Christine Hobden 3. Current Citizenship Regime 3.1 Introduction The current citizenship regime in South Africa is governed by the 1995 SACA, as amended in 2004, 2007 and 2010. The South African Constitution (1996) is the supreme law of the land, and as such all citizenship laws, in theory and application, need to respect the rights it enshrines. As a result, both the SACA and the Constitution need to be considered in understanding the reality of the citizenship regime, as well as its possible future developments. Concerns have been raised, for example, about the constitutional validity of the SACA’s provision for deprivation of citizenship, and the withholding of citizenship for children of non-citizens until the age of majority. On the whole, however, the SACA, as amended, contains relatively standard modes of acquisition and loss. In the majority of cases, citizenship is passed through parents, regardless of the territory of birth. Territory only plays a role in cases of non-citizen parents, and in the majority of cases, it is not a decisive role. Given the large numbers of non-citizens living in South Africa, this aspect of the SACA has significant implications. This is especially the case because many permanent resident non-citizens do not naturalise; on the whole, the step between temporary and permanent residence is more significant than between permanent residence and citizenship, given the striking number of clauses within the Constitution that apply to ‘everyone’ or ‘all persons’. Most significantly socio-economic rights such as the right to adequate housing (§26); to healthcare, food, water and social security (§27); and to education (§29). Klaaren argues that judgments since have explicitly supported a residencebased nature for the Bill of Rights (2010:102). In practice, social grants can be attained by those with permanent residence or refugee status making the step between temporary and permanent residence of chief concern for many. In addition, restrictive laws around dual citizenship in neighbouring SADC countries discourages many from naturalising as South African citizens. In what follows, the main provisions of the SACA will be detailed with specific reference to the changes instituted by the subsequent amendments: 3.2 Acquisition 3.2.1 At Birth South African citizenship law distinguishes between ‘citizenship by birth’ (§2(2)) and ‘citizenship by descent’ (§2(3)). In the original 1995 Act, this distinction indicated the various modes of acquisition available to those born within the country’s territory (by birth) and those born outside of the territory (by descent). Subsequent amendments, as discussed below, reformulated this distinction, such that it no longer reflects a distinction with regard to the country of birth. The current law reflects a change brought about by the 2010 Amendment Act (No. 17 of 2010).11 The new provision, in §2(2)(b) succinctly states that ‘any person who is born in or outside the Republic, one of his or her parents, at the time of his or her birth, being a South African citizen, shall be a South African citizen by birth’ (emphasis added). 11 The original Act deemed a person born outside the country to at least one parent who was a South African citizen to be a citizen by descent §3(1)(b). 6 RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-CR 2018/1- © 2018 Author(s)