Lack of Access to Naturalisation Lack of access to naturalisation does not create statelessness if the person concerned has another nationality and this nationality is documented. But it does create exclusion, if naturalisation is impossible to access for those who have lost any connection to their country of origin; and it greatly increases the risk of statelessness for later generations. The Citizenship Act governs the acquisition of South African citizenship and sets out the various pathways to obtaining citizenship by birth, by descent or by naturalisation.8 However, various obstacles impede access to nationality through the Citizenship Act.