Report on Citizenship Law South Africa Christine Hobden 1. Introduction The geographical area we now know as the Republic of South Africa was first united as the Union of South Africa in 1910 under British Rule; in 1961 it became a republic independent of British rule, ruled by a white minority government. It was only however in 1994 that the fully democratic Republic of South Africa came into being. As such, South African citizenship, conferring upon all people freedom and equality before the law, in a postindependence democracy, is only at the beginning of its third decade. South Africa’s history of racial inequality and harsh oppression informs many aspects of citizenship law: initial legislation was generous in scope and catered, specifically, for the many who had been deprived of their citizenship during Apartheid. Post-independence has witnessed high levels of immigration, and a slow tightening on access to citizenship. This reduced access is, at times, through legislative amendments but also, perhaps most interestingly, often through the Department of Home Affairs’ increasingly strict interpretation of the law, and continued failure to create provision for certain cases protected under law. The chief challenge that South Africa faces in respect to citizenship law is thus ensuring the free, fair, and efficient application of the South African Citizenship Act (SACA).1 Historically there has been, and remains, a separation between the status of citizenship and the rights that go with it: for the majority of the Apartheid era, all races were granted citizenship but not all had the attending rights. In the new South Africa, many do not have citizenship but enjoy numerous Constitutionally enshrined rights that traditionally are attached to citizenship (Klaaren 2010:97). While non-citizens do not have political rights, they do have socio-economic rights enshrined in the 1996 Constitution of South Africa (No. 108 of 1996). In most cases, while the Constitution uses the term ‘everyone’, access to resources such as housing and social grants requires status as a permanent resident. As such, the political discourse and the average immigrant’s desire centres more strongly on the achievement of permanent residence than citizenship. With respect to foreign nationals residing in South Africa, the very pressing concerns are preventing outbreaks of xenophobic violence and regulating the unknown, but presumed to be extremely large, undocumented migrant population. Non-governmental organisations, such as Lawyers for Human Rights 1 This acronym will be used throughout to refer to the South African Citizenship Act of 1995 (Act 88 of 1995), as amended (with amendments indicated by the addition of the relevant date). Where referencing the Apartheidera legislation of the same name, it will be written out in full with the 1949 original date included. RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-CR 2018/1 - © 2018 Author(s) 1