The petition on change.org says many South Africans lose their home country citizenship when they are naturalised to a county they work and live in, like the US of the UK. It supports the The South African Dual Citizenship Campaign who are campaigning to negotiate a fair outcome for THOUSANDS of South Africans who have unknowingly been deprived of their citizenship.

The campaign states that even though sub-section 2 of The South African Citizenship Act provides for the retention of citizenship PRIOR to acquiring foreign citizenship it is very poorly communicated and often misunderstood. There is no information in SA passports to inform citizens of the requirement and no warning about the disastrous consequence of not applying for retention. “If one did not know about this requirement there are no exceptions, no warning, no consultation and certainly no opportunity to apply retrospectively. You will simply lose your citizenship from the date that you acquired your foreign citizenship,” reads the petition letter.

Chapter 20 of the South African Constitution that “no citizen may be deprived of citizenship”, yet section 6.1(a) of the South African Citizenship, (Act 88 of 1995) provides the Minister of Home Affairs or their officials the power to strip a South African Citizen of their citizenship. In fact chapter 3, section 6.1 states “subject to the provisions of subsection (2), a South African citizen shall cease to be a South African citizen if (a) he or she, whilst not being a minor, by some voluntary and formal act other than marriage, acquires the citizenship or nationality of a country other than the Republic.

Should you wish to support the drive to have this section in the law removed, sign this petition here.

To find out how to apply for dual South African citizenship with other countries, go here.