Dual Citizenship in South Africa and the Ironies of History
I was distracted this week from editing On The Sickle’s Edge by current happenings in South Africa, the location of my previous novel, Bloodlines.
The ANC (African National Congress) has proposed changing South Africa’s constitution to disallow dual citizenship. South Africa’s population of 53,000,000 includes millions of migrants from other African countries and from Asia, and this would cause hardship for many of them.
So why does the ANC propose this move? Because, it seems, too many South African Jews are enlisting in the Israeli Defense Forces.
If this were not so absurd, and if it didn’t highlight the ironies of history, it would be laughable.
In the 1930s, the Boer government proposed (but never approved) depriving Jews who arrived in the country after a certain date, of their citizenship. In the runup to World War ll, this was a terrifying proposal. In the more recent past, Jewish involvement in the anti-apartheid struggle was way beyond the numbers represented by their demographic. Jews in the country were never a major component of the population but today they represent .2% (yes, that’s two tenths of one percent), or about 106,000 souls. Of that number, how many do you think would be interested in enlisting in the IDF? Interesting question. We don’t know the answer, and neither does the ANC.
Here’s a link to the Chief Rabbi of South Africa, commenting on the proposal.
Interestingly enough, yesterday it was announced that the change on dual citizenship is not being considered. I wonder what happened in the interim?
http://www.timeslive.co.za/sundaytimes/stnews/2015/09/06/ANC-threat-to-ban-dual-citizenship
Please watch and share this public video message,” so that together we can implore the ANC to change course and become a voice for peace.