What about we immigrants?

I WOULD like to add my comments to The Herald article, “ANC warned on dual citizenship ban” (September 7).

My family emigrated from the UK in 1969. My father was a qualified toolmaker by trade.

At the time there was a huge shortage of skilled artisans in South Africa. As a family of six, we all arrived on a British passport.

Up until the middle of the 1980s we only had British passports. The National Party in power at the time (my parents have never been able to vote) brought in a law that everyone under the age of 25 in the country, no matter what nationality, became a South African citizen.

Therefore we had to apply for our new ID documents and our brothers had, like most white South African men, to serve in the army. We also had to apply for South African passports and renew our British passports when they expired.

We are required to leave the country on our South African passports and produce our British passports on arrival in UK, and then show our South African ones when we enter South Africa.

Does the ANC’s intention to disallow dual citizenship mean that I will lose my permanent residence as well, a stamp no longer required since 1969?

Rumours are that when we have to apply for our new ID card we will be told to wait, because the ANC government wants to do away with our South African ID status. No longer will dual passports be allowed, therefore we will lose our vote.

One wonders if this is what is behind the stupid decision if passed. What problem is this for the ANC if I hold two passports – it still has control. Think again.

If I have my ID book stolen, will the Homes Affair Department replace it with the new card?

Mandy Tuck, Uitenhage