Citizenship for loyalists only would betray the Constitution – IRR

The Institute of Race Relations (IRR) condemns the proposal by Supra Mahumapelo, chairperson of Parliament's Portfolio Committee on International Relations and Cooperation, that legislation be introduced to allow the state to strip South Africans of their citizenship for spreading what he regards as misinformation abroad.

The IRR is equally concerned that the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Ronald Lamola, has backed the idea and undertaken to examine how the executive could give effect to it.

Mahumapelo made his proposal this week while the committee was reviewing the Department of International Relations and Cooperation’s financial statements. In his account, the deterioration in relations between Pretoria and Washington is the work of AfriForum, Lex Libertas, the Freedom Front Plus, and Solidariteit. He also suggested that their dealings with members of the US Congress might amount to treason. ANC MP Ronalda Nalumango endorsed his view, questioned the patriotism of those involved and raised the prospect of criminal charges.

Lamola told the committee that “free agents can't be allowed to roam with misinformation across the globe”, adding that the executive would consider how to match the committee's proposals. When the DA's Ryan Smith objected that the proposal would infringe the constitutional right to free speech, the minister replied that free speech had limits where lies and misinformation were concerned.

Freedom of expression is a fundamental value of liberalism and of the constitutional order South Africa adopted after 1994. It is how a free society tests claims and holds power to account, and protecting it is in the best interest of all South Africans, whatever their politics. One may dispute every claim these organisations make and still defend their right to make them.

Mahumapelo's suggestion of treason has no legal foundation. High treason in South Africa requires hostile intent on the part of someone who owes allegiance to the Republic. That intent must be aimed at toppling the government, compelling it by force, unlawfully changing the constitutional order, or imperilling the independence and security of the state.

Terence Corrigan, IRR Project and Publications Manager, made this argument in the Daily Friend earlier this year, writing that such campaigns came nowhere near treason or even disloyalty, and that South Africa's political disputes now crossed borders as a matter of course. “As a free society,” he wrote, “we need to get used to that.”

Mahumapelo's claim that the United States would not permit its own citizens to behave in this way is mistaken. Americans criticise their government abroad as a matter of routine, protected by the First Amendment.

If South Africa is being misrepresented abroad, the government has every means to answer with evidence, argument and diplomacy. A government that answers its critics by threatening their citizenship would do more harm to South Africa's reputation abroad than any lobby group in Washington.

The IRR calls on members of the Portfolio Committee to reject the proposal, and on Lamola to withdraw his undertaking to pursue it within the executive.

Media contact: Anlu Keeve IRR Economic Policy Analyst and Research Coordinator Tel: 071 929 9516 Email: anlu@irr.org.za

Media enquiries: Michael Morris IRR Head of Media Tel: 066 302 1968 Email: michael@irr.org.za