Thank you, Chairperson. Our Constitution provides that no right is absolute and thus every right is subject to limitations in an open society based on human rights, equality and freedom - if it is reasonable and justifiable to do so.
In this regard, it can be argued that those who are on the international stage engaging in wars that are not in the interest of the Republic and thus not supported by it, do not deserve to keep their citizenship, whether it is citizenship by birth, descent or naturalisation.
This is even more so with citizenship by naturalisation, as the person would have first been a foreigner, but through complying with the requisite prescriptions, was accorded citizenship by naturalisation. Such a person would, on a balance of probabilities, be a security risk and the state cannot be bound to rewarding him or her with the status of citizenship by naturalisation.
The principal Act requires, among other things, that the applicant for naturalisation should have been a resident of the Republic; be of good character; have adequate knowledge of the responsibilities and privileges of South African citizenship; be a husband or widower of a South African citizen, or a wife or widow of a South African citizen; and make a declaration of allegiance.
Hon members, the Bill further adds that the applicant should be a citizen of the country that allows dual citizenship and where dual citizenship is not allowed, the applicant should renounce the citizenship of that country.
Immediately before the 1994 and the demise of apartheid, there was an exodus of a number of South African citizens to other parts of the world. Some of them have returned to South Africa whilst keeping their passports and extending their citizenship of the countries they had emigrated from.
This situation tends to be dubious in terms of the allegiance of such people to the South African flag. It is important that those who desire citizenship in different parts of the globe be tested for allegiance. To subject dual citizens to the acid test of the requirement to renounce citizenship, where dual citizenship is not permissible, is bound to reveal the true allegiance of the dual citizen.
The Bill creates a new category of citizenship by naturalisation by providing that a child born in the Republic of parents who are not South African citizens, or who have not been admitted into the Republic for permanent residence, qualifies to apply for South African citizenship upon becoming a major if he or she has lived in the Republic from the date of his or her birth to the date of becoming a major.
In keeping with the imperative to treat the interests of a child as being of paramount importance, children falling within this category shall, even if their parents have not been admitted into South African citizenship, have an opportunity to become naturalised South African citizens, provided that their births have been registered in accordance with the Births and Deaths Registration Amendment Act, Act 1 of 2002.
A child whose parents' nationality is known and is born in South Africa, is different from a foundling whose parents are not known and who could not have adduced evidence to prove that he or she was born in the Republic. It would be erroneous to naturalise foundlings with the presumption that they were born in South Africa. This would open government up to acts of human trafficking with the view to naturalising children in order to gain access to the South African social security system through them.
It could also happen that some non-nationals, who are already in South Africa illegally, would manipulate the system to ensure a better future for their children, whom they brought with from their countries, by helping them to apply for citizenship through naturalisation as if they were foundlings.
Given the socioeconomic instability obtaining in most of our neighbouring countries, how they have pushed the immigration envelope, and how the Children's Act defines "child", it is not unthinkable to imagine that many would come to South Africa at a relatively mature age and apply for citizenship by naturalisation. This would mean that in the next five years our population would have grown drastically not because of organic processes, but because children from other countries would have reached the age of majority and as citizens would be eligible to compete for scarce resources with citizens who in fact were born in South Africa.
A burden would be put on our fiscus, and we would be unable to meet the obligations we have to our people because the more services are rendered, the more the demand would increase. The more houses we build, the more we would have to build; and even if we demolish informal settlements constantly, they would invariably mushroom.
Hon members, the ANC's manifesto identifies income, inequality, and extreme poverty as challenges that face our nation in the current conjuncture. In this regard, many of our people continue to live in abject poverty and the income gap between the highest and the lowest paid continues to widen unabated ... [Interjections.]