L’Afrique du Sud est l’un des rares pays africains à avoir inscrit le droit de tout enfant à une nationalité dans sa Constitution de 1996. La nationalité sud-africaine est régie au niveau législatif par la loi dite South African Citizenship Act No. 88 de 1995, telle que modifiée. L’Afrique du Sud accorde automatiquement la nationalité à tout enfant né sur son territoire, de parents résidents permanents. En outre, sous réserve de l’enregistrement de la naissance, la loi prévoit que tout enfant né en Afrique du Sud puisse acquérir la nationalité s’il serait autrement apatride, ou s’il est toujours résident à l’âge adulte. Toutefois, la loi ne prévoit pas de disposition sur la présomption de la nationalité pour les enfants de parents inconnus trouvés sur le territoire.
En dépit d’une législation progressiste, un certain nombre de catégories de personnes luttent pour avoir leur nationalité reconnue en Afrique du Sud. Il s’agit notamment des personnes qui peuvent prétendre valablement à la nationalité, mais qui ne disposent pas des documents nécessaires pour étayer cette revendication. Il s’agit des enfants de parents Sud-Africains, par exemple, qui sont nés à l’étranger et dont la naissance n’a jamais été enregistrée, un problème très répandu étant donné le faible taux d’enregistrement des naissances dans de nombreux pays voisins. Dans d’autres cas, les parents qui n’ont pas les documents requis peuvent être dans l’incapacité d’enregistrer la naissance de leurs enfants faute d’identification, ce qui fait peser sur ces enfants le risque de ne pas être en mesure de faire valoir leur nationalité.
South Africa is experiencing a continuous decline in the total number of registered births, according a Recorded Live Births 2016 Report released in Pretoria on Thursday.Releasing the report, Statistics South Africa’s Statistician General Pali Lehohla said nearly 969,415 live births…
Home Affairs Minister Hlengiwe Mkhize said the Guptas were granted citizenship based on business investments and social partnerships with 75 North West schools, among other things. Mkhize was replying to EFF MP Hlengiwe Hlophe’s parliamentary question. Hlophe had asked what…
If you lost your SA citizenship status before your child was born, he/she will be able to apply for a temporary visa if the child was born abroad / in SA and had not lived in SA as per below.…
In the Western Cape High Court today, 07 September 2017, a judgment was handed down which affirms that children who were born in South Africa to foreign parents are entitled to apply for citizenship, through the South African Citizenship Act…
The Department of Home Affairs is adamant that a Port Elizabeth couple should have their four-year-old foster child registered as a citizen of Lesotho if they want to adopt her – insisting that she would not be recognised as a…
On 15, 16 and 17 February 2017, the Scalabrini Centre of Cape Town (SCCT) submitted 1,757 applications for permanent residency to the Department of Home Affairs (DHA). These applications were made by a group of Angolan former refugees who, upon…
By Siyabonga Mkhwanazi Parliament – Home Affairs Minister Hlengiwe Mkhize has indicated that the Guptas are not the only family to have been given special treatment when they were granted early naturalisation in South Africa. In a list sent to…
By Farren Collins Government brought brief relief to Angolan former refugees when it granted a blanket exemption to those who qualified‚ but would not provide reasons why it was limited to a period of four years. In a landmark decision…
In an historic decision, the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) has granted rights equivalent to permanent residency to the majority of applications that were submitted on ‘special grounds’ by a group of Angolan former refugees. These applications were the applicants’…
Breytenbachs highly recommends that children born outside South Africa to South African parents, be registered as South African citizens at the nearest SA Embassy / SA High Commission to where the parents reside. The application is done using a foreign…