12 Aug 2024

The Citizenship Act needs to be amended to prevent rendering some people stateless.

Tabling his proposal in Parliament last week, Maun West legislator, Mr Goretetse Kekgonegile called for the amendment of the Citizenship Act particularly Section 15, which focused on dual citizenship.

Mr Kekgonegile said the Act as it currently was, forced children born of a Motswana parent and a foreigner to renounce the foreign citizenship at the age of 21, something he said had rendered many stateless.

“The international human rights organisation such as UNESCO has indicated that it is the right of every individual to have a global citizenship, something that Botswana as a member has signed to. As a signatory to these protocols Botswana should not be seen as a country that makes people stateless,” he said.

“The Citizenship Act in Section 15.1 states that if a person is born in Botswana between a Motswana and a foreign national, that person will enjoy dual citizenship until the age of 21 when they have to renounce the foreign citizenship, failure of which will automatically lead to them losing Botswana citizenship.

This is an anomaly as government would have spent a lot in their upbringing, including education and health,” he argued.

He indicated that Parliament had previously agreed that such was odd, while the portfolio minister indicated that the ministry was finalising a Cabinet Memo for presentation to Cabinet as part of the review process.

“It was a pity that five years down the line, the promise was not kept. Parliament cannot, therefore, allow the status quo to prevail, and the situation is especially dire in border villages where people interact across borders,” he added.

The MP also proposed that the Act be amended to allow an individual who attained 21 years of age and failed to renounce their foreign citizenship, to instead lose foreign citizenship and remain with the Botswana citizenship.

“This is an anomaly because most of these children do not even know or been to the countries of their foreigner parent, let alone know any of their extended family members there. In that case, the automatic loss of Botswana citizenship is tantamount to rendering them stateless, contrary to the UNESCO protocols that Botswana is a signatory to,” he said.

As such, he suggested that dual citizenship should not be renounced at any age.

He further proposed that any law that required renouncing should ensure that the person was not rendered stateless, but instead facilitate them to acquire citizenship of the country they opted for.

Mr Kekgonegile said the Bill came in the wake of a High Court judgement of Sethabile Mathe versus The Attorney General, which ruled in favour of the applicant that Section 15 of the Citizenship Act was offending the Constitution, as well as Sections 3, 13 and 14.

“The object of the Bill is therefore, to align Citizenship Act with this High Court judgement. This Bill gives us an opportunity to comply,” he said.

In response, Minister of Labour and Home Affairs, Honourable Annah Mokgethi acknowledged that a holistic approach to the amendment of the Citizenship Act would soon be brought before Parliament.

Minister Mokgethi said the proposals would consequently encompass amendments proposed by Mr Kekgonegile’s Bill.

“This current Bill as put before Parliament is narrow as it only seeks to amend a few sections of the Act, so it falls short compared to the holistic approach that I will soon bring,” she said adding the draft amendment was already at an advanced stage.

She also indicated that most of the time, people were rendered stateless by their lack of knowledge that they had to renounce their foreign citizenship at the age of 21.

The Minister said the judgement referred to, made provision to ensure that those effected would not be stateless.

Contributing to the debate, Okavango legislator, Mr Kenny Kapinga argued that the minister had long promised holistic amendment to the Act since 2019.

“It is only wise to make the proposed amendments as they are already before Parliament so that this can expedite the said holistic amendment,” he said.

Mochudi West MP, Mr Mmusi Kgafela said the cited High Court judgement struck off Section 15 of the Citizenship Act, thereby rendering the amendment null and void.

“You cannot amend something that is non-existent,” Mr Kgafela said. ENDS