Passage Based Questions: Legal Aptitude - 21 | Passage Based Questions for CLAT Preparation PDF Download

Direction: Read the passage carefully and answer the given questions.
The Constitutional Court of South Africa recently (July 2020) reinterpreted the country's Citizenship Amendment Act of 2010, which had drastically changed the definition of 'citizenship by descent', by holding that persons born in other countries, before or after the commencement of the Amendment Act, are entitled to South African citizenship as long as one of their parents is South African.
The 2010 Amendment drastically changed the definition of Citizenship by Descent. The applicants, who challenged these provisions are having one of their parents as a South African citizen at the time of their birth (they were born before 2010 amendment came into force). They contended that by not including a provision which retains the citizenship of those who acquired citizenship by descent in terms of 1995 Act, the section 2(1) of the amended Citizenship Act has the effect of stripping those individuals of their South African citizenship.
Before its amendment in 2010, a person could acquire citizenship by descent in the following ways: First, if they were a citizen by descent immediately prior to the commencement of the 1995 Citizenship Act, they would remain so. Secondly, a person could acquire citizenship by descent if they were born outside of South Africa and one of their parents was a South African citizen and their birth was registered. Thirdly, if a person was born outside of South Africa and one of their parents had resumed South African citizenship and they had entered South Africa to reside in the country permanently, that person would be a citizen by descent. Fourthly, a person would acquire citizenship by descent if they were born outside of South Africa and they had subsequently been adopted by a South African citizen in terms of the Child Care Act and their birth was registered.
By the amendment Act of 2010, Section 3, which dealt with citizenship by descent was altered and the meaning of "citizen by descent" was modified to apply to only those who have been adopted in terms of the Children's Act by a South African citizen.
Section 2, which dealt with 'citizen by birth' was also amended to read (1) Any person— (a) who immediately prior to the date of commencement of the South African Citizenship Amendment Act, 2010, was a South African citizen by birth.