The Republic of South Africa, Department of Home Affairs possesses birth, death, and marriage certificates. The records are available to persons who are either South African citizens by birth or naturalization or children of South African citizens who were born abroad.
General note: Census enumerations are destroyed in South Africa; however, statistics from each census are kept.
Census and tax records(South Africa as a whole*):
Central Statistical Services, Demographics
Postal Address: Private Bag 44, Pretoria, 0001
Physical Address: 170 Vermeulen St, Pretoria Central, 0002
Telephone Number: 27-12-310-8911
E-mail: info@statsa.gov.co.za
*For more information about census records read: Issroff, S. (2003). South Africa. In S. A. Sack & G. Mokotoff (Eds.), Avotaynu guide to Jewish genealogy (p. 516). Bergenfield, NJ: Avotaynu
Jewish Family History Society of Cape Town
P.O. Box 51985, Waterfront, 8002, South Africa
Telephone: +27 21-4344825, +27 21-4230223
E-mail: jewfamct@global.co.za
Newsletter: Journal of the Jewish Family History Society of Cape Town
Jewish Genealogy Society of Johannesburg
P.O. Box 1388, Parklands 2121, South Africa.
E-mail: evancol@iafrica.com
Newsletter: Yichus 99. Maurice Skikne, Editor - moski@global.co.za
The National Archives holds naturalization records and the state archives hold copies of them.
National Archives Repository The Head
Postal address: Private Bag X236, PRETORIA 0001
Street address: 24 Hamilton Street, Arcadia, PRETORIA
Tel: (012) 441 3200. Fax: (012) 323 5287
Fax to e-mail: 086 529 6414
E-mail: enquiries@dac.gov.za
Family Search Library (Latter Day Saints) holds ‘Applications for letters of naturalization (1883-1908) of the Cape of the Good Hope’ on microfilms 1281593 and 1281594.
SA Jewish Rootsbank contains the following databases: Jewish naturalization records (1902-1907) and Pretoria naturalization records. For more information, check this guide under “Web Resources.”
General information:
Researchers can find information more easily at the port of departure, as finding immigrant arrival records for South Africa cannot be easily found. For example, passenger lists for ships leaving the UK (1890-1960) to all destinations, including Africa, can be found online at Find My Past UK (subscription is required). Likewise, the Hamburg Passenger List (1850-1934) includes passengers leaving Germany to all destinations, including Africa, and is available at Ancestry (subscription is required).
Jewish Immigration:
The Poor Jews’ Temporary Shelter (1896-1914) in London assisted many Jews on their way to South Africa. The records of the shelter’s inhabitants are available online. For more information,see the “Web Resources” section of this guide.
The Kaplan Centre for Jewish Studies and Research, associated with the University of Cape Town, is creating a comprehensive database of South African Jewish immigration in the period between 1850 and 1950.
For a sample database, check ‘South Africa Jewish Board of Deputies Immigration Registers 1924-1929’ in the “Web Resources” section of this guide.
The following are helpful articles about LDS microfilms containing Southern African Jewish vital records:
