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  1. Good News For South Africans Who Acquired Second Citizenship

    [Image: Wiki Commons] The ongoing DA versus the Government lawfare seems to have delivered another win for citizens living abroad. The Constitutional Court on Tuesday declared that section 6(1)(a) of the South African Citizenship Act of 1995, which declared that South African citizens lost their citizenship automatically if they voluntarily acquired citizenship of another country, was inconsistent with the Constitution. The DA launched an application in the Pretoria High Court in 2018 on behalf of those South Africans who, unbeknownst to them, had lost their citizenship through the operation of the provision. Timeslive reports that the high court dismissed the DA’s application in August 2021 on the grounds that the provision served a legitimate government purpose. The high court held that the loss of citizenship under this section was not automatic and was rather effected by operation of law following clearly defined voluntary conduct on the part of the citizen. On appeal in 2023, the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) declared the provision constitutionally invalid from the date of its promulgation. It also made an order declaring that those citizens who had lost their citizenship by virtue of that section are deemed not to have lost their citizenship. The matter came before the Constitutional Court for confirmation of the order of constitutional invalidity made by the SCA. In a unanimous judgment penned by Justice Stevan Majiedt, the court held that the provision was constitutionally invalid and upheld the SCA’s declaration. It said the right to citizenship was entrenched in the Bill of Rights and could not be infringed upon or limited without justification. The DA said that for nearly 2 million South Africans living abroad, the victory was monumental. “Today’s victory also means that all South Africans who inadvertently lost their citizenship have had it restored.” “So many South African citizens had the rug pulled out from under them when they suddenly discovered they had lost their citizenship, without warning.” The court said there was no conceivable purpose nor rational connection why a South African should automatically lose their citizenship by acquiring the citizenship of another country, particularly with the increasing cross-border migration of people. The DA welcomed the judgment and said it was the culmination of a 10-year legal battle by the party and its ancillary organisation, DA Abroad, to restore the citizenship of South Africans who lost their citizenship after obtaining a second nationality without receiving a “Retention of Citizenship” letter beforehand. “Today’s ruling is a victory, and now begins the next crucial step: through the Department of Home Affairs, South African citizenship is restored for all those who were stripped of their citizenship unconstitutionally.” [Source: Timeslive]

    United pilots trigger 2 flightmares after forgetting their own passports

    Pilots on two United Airlines flights this month forgot their passports. Portra/Getty Images Two United Airlines flights to Shanghai were disrupted this month after pilots forgot their passports. The incidents caused delays and diversions to passengers. Diverting flights is costly due to fuel, crew members, and compensation. Not one but two United Airlines pilots have forgotten their passports this month, triggering diversions and lengthy delays for passengers. Saturday's United flight 198 from Los Angeles to Shanghai was diverted to San Francisco International Airport "as the pilot did not have their passport on board," an airline spokesperson told Business Insider. "We arranged for a new crew to take our customers to their destination that evening. Customers were provided with meal vouchers and compensation." The Boeing 787-9 was carrying 257 passengers and 13 crew. The diversion was a hot topic in the subreddit r/unitedairlines over the weekend. Some shared the message United had sent passengers, apologizing for the disruption, and describing the situation as "an unexpected crew-related issue requiring a new crew." "Once they arrive, we'll get you back on your way to Shanghai as soon as possible," the message read. "We sincerely apologize for this disruption and appreciate your patience." Some Redditors noticed another United flight had been delayed on March 14 — also heading to Shanghai from LAX. "Is this the same guy who forgot his passport on March 14?!" wrote a user named simplegrocery3. Commenters concluded that it was unlikely to be the same pilot. United said in a statement that flight UA857, a Boeing 777 heading for Shanghai with 348 passengers and 16 crew, was delayed on March 14 "prior to departure due to one of the pilots not having their passport." "A new pilot was brought in, and the flight subsequently departed for Shanghai," the spokesperson said. Diverting a plane is costly, due to the expense of replacement crew, compensation for passengers — and possibly dumping fuel as well. It's far from the first time that pilots have forgotten their passports. In 2019, a T'way Air flight from Vietnam to Seoul was delayed by 11 hours when the pilot lost his passport and couldn't enter the airport, The Korea Times reported. Read the original article on Business Insider

