NATIONAL NEWS - The Constitutional Court yesterday ruled in favour of an application by the DA to secure the citizenship of South Africans with dual nationality.

The DA and its ancillary organisation, DA Abroad, fought a 10-year legal battle to restore the citizenship of South Africans who lost their citizenship after obtaining a second nationality without receiving a 'Retention of Citizenship' letter beforehand.

MP Adrian Roos, DA spokesperson on Home Affairs, says the victory means that all South Africans who lost their citizenship have had it restored.

The DA’s legal challenge to the constitutionality of Section 6(1)(a) of the South African Citizenship Act 88 of 1995, was based on the requirement in Section 6 that South African citizens had to apply for and obtain a 'Retention of Citizenship' letter from the Minister of Home Affairs before acquiring a second nationality, or else lose their citizenship automatically. 

That section has now been declared unconstitutional.

"For nearly 2 million South Africans living abroad, this victory is monumental. It is equally important for those living in South Africa who have acquired a second nationality," says Roos adding that many South African citizens had the rug pulled out from under them when they suddenly discovered they had lost their citizenship, without warning.

He says throughout the legal battle, the case was resisted, opposed and obstructed at every turn and level by the previous Ministers of Home Affairs, including most notably, former Minister Aaron Motsoaledi.

"Now begins the next crucial step through the Department of Home Affairs, that South African citizenship is restored for all those who were stripped of their citizenship unconstitutionally," Roos says.

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