CITIZENSHIP AND STATELESSNESS IN THE MEMBER STATES OF THE SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY 2020 … and in South Africa Elizabeth Nthunya was born in Lesotho in 1982. Her mother was a Lesotho citizen, while her father was South African. When she was three years old, she came to stay with her paternal grandmother in South Africa. Over the years, she struggled to register as South African because she does not have a birth record from Lesotho, which is required in terms of the Births and Deaths Registration Act. Lesotho has very low rates of birth registration. Home Affairs told her to go back to Lesotho and find her mother. Eventually, she returned to Lesotho for her mother’s funeral. She discovered that the clinic where she was born does not have records prior to 1985. She returned to South Africa but Home Affairs still refuses to assist her. Her father and grandmother have since passed away, but she has five South African aunts and uncles willing to testify to her identity. Elizabeth eventually managed to get a birth certificate issued from Lesotho. The South African Home Affairs Department, however, refused to accept the certificate, because it was not issued at the time of her birth. This reveals another barrier to foreign birth registration. South African citizens who obtain birth certificates through late registration of birth in their country of origin will not be considered for birth registration in South Africa. Elizabeth has a son born in South Africa to a South African father, but Home Affairs will not allow them to register the child’s birth because Elizabeth does not have an ID. Thus her son is also unable to access his South African citizenship, even though his father has a valid South African ID document. Elizabeth’s case illustrates the generational impact that lack of documentation has on the right to nationality. Such strict requirements – for a foreign birth certificate and for the mother’s ID document – result in complete block to citizenship for Elizabeth and her son, with consequences on their economic mobility, right to work and education, and their physical and emotional health. “I was born in Lesotho but I am South African. That is the only thing I want in my life. I feel like I’m a mess. There is nothing I can do. I have spent many years sitting at home and doing nothing. When I wanted to write my matric it was a mess – I didn’t have an ID. When you go to even computer lessons they still want a document and I felt bad. There is a lot I want to achieve but I can’t because I don’t have an ID. In years to come, Neo must go to school but they will want his birth certificate and he doesn’t have one.” Case study from: “Promoting Citizenship and Preventing Statelessness in South Africa: A Practitioner’s Guide", Lawyers for Human Rights, 2014 Children born outside the country In most African countries, a child born to a citizen acquires the nationality of a parent at birth, whether the child is born in or outside the country. Gender discrimination remains, however, in some laws, including in Eswatini and Tanzania in southern Africa.99 As in the case of those born in the country, some reforms do not have retroactive effect. In Seychelles, for example, gender discrimination was removed for those born 99 In Lesotho, the 1993 Constitution repealed part II of the 1971 citizenship order (otherwise remaining in force) which discriminated on the basis of gender in relation to children born abroad. This discrimination continues to apply to those born before the 1993 constitution came into effect. 28 UNHCR / December, 2020