Johannesburg - DA MP Phumzile van Damme is lying about being a South African citizen, the Sunday Times said.
The newspaper revealed that Van Damme was born in Manzini, Swaziland, in 1983, that her mother, Lynette van Damme, was born in Hlathikhulu village, also in Swaziland and that Van Damme's biological father, Elroy Mayisela, was a Swazi national.
If Van Damme is found to have misrepresented her citizenship, it would disqualify her from being a South African MP, the paper said.
Van Damme reportedly told the paper she was not sure why her citizenship was being questioned.
“Maybe it is because most of my family still live in Swaziland. Maybe it is because I hold a strange surname from the only father I know...” she was quoted as saying.
She reportedly told the Sunday Times that she was born in Nelspruit but grew up in Swaziland.
When asked where in Nelspruit, she reportedly said: “I am not sure, hey. I think in White River.”
She said her mother told her she was born “at a hospital in Nelspruit” and that she had been “part of the struggle”.
“I was involved in the ANC and some of the things around children's birth are very complex, as you would know as an African,” Lynette van Damme was quoted as saying.
She told the reporter that the nature of her daughter's birth was “very secret”.
When asked if Mayisela was Van Damme's biological father, Lynette reportedly said “yes and no”, the paper reported. - Sapa