CITIZENSHIP AND STATELESSNESS IN THE MEMBER STATES OF THE SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY 2020 resident for close to two decades, with children born in South Africa and a significant level of integration in the local economy and society, using South African languages at home.421 The Department of Home Affairs did not, however, offer naturalisation, at first issuing two-year temporary residence permits to around 2,200 applicants.422 When these expired in 2015, a year of negotiations and litigation by the Scalabrini Centre of Cape Town culminated in a court order that the Department of Home Affairs should consider applications for permanent residence from the former refugees.423 In July 2017, Home Affairs announced that an “Angolan Special Permit” would grant rights equivalent to permanent residence for a period of four years, and permits began to be issued in 2018, reaching some 1,200 of the ex-refugees (just over 70 percent of those who applied). However, the permits expire in 2021, and were stated to be non-renewable, with no clarity about access to permanent residence or citizenship on expiry, or the status of those whose applications were unsuccessful.424 When the cessation clause was adopted there was an agreement that the Angolan embassy would issue passports to former refugees, but the embassy will not now renew the passports issued under this exceptional procedure. Many of the former refugees thus lack an Angolan passport in which a residence permit can be stamped. Botswana’s national legislation, the 1967 Refugee (Recognition and Control) Act, specifically provides that a refugee is not regarded as being “ordinarily resident” in Botswana – and thus excludes refugees in Botswana from normal naturalisation procedures.425 As a limited exception, however, the 2003 tripartite agreement for the repatriation of Angolan refugees provided for 850 recognised refugees not wishing to return to Angola to have the right to apply for citizenship, though only 183 were reported to have been naturalised as a result of this offer in 2006.426 In 2019, Botswana’s Court of Appeal delivered a decision on 709 former Namibian refugees who fled violence in the Caprivi strip in the late 1990s, living in the Dukwi refugee camp, close to the border with Zimbabwe. It was agreed between Botswana, Namibia and UNHCR in 2015 that the refugee status of this population no longer existed, and it was safe for them to return. In September 2019, Botswana’s Court of Appeal ruled that they could be deported.427 Amnesty International expressed its concern about the nationality status of the children born in Botswana, who are not recognised as Botswanan citizens, but could be exposed to statelessness if Namibian citizenship is not confirmed.428 Meanwhile, many of those who fled from Angola to Namibia and have lived in Namibia for decades may not be recognised as citizens of either country.429 A consultation mission led by the Namibian government in 421 Lotte Manicom, “'Angola Is Just a Picture in My Mind': Research on the Integration and Future Plans of Angolans Affected by the Cessation" (Cape Town: Scalabrini Centre, 15 April 2015); Julia Sloth-Nielsen and Denise Ackermann, “Foreign Children in Care in the Western Cape Province” (Cape Town: Scalabrini Centre, September 2015). 422 “Loss of refugee status leaves many Angolans undocumented in South Africa”, IRIN, 10 September 2013; “Angolan Refugee Cessation: A cauldron of special circumstances”, Legal Resources Centre, 12 September 2013; “Statement on the Angolan cessation clause: former refugees from Angola face deportation as temporary permits expire”, Lawyers for Human Rights, 17 September 2015. 423 “Angolan Cessation Press Release” Scalabrini Centre, 17 November 2016 ; “Angolan ex-refugees given chance to apply for residency in South Africa”, Legal Resources Centre, 21 November 2016. 424 “Home Affairs grants residency to majority of Angolan former refugees”, Scalabrini Centre, 10 July 2017; “A mixture of relief and fear as Angolan former refugees are issued new permits”, Scalabrini Centre, 29 May 2018. 425 Refugees (Recognition and Control) Act, 1968, Laws of Botswana, chapter 25:01, sec. 13. 426 “Botswana/Angola sign repatriation deal”, Mmegi, 6 June 2003; “183 Angolan refugees get citizenship,” Government of Botswana Daily News Online, 2 November 2006. 427 Carmel Rickard “Concern over impact of Botswana’s appeal decision on ‘refugees’”, blog, 14 September 2019 http://carmelrickard.co.za/concernover-impact-of-botswanas-appeal-decision-on-refugees/ 428 “Botswana: Caprivi refugees should not be forced to return home”, Amnesty International, 11 July 2018. 429 Michael Liswaniso, “Some Opuwo Residents Stateless”, New Era, 9 April 2009. UNHCR / December, 2020 98