Chairperson and hon members, the founding provisions of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa state that national legislation must provide for the acquisition, loss and restoration of citizenship. Up to now the acquisition, loss, deprivation and resumption of South African citizenship was regulated by the South African Citizenship Act, Act 88 of 1995 and the regulations issued in terms thereof. New and changing circumstances made it necessary for the South African Citizenship Amendment Bill, Bill 17 of 2010, to be considered. In terms of the Bill, any person shall be a South African citizen by birth if he or she is born in or outside the Republic and one of his or her parents is or was, at the time of his or her birth, a South African citizen. No person shall be a South African citizen by birth if, at the time of his or her birth, one of his or her parents had not been admitted into the Republic for permanent residence and his or her other parent was not a South African citizen. Any person born in the Republic of parents who have been admitted into the Republic for permanent residence and who is not a citizen qualifies to be a citizen by birth if he or she has lived in the Republic from the date of birth up to attaining the age of maturity and his or her birth is registered in the Republic according to the Births and Deaths Registration Act, Act 51 of 1992. A child adopted by a South African citizen acquires citizenship by descent and, most importantly, a naturalised citizen may not apply for retention of citizenship if he or she wishes to engage in a war that the government of the Republic of South Africa does not support.
In 2006, the Prohibition of Mercenary Activities and Regulation of Certain Activities in Country of Armed Conflict Act, Act 27 of 2006, was passed as a way of prohibiting mercenary activity and to regulate the enlistment of South African citizens of permanent residence in other armed forces. The fact that there is no provision for the loss of citizenship by a naturalised citizen for engaging in a war that the Republic does not support has become a matter of concern. The amendment of section 6 of the South African Citizenship Act, Act 88 of 1995, now provides that a naturalised citizen may not apply for retention of citizenship if he or she wishes to engage in a war that the government of the Republic does not support under the flag of another country.
The main objective of the Births and Deaths Registration Amendment Bill, Bill 18 of 2010, is to amend the Births and Deaths Registration Act, Act 51 of 1992, with regard to the following: provisions relating to the registrations of births, designation of funeral undertakers, recording of adoptions, and provisions relating to secrecy of records obtained under the Act. It addresses the following: It provides for parents, persons having charge of a child or persons requested by parents or persons having charge of a child to give notice of birth. This allows agents to actively participate in births registration, resulting in inability to conduct verification processes. In some cases, this leads to false registration.
It categorises late registration of birth into three categories with different criteria. It permits the amendment of birth registration and particulars of a child born out of wedlock after the first registration. It allows for abandoned children who are part of child-headed families to get assistance to register birth, and it provides for the designation of funeral undertakers to act as agents for death registration activities, ensuring the mechanism of handling death registration forms and minimising corruption in the process.
In the main, the Bill provides for a requirement that only parents or, if parents are deceased, a legal guardian or next of kin can give notice of birth; categorisation of late registration of birth and providing for stringent requirements and regulations; the requirement of prescribed conclusive proof of paternity in cases where fathers are amended to second father; the registration of orphaned children in order to ensure that child- headed families get assistance to register their births; and the designation of funeral undertakers on compliance with prescribed requirements.
With the Local Government: Municipal Electoral Amendment Bill, Bill 27B of 2010, we seek to deepen democracy in that the clauses we seek to amend will benefit the masses of our people in enabling them to access and enjoy their right to vote in their choice of local government in a manner that is easier and more efficient. South Africa's system of local government is one of the youngest and most democratic in the world. The first democratic local government elections held on 5 December 2000 enabled South Africans to vote for public representatives and parties within a transformed local government.
We have, through this amending Bill, the opportunity to enhance the participation of our people at the centre of development and not merely as beneficiaries but as drivers of transformation. This amending Bill provides the opportunity to strengthen the system of electing public representatives, drawing on the lessons derived from our collective experience of the need for a more effective and accountable manner in which we elect our public representatives to local government. We must take the forthcoming local government election as an opportunity and important challenge to ensure that this sphere of government performs optimally with regard to all our socioeconomic programmes directed at the further improvement of the quality of life of all our people.
We have to work to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of our system of local government. Accordingly, we have to prepare the incoming councillors to understand their tasks to enable them to properly discharge their legislative and executive responsibilities.
This Bill is in line with the idea of ensuring that each of the district and metropolitan municipalities has the necessary managerial, professional and technical staff to enable them to implement the required developmental programmes. The Select Committee on Social Services agrees to the three mentioned Bills with minor amendments. I thank you very much. [Applause.]
Debate concluded. South African Citizenship Amendment Bill, subject to proposed amendments, agreed to in accordance with section 75 of the Constitution.
Birth and Deaths Registration Amendment Bill, subject to a proposed amendment, agreed to in accordance with section 75 of the Constitution.
Local Government: Municipal Electoral Amendment Bill agreed to in accordance with section 75 of the Constitution.