DA MP lying about citizenship

Well in this case Malema also doesn't qualify to be an MP because technically he wasn't born in South Africa ... he was shat out in South Africa.
 
DA MP a liar and a fraud

Piet Reampedi, Mzilikazi Wa Afrika and Stephan Hofstatter | 29 June, 2014

A Sunday Times investigation has established that Phumzile Van Damme is a foreign national who misrepresented where she was born, which disqualifies her from being a South African MP.
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In her profile on the DA website, she claims she was "born in 1983 in Nelspruit but spent my early childhood in Swaziland and Belgium".

Asked to comment on her party spokeswoman being caught out in a lie, DA leader Helen Zille said: "Why is this an issue?"

When Zille was informed that the constitution required that all South African MPs be either South African or naturalised citizens and that her spokeswoman was neither, she said she was out of the country and "cannot deal with this from here".

A Sunday Times investigation has established that:

Phumzile Van Damme was born in Nazarene Hospital, now known as Raleigh Fitkin Memorial Hospital, in Manzini, Swaziland, in 1983;
Her mother, Lynette van Damme née Masuku, was born in Hlathikhulu village in Swaziland and was a second-year teaching student at the University of Swaziland when she gave birth to Phumzile; and
Phumzile's biological father was Elroy Mayisela, a Swazi national who is deceased.

For three weeks, Phumzile and her mother have ducked the question of where she was born, sometimes giving conflicting answers.

She conceded that she did not have a birth certificate and supplied an "abridged" version, sourced from the Department of Home Affairs last week, that states her "country of birth" as South Africa. She denied she was born in Swaziland and accused her detractors of jealousy.

But Sunday Times reporters visited Swaziland this week and found records at the Raleigh Fitkin Memorial Hospital as well as at St Michael's Primary School in Manzini, where Phumzile spent three years between 1990 and 1992. Sunday Times reporters also visited Hlathikhulu village, about 100km from the capital Mbabane, where Lynette was born and raised.

The hospital's master register, a manual record of children born at the facility in the 1980s and late 1990s, before electronic filing was introduced, confirmed that she was born there.

Her mother was admitted on July 19 1983 and gave birth the next day. The mother and daughter were discharged five days later, on July 25 1983. The register also names Mayisela as the father.

According to St Michael's records, she was enrolled as a Grade 1 pupil on January 30 1990, when she was seven years old. She left the school on December 10 1992, having passed Grade 3.

Phumzile's cousin, Prince Masuku, confirmed that she had been born in Swaziland. He said the last time the family saw her was in 2012 when she came to bury her grandmother, Phumzile Masuku.

A former close friend of Phumzile's mother said she and other friends visited the then newborn Phumzile at the Nazarene Hospital.

Mayisela, a former teacher at the Central High School in Manzini, broke up with Phumzile's mother when Phumzile was seven or eight years old, sources said.

The mother began dating Hugo van Damme, a Belgian, who was in Swaziland as a consultant. They married and moved to Europe with the young Phumzile.

When the couple divorced, mother and child headed to Nelspruit.

The mother's South African citizenship is also being disputed. Sources insisted she was born in Hlathikhulu to a Swazi father and a South African-born mother.

This means Phumzile Van Damme is ineligible to be an MP. The constitution requires an MP to be either South African-born or naturalised.

Political analyst Professor Lesiba Teffo said Van Damme could be stripped of her position if she was found to be a foreigner who had flouted the citizenship laws.

"By definition, it cannot be. You can't have a Zimbabwean walking in here today and be an MP," said Teffo. "That would be illegal, illegitimate and contrary to the rules laid down for people to become MPs."

Van Damme dismissed as "absolutely not true" claims that she was a foreign national with a fraudulently acquired South African identity document.

"I am not sure why my citizenship is being questioned. Maybe it is because most of my family still live in Swaziland. Maybe it is because I hold a strange surname from the only father I know. Maybe it is because it is designed to discredit me."

She said that she was "born in Nelspruit. I grew up in Swaziland. My grandparents live there."

Asked where in Nelspruit she was born, she replied: "I am not sure, hey. I think in White River."

Van Damme also confirmed that her mother had been pregnant with her while a student at Swaziland University and that Mayisela was her biological father.

Her parents broke off their relationship when Phumzile was "very young" and her mother met Van Damme when she was five.

"He has always been my father. He legally adopted me when I was about 10 years old and my parents took the decision to change my surname to Van Damme," she said.

Her mother told her she was born "at a hospital in Nelspruit" and that she had been "part of the struggle" at the time, but never disclosed any details of her relationship with her father. "It was very traumatic, from what I can tell."

