The Right to Citizenship in South Africa’s Constitutional Democracy

Conference Date: 18 and 19 September 2023

Venue: Constitution Hill, Johannesburg

RSVP and Logistics: Naomi Hove naomi@saifac.org.za

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About the event:

The South African Institute for Advanced Constitutional, Public, Human Rights and International Law (SAIFAC), a centre of the University of Johannesburg, in partnership with the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung invites you to a conference focusing on the right to citizenship in South Africa.

The South African Constitution section 20 provides that ‘no citizen may be deprived of citizenship’. Moreover, a number of fundamental rights are guaranteed explicitly only for citizens including the right to vote, and to choose one’s trade, occupation or profession freely. Yet, some recent judicial decisions have enhanced the importance of citizenship and adopted a more exclusionary view thereof.

What explains the growing prominence of citizenship as a precondition for certain rights? What role does and should citizenship play in a constitutional democracy such as South Africa? How does South Africa’s approach to citizenship fare in comparison to other constitutional democracies? If you are interested in attending the conference, please email naomi@saifac.org.za

The Conference programme is available below: