37. Persons who are citizens on the coming into operation of the Constitution
Every person who immediately before the coming into operation of this Constitution is a citizen of Lesotho under the Lesotho Citizenship Order 1971 shall, on the coming into operation of this Constitution and subject to any provision made in or under this Chapter, continue to be a citizen of Lesotho.
38. Persons born in Lesotho after the coming into operation of the Constitution
Subject to the provisions of subsections (2)and (3), every person born in Lesotho after the coming into operation of this Constitution shall become a citizen of Lesotho.
Save as provided in subsection (3), a person shall not become a citizen of Lesotho by virtue of this section if at the time of his birth neither of his parents is a citizen of Lesotho, and–
one or both of his parents possesses such immunity from suit and legal process as is accorded to the envoy of a foreign sovereign power accredited to Lesotho; or
one or both of his parents is an enemy alien and the birth occurs in a place then under occupation by the enemy.
A person born in Lesotho on or after the coming into operation of this Constitution who is disqualified to become a citizen of Lesotho by virtue of subsection (2) of this section shall become a citizen of Lesotho if he would otherwise become stateless.
39. Persons born outside Lesotho after the coming into operation of the Constitution
A person born outside Lesotho after the coming into operation of this Constitution shall become a citizen of Lesotho at the date of his birth, if at that date either of his parents is a citizen of Lesotho otherwise than by descent.
40. Marriage to Lesotho citizen
A person who marries a citizen of Lesotho shall, upon making application and taking oath of allegiance be registered as a Lesotho citizen after five years of–
cohabitation in Lesotho; and
continuous and lawful stay in Lesotho with a citizen of Lesotho.
A person who marries a citizen of Lesotho who, but for his death would have continued to be a citizen of Lesotho under section 37 of the constitution is entitled to be registered as a citizen of Lesotho after five years of continuous and lawful stay in Lesotho.
41. Dual citizenship
A citizen of Lesotho may hold citizenship of any other country in addition to his citizenship of Lesotho.
Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 18, 28 and 29 of the Constitution a person who is a citizen of any country who acquires a citizenship of Lesotho by naturalisation or registration–
is only eligible for social benefits after ten years of being naturalised or registered as a citizen of Lesotho; and
shall not hold a position which will be specified by an Act of Parliament governing citizenship matters.
41A. Restoration of Lesotho citizenship
A citizen of Lesotho who marries a citizen of another country which requires him to renounce his Lesotho citizenship, shall, upon dissolution of marriage, have his citizenship restored if he wishes to become a citizen of Lesotho.
A person who was born a citizen of Lesotho and renounced his citizenship through acquisition of another citizenship, his citizenship shall be restored immediately on the coming into operation of this amendment to the Constitution and his rights and privileges, except those that contradict section 41(3) shall continue to prevail as if he never lost Lesotho citizenship.
A citizen of Lesotho who acquires citizenship in another country shall not hold a position which will be specified by the provisions of the Constitution and any Act of Parliament governing citizenship matters in Lesotho.
For purposes of this section “social benefits” means educational sponsorships, social grants, old age pension or any other benefit which the Minister responsible for citizen matters may determine.
42. Powers of Parliament
Parliament may make provision for the acquisition of citizenship of Lesotho by persons who are not eligible or who are no longer eligible to become citizens of Lesotho under the provisions of this Chapter.
Parliament may make provision for depriving of his citizenship of Lesotho any person other than a person who became or becomes–
a citizen of Lesotho by virtue of having been born in Lesotho; or
a citizen of Lesotho by descent,
unless he would thereby become stateless.
Parliament may make provision for the renunciation by any person of his citizenship of Lesotho.
43. Interpretation
In this Chapter–
“alien” means a person who is not a citizen of Lesotho; “prescribed” means prescribed by or under any Act of Parliament.
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In this Chapter, references to a citizen by descent are references to a person who is a citizen of Lesotho by virtue of section 39 of this Constitution or of section 23(2) or 26 of the Constitution of Lesotho of 1966 or of section 6 of the Lesotho Citizenship Order 1971.
For the purposes of this Chapter, a person born aboard a registered ship or aircraft, or aboard an unregistered ship or aircraft of the Government of any country, shall be deemed to have been born in the place in which the ship or aircraft was registered or, as the case may be, in that country.
Any reference in this Chapter to the national status of the parent of a person at the time of that person’s birth shall, in relation to a person born after the death of either parent be construed as a reference to the national status of that parent at that parent’s death, and where that death occurred before the coming into operation of this Constitution, and the birth occurred after the coming into operation of this Constitution the national status that the parent would have had if he or she had died on the coming into operation of this Constitution shall be deemed to be his or her national status at the time of his or her death.
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