resolution passed in the same session (being a session during which such regulations have been laid on the Tables of both Houses of Parliament in terms of sub-section (3)) disapprove of any such regulations or of any provision thereof, such regulations or such provision thereof shall thereafter cease to be of force and effect to the extent to which they are so disapproved, but without prejudice to the validity of anything done in terms of such regulations or of such provision thereof up to the date upon which they so ceased to be of force and effect, or to any right, privilege, obligation or liability acquired, accrued or incurred as at the said date under and by virtue of such regulations or such provision thereof.
21. The State President may by proclamation in the Gazette exclude, for a specified or unspecified period, from the provisions of this Act or exempt, for a specified or unspecified period and either unconditionally or subject to such conditions as may be prescribed in the proclamation, from any specified provisions thereof any class of persons, and may in like manner amend or withdraw any such proclamation.
21A. (1) The provisions of this Act as they exist immediately after the commencement of the Population Registration Amendment Act, 1969, and the provisions of Proclamation No. 123 of 1967 shall apply—
(a)
(b)
(c)
(2) An appeal in terms of section 11 against a decision of a board given prior to the commencement of the Population Registration Amendment Act, 1969, shall, subject to the provisions of subsection (3) of this section, be decided in accordance with the provisions of this Act as they existed on the date on which the relevant decision of the board in question was given, but without having regard to any retrospective effect of any provision of this Act, and in accordance with the provisions of Proclamation No. 123 of 1967.
(3) No objection by any person against the classification of any other person (save an objection by any person against the classification of a minor of whom he is the guardian) shall be considered by any board or any division of the Supreme Court of South Africa or, if it has been considered by any board or any such division, further considered or decided on, irrespective of the date on which such objection was lodged with the Secretary.
(4) Any classification made or purporting to have been made in terms of section 5 (1) prior to the commencement of Proclamation No. 46 of 1959, and any classification made or purporting to have been made in accordance with the provisions of the said Proclamation No. 46 and Proclamation No. 27 of 1961 which could be made in accordance with the provisions of Proclamation No. 123 of 1967, shall be deemed to have been made in accordance with the last-mentioned provisions and on the date on which it was so made or so purports to have been made.
(5) If the name of any person has been included in the register and an indication of the race or group to which he belongs is given therein, he shall be deemed to have been classified in terms of section 5 as a member of that race or group.
(6) A classification purporting to have been made in terms of section 5 (1) shall not be invalid merely on the ground of the fact that the person by whom such classification purports to have been made was not duly authorized thereto.
24. This Act shall be called the Population Registration Act, 1950.