Statelessness in Southern Africa In southern Africa, only the South African Constitution provides explicitly for citizens to have a right to a passport.124 Table 7: Due process protections in nationality laws Explicit Explicit Administrative right to go exclusion of review to court court review Angola x x Botswana x Lesotho x x Malawi x x Mozambique Namibia (x) x S. Africa x Swaziland x Zambia x x Zimbabwe x No right to reasons x x x x Legal provisions L2005Art28&29 L1998(2004)Art22 L1971Art23(5)&26 L1966Art25(4)&29 L1990Art5(8)&9(5) L1995(2010)Art25 C2005Art53(1) L1975(1994)Art9 L1984(2003)Art16 (x) exclusion applies only to decisions on naturalisation Dual nationality At independence, many African countries took the decision that dual citizenship should not be allowed: they wished to ensure that those who might have a claim to another citizenship — especially those of European, Asian, or Middle Eastern descent — had to choose between the two possible loyalties. Increasingly, however, an African diaspora with roots in individual African countries, in addition to the earlier involuntary diaspora of slavery, has grown to match migrations from Europe and Asia. These diasporas are often keen to retain the link to their countries of birth, and may provide an important source of inward investment for African states. Today 33 countries allow dual nationality, though some with restrictions. There are five countries which allow for dual citizenship in southern Africa with certain caveats. A prohibition on dual nationality creates a risk of statelessness where a person is obliged to renounce one nationality in order to obtain another, but then is not in fact granted that other nationality. The law in Angola is somewhat ambiguous, stating that a person loses nationality if he or she voluntarily acquires another nationality and demonstrates that they no longer wish to be Angolan (manifestem a pretensão de não querer ser angolanos). In practice, dual nationality is allowed.125 In some other countries, the courts have re-interpreted laws against dual nationality. In Lesotho, the Constitution provides that an adult citizen cannot be a citizen of another country (unless he or she acquires this dual citizenship by marriage). However, in a 2005 case the High Court found that the provision on loss of Lesotho citizenship in case of dual nationality under Article 8 of the Lesotho Citizenship Order of 1971 “does not deal with a Lesotho citizen who is domiciled in Lesotho but acquires a citizenship of the Republic of South Africa while he is working there. If the intention was that such a person should lose his residence and domicile, then Parliament should have specified this. It would be wrong to read into such a person’s act an intention to terminate rights of domicile and residence into the Order.” Thus, citizenship by birth could not be lost by acquisition “of another citizenship to get a job while his domicile remains in Lesotho.”126 A case decided by the Lesotho Court of Appeal in 2008, however, ruled that citizenship by birth could be lost if the person involved acquired another citizenship; though the court also urged the Lesotho Parliament to enact legislation permitting 124 Article 21(4), Constitution of the Republic of South Africa. Lei da nacionalidade, no.1/05 de 1 de Julho, art. 15(1)(a); information provided by Angolan delegates at the UNHCR regional statelessness meeting 1-3 November 2011. 126 Mokoena vs. Mokoena and Others CIV/APN/216/2005 (unreported); see also Mokoena vs. Mokoena and Others C of A (CIV), No.2 of 2007. 125 29