Lynette contradicted her daughter's claims that she was born in Nelspruit or White River. She claimed her daughter was born in Kamhlushwa, a village near Mbuzini, more than 100km east of Nelspruit. Asked to confirm or deny that Mayisela was Phumzile's biological father, she said "yes and no".

She denied that Phumzile was born in Manzini, but refused to supply the name of the South African hospital where she claimed her daughter was born, or answer a direct question about whether she was born in Nazarene Hospital.

She said her ANC struggle background did not allow her to divulge such "secrets".

"I was involved in the ANC and some of the things around children's birth are very complex, as you would know as an African.

"You are an African, I think, and if I go into ... you don't know ... the nature of her birth was ... it's a bit very secret," she said.

Lynette, a former SANParks general manager and former South African Heritage Agency CEO, insisted that she was a South African-born national and denied being born in Hlathikhulu. But she claimed not to know where she was born.

"It's a pity my mother is [dead] because she knows where I was born. My mother has kept it secret due to the nature of my birth."

This week, when presented with evidence of her birth in Raleigh Fitken Memorial Hospital in Swaziland, Phumzile van Damme said: "Your allegations differ significantly from what I have always known growing up. Therefore, for absolute certainty for myself, I'm conducting my own investigation."

http://m.timeslive.co.za/politics/?articleId=12106039
 
DA to lay complaint with Press Ombudsman over libellous report on Van Damme citizenship

The DA will lay a complaint with the Press Ombudsman against the Sunday Times following its report on the citizenship of DA National Spokesperson Phumzile Van Damme today. The report is opportunistic at best, and libellous at worst.

The circumstances surrounding her birth and the registration of accompanying documentation cannot be attributed to her and was entirely beyond her control. Labelling Van Damme a “liar and a fraud” is defamatory and gutter journalism.

Van Damme only became aware of the potential questions around her citizenship when approached by the Sunday Times. Naturally this is a deeply personal matter that is greatly concerning to her. Van Damme would like to get to the bottom of the matter but has not had time to do so extensively, making her reaction to the story, out of necessity, incomplete.

Van Damme is a South African citizen and possesses the necessary documentation to support this, including a birth certificate and a valid identity document. These documents were made available to the paper. She was also under the impression that she was born outside Nelspruit, in what is now Mpumalanga, as reflected in her birth certificate.

After being presented with the allegations by the Sunday Times, Van Damme categorically stated that she has not had an opportunity to investigate the circumstances of her birth and registration having accepted the account of her mother. Van Damme informed the paper that she would investigate this herself.

Van Damme’s recent personal investigation revealed that her birth was registered at Home Affairs in Pietermaritzburg in the mid-1990s. A Home Affairs official told Van Damme’s mother that she should register Van Damme based on the understanding that she was born in South Africa and was entitled to South African citizenship. The official informed Van Damme’s mother that the Department of Home Affairs was dealing with a huge case load of those exiled by Apartheid now returning to claim their South African citizenship, and since her family fell into that group, it would be easier to register Van Damme as born in South Africa. Van Damme’s grandmother left South Africa in the 1950s to escape Apartheid and settled in Swaziland.

Van Damme’s mother took the advice from the Home Affairs official in good faith, given the confusion that characterised Home Affairs during the transition.

It is regrettable that Van Damme’s mother did not inform herself of the relevant rules for registering citizenship, and that Van Damme was registered based on birth and not because she was entitled to citizenship through her biological father and grandparents. Van Damme’s mother also acknowledges that she was too scared to return to Home Affairs to correct this detail.

At no stage during this process or thereafter was Van Damme involved or informed of the circumstances surrounding her birth or registration.

It is apparent that Van Damme was a victim of circumstances beyond her control, an untenable situation of which she only became aware following the Sunday Times query.

Van Damme is a South African Citizen. Her status is protected by Section 20 of the Constitution. She is entitled to South African citizenship regardless, through her biological father and grandparents. Van Damme and the DA will protect this status vigorously.

Section 20 of the Constitution protects citizens from arbitrary deprivation of citizenship, a right enshrined in the Bill of Rights not in the least because of the arbitrary actions of the Apartheid government in this regard.

Both Van Damme and the DA have acted in good faith at all times, and for the Sunday Times to claim anything to the contrary as a matter of fact is dangerous territory for a newspaper to tread in.
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http://da.org.za/newsroom.htm?action=view-news-item&id=13989
 
a critical part of the story is being overlooked:
The claim is made that:
She said her mother told her she was born "at a hospital in Nelspruit" and that she had been "part of the struggle".

"I was involved in the ANC and some of the things around children's birth are very complex, as you would know as an African," Lynette van Damme was quoted as saying.

