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File image: South African passport.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) says it is hopeful that the Constitutional Court will uphold the Supreme Court of Appeal’s (SCA) 2023 ruling that relates to a section of the South African Citizenship Act.
The Apex Court is today expected rule on the legislation that automatically strips South Africans of their citizenship when they acquire the citizenship of another country.
The SCA had declared that South Africans who had lost their citizenship after obtaining another nationality were still citizens.
DA Spokesperson on Home Affairs, Adrian Roos says, “The expectation is definitely to validate the declaration of unconstitutionality that this provision that South Africans who have taken on a second nationality without retaining that citizenship through the minister should have their citizenship reinstated. So that is the order we are seeking to have confirmed.”
Roos says stripping the citizenship of South Africans who acquire another nationality in a different country is a very emotional issue.
He says, “I think the expectation is definitely to validate the declaration of the unconstitutionality that this provision that South Africans that take the second nationality without retaining that citizenship should have their citizenship reinstated, so that the order that we’re seeking to have confirmed, but I think there were many, many cases where people have come out that were really devastated to have lost citizenship, where all of a sudden they’ve have they’re no longer a South African. It’s a very emotional issue, a very emotive issue.”-Additional reporting Refilwe Mekoa.
PODCAST: Interview with Roos on SA fm’s First Take Programme regarding DA’s SA Citizenship Act bid:
