Tears of joy after court rules against Home Affairs

Source: Timeslive, 07/06/2018

There were tears of joy as the High Court in Cape Town set aside a
decision by the Department of Home Affairs to refuse a stateless
family`s application for citizenship.
The Mulowayi family of Kensington‚ Johannesburg‚ finally found relief
on Tuesday after a protracted battle with the department which had
refused their application for citizenship on what has now been
determined to be wrongful grounds.
The Mulowayi family had been in the country since the early 2000s.
Florette Mulowayi has lived and worked in South Africa since 2002‚
when she left her home country as a refugee.
Her husband‚ Nsongoni‚ joined her in 2004.
Since they have been in South Africa‚ the couple â€` originally from
the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) - had three children â€` all
born in the country. One of the children subsequently died. The
family was left stateless after being denied South African
citizenship‚ despite meeting all the requirements.
According to Stefanie de Saude-Darbandi‚ a specialist immigration and
citizenship law attorney representing the family‚ the court ruling
effectively forces the department to render a decision within two
months.
She said the court had declared a regulation requiring them to apply
for citizenship only after 10 years of ordinary residence in South
Africa was beyond the department’s powers and unlawful.
`The Mulowayi family has been put through a traumatic experience that
left their youngest son without any legal status.
“This case is a victory not only for the Mulowayis but for the
countless other families who are frustrated by inconsistent and
sometimes wrongful interpretation and application of our laws by DHA
officials‚` De Saude-Darbandi said.
Florette and Nsongoni were granted permanent resident permits in 2011
and waited five years before applying for citizenship. Even after
renouncing their DRC citizenship‚ their applications for
naturalisation were denied.
At the heart of the department’s decision to deny their citizenship
application were regulations that‚ according to department’s legal
counsel‚ stipulated a period of 10 years of being an ordinary
resident before a citizenship application could be processed.
`However‚ as we argued in court‚ the Citizenship Act clearly
stipulates that citizenship may be awarded if the applicant ‘is
ordinarily resident in the Republic ... for a continuous period of
not less than five years preceding the date of his or her
application’.
“The high court agreed and effectively set aside not only the
(department’s) refusal to grant citizenship‚ but also the regulation
that led to this wrongful decision‚` De Saude-Darbandi said.
She said the department had two months to decide on the family`s
application.