Cassadee Orinthia YAN International Comparative Jurisprudence. 2024, 10(1):94-111. Erasmus (2022, p. 293) sheds light on the profound impact of statelessness on the right to health in South Africa. According to her study, stateless individuals face significant barriers when seeking healthcare services due to their lack of legal status. She argues that without the necessary identification documents, stateless people cannot access vital healthcare services. This impediment restricts their ability to receive essential medical treatment, including medication, therapy, and preventive care. The South African government has acknowledged and taken steps to address the issue of statelessness. Mahleza (2022) writes about the South African legal system and its compliance with international commitments regarding statelessness. Their study focuses on the South African Citizenship Act, which established a legal framework for obtaining citizenship. As Mahleza (2022) writes, the South African Citizenship Act contains provisions for the acquisition and loss of citizenship, which indirectly aims to prevent and reduce statelessness. The legal developments in South Africa underscore the importance of addressing statelessness and ensuring the protection of the rights of stateless individuals in South Africa. Efforts to prevent and reduce statelessness through legal provisions and constitutional obligations are crucial in promoting equitable access to healthcare and upholding human rights. Despite these initiatives, South Africa still needs help in order to address statelessness successfully. As Erasmus (2022) points out, there is a need for a comprehensive legal framework to explicitly define statelessness and establish a clear procedure for determining statelessness (p. 293). Ensuring precise standards for proving statelessness and facilitating access to citizenship rights and privileges is crucial for stateless individuals. However, South Africa’s legal system falls short of adequately addressing gender bias within its citizenship regulations. Particularly concerning is the disparity in treatment based on gender for children born outside of marriage, where the acquisition of citizenship through ancestry depends on whether the father or mother is South African. This gender-based disparity raises concerns of fairness and discrimination. Mahleza (2022) states that South Africa’s legal reforms regarding citizenship law should be aiming for the elimination of gender-based discrimination. Aligning South Africa’s legislation with international obligations is essential, and the nation must establish transparent mechanisms for identifying and safeguarding stateless people. Signing the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness and the 1954 Convention on the Status of Stateless Persons, as suggested by Erasmus, would be necessary steps towards addressing statelessness and upholding the rights of stateless individuals. In Minister of Home Affairs v. Ali and Others (2018), the court held that the biggest challenge in South Africa is in the implementation of the laws on acquiring citizenship. Sutton (2018) explains that the two states have integrated international instruments meant to protect stateless individuals. However, the implementation of these laws and regulations has not been successful. The author outlines several groups of persons that are vulnerable to statelessness, including children from stateless parents, ethnic minority groups, people who have renounced their citizenship, and people seeking asylum in a state. The author goes on to describe South Africa, despite being a state with a democracy based on shared values and nondiscrimination, as a place where the statelessness epidemic is felt most keenly by homeless children, most of whom are orphaned, and adult asylum seekers (p. 64). Conclusions Kenya and South Africa face challenges and concerns regarding their citizenship rules and definitions of statelessness, and have adopted distinct viewpoints and approaches. In Kenya, the Citizenship and Immigration Act of 2011 establishes citizenship based on birth and registration. Nonetheless, instances of statelessness persist, and birth is no guarantee of citizenship unless one parent is a Kenyan citizen. Conversely, South Africa’s Citizenship Act outlines clear requirements for acquiring and losing citizenship, with the recognition of birthright citizenship 107