22 Aug 2024

The Minister of Labour and Home Affairs has refuted allegations that citizens of Botswana can be denied their birth right due to absence from the country for a period of seven years.  

Delivering a statement in Parliament on Tuesday, Honourable Annah Mokgethi said her response followed some allegations contained in a Facebook Page of Century Buds which had sent shockwaves among Batswana in and out of the country.

Honourable Mokgethi said Article 1 of The Hague Convention gave each state the sovereign power to determine under its own law who its nationals were.

“In this respect, different countries have different legislation regarding the grant and deprivation of citizenship,” she said.

She also stated that deprivation of citizenship for citizens by registration and for citizens by naturalisation was a practice among many leading countries in the world.

“I want to make it abundantly clear that the birthright cannot be stripped away from you as a Motswana. Further this provision is meant for only citizens who have acquired their citizenship by way of registration and naturalisation,” she said.

The minister also said the provision was not new as it had always been in the country’s citizenship laws since Independence, adding “the said provision was even retained in the Act, following the recent review and was only applicable to those who acquired citizenship by registration or naturalisation.”

As a result, she assured Batswana that there was no Motswana who had been deprived of citizenship as a result of the provision since Independence.

“In Botswana citizenship is granted to a foreigner on the basis that they have resided in Botswana for a period amounting to not less than 10 years. The applicant must also have resided in Botswana for a continuous period of 12 months immediately before submission of their application for citizenship,” she added.

Furthermore, she said the Citizenship Act provided that those who applied for citizenship by registration or naturalisation would only be granted citizenship if they demonstrated that they intended to reside in Botswana continuously.

“This was meant to promote national unity and cohesion by encouraging loyalty and allegiance to Botswana by any person who acquires Botswana citizenship,” she said.

She said the provision was to also protect the principle of the country’s citizenship from abuse, where a person would acquire citizenship for whatever benefit then proceeded to be absent from the same country with which they sought to be domiciled at for a prolonged period of seven years.

“On close scrutiny of the provision, you will realise that for a person to be absent for a period exceeding seven years, the minister needs to be notified of such absence and should such a person want to exceed those years then the minister can renew the period of absence.

 This can only be done twice unless such renewable was due to special circumstances of national importance or public interest,” she said. ENDS