Moorosi Tsiane
SIXTEEN Indians and Pakistanis are fighting to be naturalised as Basotho by the Ministry of Local Government, Chieftainship, Home Affairs and Police.
They have taken the Department of Home Affairs to the High Court to compel it to register them as Basotho arguing that their applications had been long approved. They must therefore be issued with citizenship certificates and be allowed to take oaths of allegiance to the Kingdom.
Ten are Indians while six are Pakistanis.
The Ministry of Home Affairs, its principal secretary, Director of Immigration and the Attorney General are first to fourth respondents respectively in the application.
The 16 are Amberkar Huzaifa Abdul Aziz, Ahmed Ejaz, Panchbhaya Abdul Sakur Yusuf, Khan Mohammed Nadeem, Akbar Tabish, Masroor Asif, Patel Rizvan Yusuf Abdullah, Patel Mahmad Zuber Ismail, Patel Safwan Yusuf Abdullah, Patel Naeem Najir Hasan Ali, Patel Aqsa, Patel Sajedabanu Mubarak, Danish Muhmmad Affan, Danish Sumaiya, Danish Faiza and Maliha Ughratdar
Mr Aziz claims in his founding affidavit that they have met all the requirements, which include paying M70 000 each after their applications were approved. However, he says there have been unreasonable delays in issuing them with the naturalisation. certificates. He claims their “countless correspondence” to the home affairs ministry had been ignored, leaving them with no option but to resort to court action.
“In terms of the Lesotho Citizenship Order No.16 of 1971, section 9 thereof, a person from a Commonwealth country such as the applicants, is eligible to apply for Lesotho citizenship if they meet the requirements,” Mr Azul states.
“Section 9 makes it abundantly clear that if a person by whom the application has been made, satisfies the minister (of Home Affairs) that he is qualified under the section … the minister may, if in his opinion that person would, if registered, be a suitable citizen of Lesotho, order that the person be registered as a citizen of Lesotho.”
Among other requirements of Section 9 of the Lesotho Citizenship Order, an applicant should have stayed in the country for more than five years, fluently speak one of the official languages being Sesotho or English, willing to renounce any other nationality or citizenship that he may have and to reside in Lesotho permanently.
Mr Azul is claiming that he applied for citizenship in 2017 and it was approved in 2020 adding he eventually paid the M70 000 which was required at the time. He alleges that other people who had applied after him had been granted citizenship. The government’s conduct – in delaying finalising his application – is thus unfair on him and his co-applicants.
“At the time I applied, I had lawfully sojourned in Lesotho for more than five years. I can fluently speak English language and a bit of Sesotho which I am keen to learn. I am willing to renounce my Indian citizenship and reside in Lesotho permanently and I have been waiting indefinitely to take the oath of allegiance,” said Mr Azul.
“No adverse finding has been made by me or the minister and none is contemplated at the stage where my application has already been approved. I aver that citizenship by its nature is an important issue of status which is intrinsically linked to other fundamental human rights. Once I received a call that my application was successful, and I was advised to pay the necessary fee (M70 000), I had a substantive legitimate expectation that my application would be processed to finality within a reasonable time. Failure to do so means my legitimate expectation has been violated … and my attempts to get answers have fallen on deaf ears.”
The other 15 applicants also filed their supporting affidavits in which they echoed similar sentiments. They intend to move their application before the High Court on 11 December 2023.
