[Image: Wiki Commons]
The ongoing DA versus the Government lawfare seems to have delivered another win for citizens living abroad.
The Constitutional Court on Tuesday declared that section 6(1)(a) of the South African Citizenship Act of 1995, which declared that South African citizens lost their citizenship automatically if they voluntarily acquired citizenship of another country, was inconsistent with the Constitution.
The DA launched an application in the Pretoria High Court in 2018 on behalf of those South Africans who, unbeknownst to them, had lost their citizenship through the operation of the provision.
Timeslive reports that the high court dismissed the DA’s application in August 2021 on the grounds that the provision served a legitimate government purpose. The high court held that the loss of citizenship under this section was not automatic and was rather effected by operation of law following clearly defined voluntary conduct on the part of the citizen.
On appeal in 2023, the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) declared the provision constitutionally invalid from the date of its promulgation. It also made an order declaring that those citizens who had lost their citizenship by virtue of that section are deemed not to have lost their citizenship.
The matter came before the Constitutional Court for confirmation of the order of constitutional invalidity made by the SCA.
In a unanimous judgment penned by Justice Stevan Majiedt, the court held that the provision was constitutionally invalid and upheld the SCA’s declaration. It said the right to citizenship was entrenched in the Bill of Rights and could not be infringed upon or limited without justification.
The DA said that for nearly 2 million South Africans living abroad, the victory was monumental.
“Today’s victory also means that all South Africans who inadvertently lost their citizenship have had it restored.”
“So many South African citizens had the rug pulled out from under them when they suddenly discovered they had lost their citizenship, without warning.”
The court said there was no conceivable purpose nor rational connection why a South African should automatically lose their citizenship by acquiring the citizenship of another country, particularly with the increasing cross-border migration of people.
The DA welcomed the judgment and said it was the culmination of a 10-year legal battle by the party and its ancillary organisation, DA Abroad, to restore the citizenship of South Africans who lost their citizenship after obtaining a second nationality without receiving a “Retention of Citizenship” letter beforehand.
“Today’s ruling is a victory, and now begins the next crucial step: through the Department of Home Affairs, South African citizenship is restored for all those who were stripped of their citizenship unconstitutionally.”
[Source: Timeslive]
