The Forgotten 11%: How Bureaucracy and Borders Erase South Africans

Earlier this year, Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber stood before the National Council of Provinces and issued a stark warning:

“I say there is a silent crisis in the country of undocumented South Africans. There are children who are going to school who didn’t have their birth registered.”

Behind the minister’s words lies a staggering reality — millions of people in South Africa live without any form of legal identity. They are not migrants without papers; many are citizens by birth or long‑term residents. Yet, without an ID or birth certificate, they are invisible to the state, excluded from education, healthcare, social grants, and the formal economy.

The Numbers No One Can Agree On

The scale of the crisis depends on who you ask:

• Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) — in a 2021 submission to Parliament — cited World Bank estimates of over 15 million undocumented people in South Africa in 2018, including both citizens and residents.
• Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi offers a lower but still alarming estimate:

“According to statistics, 11% of South Africans are undocumented. If you look at our population, 11% will be about six million people. They don’t have any form of documents, but they are not illegal.”

The absence of a dedicated statelessness determination mechanism means no one truly knows the exact number. What is clear is that the problem is systemic, not marginal.

How People Become Stateless

The pathways into statelessness are varied but interconnected:

1. Birth to undocumented or stateless parents without registration.
2. Administrative failures — lost records, unprocessed applications, or errors in the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) system.
3. Loss or renunciation of citizenship without acquiring another nationality.
4. Gaps in legal frameworks that fail to protect those at risk.

For many, the problem begins at birth. Without a birth certificate, a child cannot enrol in school, access child support grants, or later apply for an ID. The cycle of exclusion becomes generational.

The Gendered Face of Statelessness

While statelessness affects all demographics, it is deeply gendered. Thandeka Chauke — head of LHR’s Statelessness Unit — launched the Her Document: Her Dignity campaign in March 2025 to highlight the barriers women face in securing documentation for themselves and their children.

“Women, especially those from historically disadvantaged backgrounds, encounter significant obstacles when trying to register births, obtain IDs, or secure citizenship for themselves and their children,” Chauke said.
“Statelessness in South Africa is not just a legal issue — it is deeply racialised and gendered.”

The campaign’s stories are harrowing:

• Bella, whose education ended abruptly because she lacked documents.
• Paula, who has lived in South Africa since childhood but fears every police encounter.
• Maggie, a citizen raising six undocumented grandchildren, unable to secure grants or school enrolment for them.

A Legal Turning Point

In March 2025, the Gauteng High Court delivered a landmark judgment in M.M.E and Others v Director General, Department of Home Affairs. The case involved a Rwandan refugee family whose younger daughter, born in South Africa in 2015, was denied citizenship due to post‑2013 amendments to the Citizenship Act.

The court ruled that forcing a child to wait until adulthood to apply for citizenship — while being functionally stateless — was unconstitutional and contrary to South Africa’s obligations under international law.

Section 28(1)(a) of the Constitution is unequivocal: “Every child has the right to a name and nationality from birth.” The judgment reaffirmed that bureaucratic obstacles cannot strip children of this right.

The Human Cost

Statelessness is not just a legal status; it is a lived reality of exclusion:

• Education: Schools often require birth certificates for enrolment. Without them, children are turned away or attend informally without recognition.
• Healthcare: Anti‑immigrant activism, such as demands by groups like Operation Dudula that patients show IDs before treatment, has heightened barriers.
• Employment: Without an ID, formal employment is impossible, pushing people into precarious, informal work.
• Justice: Stateless individuals are vulnerable to exploitation, with little recourse to legal protection.

Regional and Continental Context

South Africa is not alone. Across Africa, statelessness is a legacy of colonial borders, discriminatory nationality laws, and weak civil registration systems. The African Union’s Protocol on the Right to a Nationality and the Eradication of Statelessness — adopted but not yet widely ratified — calls for gender‑equal nationality laws and the removal of administrative barriers.

LHR has urged South Africa to be among the first 15 AU member states to sign and ratify the protocol, positioning itself as a continental leader on the issue.

Where Reform Must Begin

Advocates propose a multi‑pronged approach:

1. Streamline birth registration — especially for children of undocumented parents.
2. Remove excessive proof requirements that disproportionately affect the poor and rural communities.
3. Establish a statelessness determination procedure to identify and protect those at risk.
4. Ratify and domesticate the AU Protocol to align national law with continental commitments.
5. Public awareness campaigns to counter stigma and misinformation.

From Invisibility to Belonging

For millions, a legal identity is more than a piece of paper — it is the key to dignity, opportunity, and protection. As Chauke put it:

“For thousands of women and children across South Africa, a legal identity is a recognition of their existence, their dignity, and their right to belong.”

The question is whether South Africa will act decisively to end this silent crisis — or allow another generation to grow up unseen.