DA celebrates striking down of apartheid-era loss of citizenship law
13 June 2023
The DA today celebrates with thousands of South Africans abroad who had unknowingly lost their South African citizenship due to a draconian piece of apartheid legislation.
The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) today declared that s 6(1)(a) of the South African Citizenship Act 88 of 1995 is inconsistent with the Constitution and is invalid from its promulgation on 6 October 1995. It is further declared that those citizens who lost their citizenship by operation of s 6(1)(a) of the South African Citizenship Act 88 of 1995 are deemed not to have lost their citizenship. Download the judgment here.
After a 9-year-long campaign by the DA Abroad and a 5-year court battle by the DA, the judgment of the SCA is a victory for the constitutional right to citizenship.
Section 6(1) of the Citizenship Act provides that an adult citizen loses their South African citizenship if they take on the citizenship of another country by a voluntary and formal act other than marriage without first receiving permission from the minister of home affairs to retain their South African citizenship.