She told the reporter that the nature of her daughter's birth was "very secret".
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To which there is a degree of probable truth: she may have been born illegally in a Nelspruit hospital

Legislation was specifically passed to afford nativity on persons born abroad as a result of apartheid --so white families who went out on a one-way exist visa for political activities could similarly restate citizenship if they were born here or apply for nationality and citizenship if they were born abroad because their parents were exiled.
I would be very surprised if every single MP and MPL from the ANC was born in South Africa
 
not actually the term liar and fraud implies deceitful intent towards an objective that is pecuniary or ambitious

there is no reason to believe that the deception is anything beyond fear induced
 
Paul Hjul said:
not actually the term liar and fraud implies deceitful intent towards an objective that is pecuniary or ambitious

there is no reason to believe that the deception is anything beyond fear induced
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if we assumed what sunday times is 1000% telling the truth, the problem is Phumzile Van Damme, she can't be a liar.

so if they said she is a liar, it obviously that is defamatory.

case closed.
 
should start looking into the citizenship of all the MP's, in all parties.

Wonder how many can be got rid of that way :D
 
If so and she knew it then charge her with fraud but then so should all the other corrupt politicians be charged then we can get a totally new government.
 
If her mother did some creative paperwork, then it doesn't change the fact that she is a foreign national.
 
DA CUT CORNERS ON VAN DAMME: ANC

The Democratic Alliance was desperately recruiting and parading black people in a bid to conceal its real identity, the ANC said on Sunday.

Reacting to the Sunday Times report that cast doubt on DA MP Phumzile van Damme's eligibility to be a Member of Parliament, the office of the ANC chief whip accused the DA of cutting corners.

"It would seem that, in its window-dressing exercise of desperately recruiting and parading black people to conceal its real identity, the DA has cut corners," spokesman Moloto Mothapo said in a statement.

By doing so, the DA had exposed a young African woman to unnecessary public humiliation.

"This public scrutiny into her personal life... could have been avoided had the DA conducted basic checks and made corrections where necessary," he said.

The scrutiny on Van Damme's personal life was unfair, intrusive and cruel.

"The DA should take full responsibility for putting her in this situation by flouting processes in its bid to use young blacks as window dressers in its ranks," said Mothapo.

"The DA does not have the interest of bright young black people except to exploit, humiliate and discard them, as they have done recently with Lindiwe Mazibuko."

ANC national spokesman Zizi Kodwa said in a statement they called upon all relevant institutions to undertake an "urgent investigation" into the circumstances surrounding Van Damme's election.

The ruling party called on the DA to issue a full explanation regarding the undermining of constitutional order.

"And further, apologise to the people of South Africa for misleading and lying to them," Kodwa said.

Earlier on Sunday, the DA said Van Damme was oblivious of questions around her citizenship until the Sunday Times made an inquiry to her.

Spokesman Marius Redelinghuys said in a statement that Van Damme was a South African.

"Van Damme is a South African citizen and possesses the necessary documentation to support this, including a birth certificate and a valid identity document," he said.

"She was also under the impression that she was born outside Nelspruit, as reflected in her birth certificate."

After being shown the Sunday Times' allegations, Van Damme categorically said she has not had an opportunity to investigate the circumstances of her birth and registration, having accepted her mother's account.

The newspaper reported that Van Damme was born in Manzini, Swaziland, in 1983, and that her mother, Lynette van Damme, was born in Hlathikhulu village, also in Swaziland.

Van Damme's biological father, Elroy Mayisela, was also a Swazi national.

If Van Damme was found to have misrepresented her citizenship, it would disqualify her from being a South African MP, the newspaper reported.

Redelinghuys said the Sunday Times report was libellous and the party would lay a complaint with the Press Ombudsman.

Source : Sapa /aw/lk
Date : 29 Jun 2014 18:55
 
By doing so, the DA had exposed a young African woman to unnecessary public humiliation.
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Instigated by the ANC, you know her mommy well enough.

I'm not making excuses. Has any off you enquired about if you were born where your parents told you?
My mom told me I was born in KZN South Africa. I don't have a birth certificate ( our house burnt down ) I can't remember what we did to get my ID. My parents probably got the letters signed at the police station. I never questioned my nationality.
 
Mila said:
Instigated by the ANC, you know her mommy well enough.

I'm not making excuses. Has any off you enquired about if you were born where your parents told you?
My mom told me I was born in KZN South Africa. I don't have a birth certificate ( our house burnt down ) I can't remember what we did to get my ID. My parents probably got the letters signed at the police station. I never questioned my nationality.
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Firstly, birth certificates are replaceable. Secondly you need them for passports, so she had one.

Thridly, it doesn't change your citizenship if you don't know your real place of birth. If the certificate is bogus, most countries will fling you out and maybe charge the parent for fraud. Even the children go too.
 
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