The Constitutional Court has upheld a ruling that declares section 6(1)(a) of the Citizenship Act unconstitutional.
This section previously stated that South African citizens would automatically lose their citizenship if they voluntarily acquired citizenship of another country, unless they applied for and were granted permission to retain their South African citizenship beforehand.
This means that many South Africans who took up foreign citizenship without applying to retain their South African status may have lost it without realizing it.
The Court’s decision now confirms that this automatic loss of citizenship was unconstitutional, potentially allowing affected individuals to reclaim their South African citizenship.