Pretoria - There is hope for stateless children born in South Africa - who do not have any citizenship - with the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein last week giving Home Affairs 18 months to streamline regulations which will make it easier for other stateless children to apply for citizenship.
This was sparked by an application on behalf of an 8-year-old girl born in Cape Town in 2008 of Cuban parents.
She was born in South Africa, but Home Affairs refused to register her as a South African. This was because neither of her parents were South Africans.
The Cuban government did not recognise her as a citizen, nor did the South African government, despite repeated efforts by her mother.
This meant that the child was left vulnerable - she had no official status and could thus never leave the country, or reap any of the other benefits here, such as schooling.
Her mother came to South Africa in 2005 on a treaty programme to work here as an engineer.
Her father joined the mother a year later. The mother was regarded as a “ permanent emigrant” under Cuban law due to her absence from the country. She only became a permanent resident in South Africa in 2011.
When the child was born in 2008 she was issued with an unabridged birth certificate. However, she was not issued with an ID number as both her parents were foreigners at the time.
Her mother tried to obtain Cuban citizenship for the child, but the Cuban Embassy in South Africa refused, stating that she did not qualify as her mother had emigrated to South Africa.
The mother, with the help of Lawyers for Human Rights, turned to the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, which earlier ordered Home Affairs to declare her a South African citizen. It was also ordered that the department amend its regulations to make it easier for children born to foreigners in this country to obtain citizenship.
Home Affairs, however, decided to take the matter on appeal to the SCA, as it felt that the high court order would open the floodgates for other children born here to foreign nationals to become South African citizens.
LHR, however, said there is no basis to believe that the floodgates would open, as only children who qualify for citizenship under this specific section will be considered. It was also argued that this only applied to children born in South Africa who cannot obtain citizenship in another country.
It was a measure reserved for special cases and to protect the most vulnerable children.
After waiting for two years for the matter to be set down on the SCA roll, the department, on the day the case was to be heard, decided to withdraw the appeal at the last minute.
Home Affairs then agreed to register this child as a citizen and to - within 18 months - promulgate regulations that would make it easier for other children in a similar position to become SA citizens.
Professor Ann Skelton of the Centre for Child Law in Pretoria said Home Affairs could have settled this mater long ago, instead of putting this family through the stress of ongoing litigation.
“It is hoped that the minister would look beyond the court order to consider the revision of regulations pertaining to children,” Skelton said.
Pretoria News