South African nationality law
Children born to a legal resident of the country are permitted to South African citizenship only when they reach the age of majority.
[8] Those who are eligible include: Naturalisation can be granted to persons of majority who have resided in South Africa for a sufficient period of time to confirm they understand the official languages, customs and traditions of the country and the responsibilities of citizenship.
[13][14] Besides foreigners meeting the criteria,[13] other persons who may apply for naturalisation include: South Africans are allowed to renounce their nationality, provided that comply with registration processes.
[22] On 13 June 2023, the Supreme Court of Appeal struck down the relevant legislation as being inconsistent with the Constitution of South Africa and ordered the reinstatement of South African citizenship for those who lost their citizenship in this manner;[23] the judgement however requires confirmation by the Constitutional Court,[24] which is pending as of July 2023.
[25][21] South African nationality began in 1652, when the Dutch East India Company established the first permanent European settlement in the Cape of Good Hope at Table Bay.
[27] As the colony developed and expanded from 1658, slaves from other African regions as well as parts of South and Southeast Asia were imported to work in agriculture and in domestic service.
[35][36] While the Netherlands was attempting to regain its independence from France, Britain moved against Dutch overseas possessions, and formally acquired the Cape of Good Hope under the terms of the Convention of London in 1814.
[48] A decade later in 1817, Charles Henry Somerset, the Governor General of the Cape of Good Hope, issued a decree that foreigners could be granted a deed of burghership, after having lived in the colony for five years and taking an oath of allegiance.
[49] In 1833, the Parliament of the United Kingdom abolished slavery within its empire, establishing a four-year apprenticeship system in which slaves transitioned to full freedom.
[50] Groups settled in the Natal, Transvaal, Transorangia, areas as well as northward into Bechuanaland (later part of South West Africa).
[51] Further laws on naturalisation, which did not vary overmuch from the 1817 decree,[49] were passed for the Cape Colony in 1856, 1861, and 1868, which were repealed by the consolidation and amendment of 22 August 1883.
[54][55] In 1897 an Immigration Restriction Act was passed for Natal, which provided that persons who were not allowed to enter the country included those who were illiterate, paupers, physically or mentally unfit or had contagious diseases, unpardoned felons, and prostitutes.
In Natal, however, a husband also had to have had three children to naturalise and foreign wives who married British subjects automatically derived nationality from their spouse.
[49] In 1911, proposed legislation was drafted in South Africa to bar Indian immigration and exclude undesirable Caucasian migrants.
13) was passed in 1913, which prohibited migrant workers who originated north of the 22nd parallel south and established the basis for racial segregation, with only white persons able to immigrate.
[67] For those born abroad on or after the effective date, legitimacy was still required, and could only be derived by a child from a British father (one generation), who was natural-born or naturalised.
[74] At the 1919 Peace Conference of Versailles, Britain made it clear that it did not want direct control in administering South West Africa.
[77][Notes 2] This was not the case for white settlers and South Africa granted the status of British subject to Germans residing in the territory from 1924.
[86] Because natives of South West Africa were not British subjects under the rules of the mandate, they were also not allowed to become Union nationals.
[87] In 1931, passage of the Statute of Westminster limited the powers of the Parliament of the United Kingdom to legislate on behalf of its Dominions — Australia, Canada, the Irish Free State, Newfoundland, New Zealand, and South Africa — declaring them all to be equal, self-governing states, united by their allegiance to Britain, with the authority for managing their own internal and external affairs.
[94] Chiefs of the Damara, Herero, Nama and Ovambo peoples, protested directly to the British High Commissioner and led a campaign against annexation by South Africa.
[97] In 1948, the policy of Apartheid was instituted through various legislation, which has had a lasting impact on statelessness for many persons who were native or descended from South West Africans, as birth registration was not mandatory or routine.
[103] Naturalisation required a literacy in a language of the Union, evidence of no confinement for offences or mental illness, and proof of a cumulative residency of five years over a seven-year period.
[110] Britain did not accept the revocation by the United Nations, but admitted that South Africa had violated the terms of its administration.
[113][114][Notes 3] The purpose of these laws was to denaturalise all Black South Africans in the country and assign them to ethnically categorized zones, which would become independent, thereby forcing them into becoming nationals of those in homelands.
[116][117] The initial 1970 Act Section three did not immediately deprive Black people of South African nationality, but assigned them to live in ten specific territories[118] — Bophuthatswana, Ciskei, Gazankulu, KaNgwane, KwaNdebele, KwaZulu, Lebowa, QwaQwa, Transkei, and Venda —[119] by birth, cultural affiliation, or domicile, disregarding current residence.
[121] The action resulted in the Black population becoming stateless foreigners in South Africa with no rights, beyond those granted by their varied homelands.
[126][127][128] Between 1984 and 1988, negotiations between the United Nations, international actors, and South Africa focused on setting a timetable for Namibian independence.
[136] Organized campaigns in Europe and the United States called for economic sanctions against South Africa and urged multinational enterprises to withdraw from doing business in the country.
[12][154] It allowed children born in South Africa to foreign parents to apply for naturalisation upon reaching majority, as long as the birth had been registered.
