South Africa: Stateless children fight for citizenship after four-year legal battle
Published: 8/Nov/2021
Source: Weekend Argus / Independent Online (Johannesburg)
By Murphy Nganga
Cape Town – With little to no right at all, the plight for citizenship by naturalisation in South Africa continues to drive vulnerable youths to the margins of society despite the Constitutional Court’s ruling in the matter involving the Minister of Home Affairs vs Miriam Ali case.
Rabiyah Farieda, who was born to foreign national parents in South Africa, is one of many children who hoped to see the light after the Constitutional Court ruled in the favour of five individuals who brought an urgent application to the Western Cape High Court in 2017, petitioning for the right to apply for South African citizenship.
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Now, four years after, the legal battle continues. Home Affairs has delayed on working on a way forward within the stipulated time frame per the Supreme Court of Appeal judgment, despite office hours being extending, Covid-19 regulations eased, and vaccinations being in full swing.
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