    Believers hand passports and cash to pastor, seek God’s help for visas

    GistReel A group of believers has been seen dropping their passports and cash before a pastor, seeking divine intervention to secure a travel visa. This unusual scene was captured in a viral post circulating on the popular social media platform, X, formerly known as Twitter. In the post, the pastor, joined by several of his followers, could be seen fervently praying, shaking intensely as they called on God’s favor. As the prayers intensified, more individuals stepped forward, placing their passports and cash at the pastor’s feet, hoping for divine approval for their visa applications. The post quickly gained traction online, prompting a flood of reactions from concerned users in the comment section, where many shared their thoughts on the practice. See some reactions below: @therealkay_guy: “White man will just pick his passport, check travel requirements, book flight and awaaay buss. For a black man to travel, he must avoid his family and friends, go to church, pray fervently, fast for 40 days and still travel on connection move.” @KSnetne: “Faith is powerful, but let’s remember, God works in mysterious ways, but the embassy works with documents. Prayers and preparation go hand in hand!” @JamesKwandoh: “Mental brain washing. Why don’t you pray to God alone.” @emman_thompson: “For lack of knowledge, my people perish.” @PieCee1z: “The concept of Tongues speaking is massively misunderstood by Christians todayIt is not for prayer and that nonsense they been speaking as prayer oh wetin be this at all.” @MrDonewells: “I know this is meant to create some mischief but I see nothing strange and foolish about this. It’s an act of faith just like any other prayer.” @Gordonguggis: “There is nothing wrong with this. It’s about your faith. If you don’t believe in it that’s fine. It’s about their faith simple. Those who don’t believe it’s ok, take your passport straight to the embassy and get your visa. Those who believe in this will also do it. That’s it.” @DarrenGh1: “Before you critique them, remember we all have what works for us. If religion works for them, let them go ahead and do it. Don’t behave as if your way is the best. Have a great day.” WATCH VIDEO: Christian believers submit their passports and cash for a powerful prayer session led by their church leader on the Atwea Mountains, hoping that God will answer their prayers and grant them a traveling visa. pic.twitter.com/ctObDi6opA — EDHUB (@eddie_wrt) February 27, 2025

    An American Kept Giving This Guy A Hard Time About His Heritage, So He Shut Him Down By Showing Him His Irish Passport

    People, if you’re not from a country, it’s best to avoid lecturing people who actually hail from there about what’s going on there. I remember one time I was hanging out with a friend from Ireland and an American like myself tried to lecture her about that country’s political issues. It was totally embarrassing and he looked like an idiot! And now on to today’s story! Did this fella do anything wrong when he waved his Irish passport in a guy’s face to teach him a lesson? Read on and see what you think. AITA for waving my passport in someone’s face? “I (26M) am British, I am also a dual citizen of UK/Ireland. This is important to the story. While traveling I was staying in a hostel and a group of us there decided to go out to some bars, one of the group was an American guy, lets call him J. That’s not cool! For some reason J immediately took against me it started with a few jokes he made about me being British, which I can take, with the bland food, bad weather type stereotypes. As the bar crawl kept going he was getting intoxicated and making more and more comments, for instance he just started referring to me as “The Limey” and was constantly saying things like he celebrated when the Queen passed away. It got old really fast. It was no longer funny and was just all the time making jabs about where I am from. I’m hardly patriotic and will be the first to complain about my country, but there was a point where I was getting offended and it was personally directed at me, started imitating and mocking my accent, etc. Eventually I got annoyed and asked him why he thought he had a right to constantly be dunking on me and what his problem was with Britain. J’s comment was along the lines of “I’m Irish so it’s allowed for me to constantly talk trash on Britain, my family came to America because of the Famine” and a bunch of other comments like that. He had enough. At this point I was a bit wasted and had lost my temper so I responded by waving my Irish passport in his face. I asked him questions like if he had ever actually been to Ireland, knew any family there or knew anything about Irish culture. You know the type… Which he barely knew anything, didn’t know of any family and the only time he ever spent in Ireland was a week in Dublin. I started lecturing saying that a lot of Irish people had immigrated to the UK and that after his family spent over 100 years in the United States he barely had any right to consider himself Irish. Let alone think it’s acceptable to just being a jerk to random people from another country The other people on this bar crawl had noticed me losing my temper and laying into the guy and called me an ******* since he was only joking, and it’s stupid to play the I’m more Irish than you game and should have just asked him to stop earlier. AITA?” Here’s how Reddit users reacted to this story. This reader said he’s NTA. Another individual shared their thoughts. This person had a lot to say. Take that, you ignorant American! No one whose ancestors have been here since the potato famine are actually “Irish.” If you liked that post, check out this story about a guy who was forced to sleep on the couch at his wife’s family’s house, so he went to a hotel instead.

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