2022 Statelessness & Citizenship Review 4(1) provided legal assistance to 92 children (half born in South Africa) with problems of statelessness or at risk of statelessness.41 Following a wider human rights definition, rather than the narrower UNHCR approach, South African legislation is mostly in line with international legal standards on the prevention and reduction of statelessness, including for children.42 However, the implementation of those laws leaves much to be desired due to the DHA’s tendency to support restrictive interpretations of the provisions in its regulations and policies.43 Chisuse clarifies the principle of the statutory interpretive presumption against retrospectivity and its application to legislation in a complex regulatory framework, which could also be interpreted to extinguish existing citizenship rights. When read in its fullness, the historical approach adopted by the Constitutional Court led to a persuasive decision, handing success to public interest litigants acting on behalf of those faced with a degree of statelessness. Especially when seen in the context of a shrinking bureaucratic regard for citizenship applicants, the Constitutional Court continues to place itself at the centre of the rights-regarding movement within South African citizenship law.44 The decision confirms the trend in childhood statelessness cases wherein the lower courts have found against the DHA,45 including that of a child born to two Cuban parents where Cuba refused to extend citizenship to the child (instructing the DHA to issue citizenship to the child); a child born to refugees and reaching the age of 18 (holding that the DHA’s delay in formulating guidelines for applications was not a sufficient basis to deny children the opportunity for naturalisation); and children with an unmarried South African father and a foreign national mother (ruling that the children should be properly registered so that they could access South African citizenship). 46 41 42 43 44 45 46 ibid 27. ibid. Muller (n 40). See, eg, Khosa v Minister of Social Development [2004] 6 SA 505 (Constitutional Court). Fatima Khan, ‘Exploring Childhood Statelessness in South Africa’ [2020] 23 Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal 1. See, eg, Minister of Home Affairs v Ali [2019] 2 SA 396 (Supreme Court of Appeal). See also Jo Venko, ‘Mulowayi v Minister of Home Affairs [2019] ZACC 1 (29 January 2019)’ (2020) 2(1) Statelessness & Citizenship Review 179. 182