Madagascar's President Andry Rajoelina is teh chair of the Southern African Development Community. (AFP)
Recent claims that the Southern African Development Community (SADC) is now led by a “European citizen” make for dramatic headlines, but they fall apart under legal scrutiny. At issue is whether Madagascar’s President Andry Rajoelina, who assumed the rotating chair of SADC in August, is still Malagasy after acquiring French nationality in 2014.
Some commentators, including the opposition in Madagascar, insisted that the High Constitutional Court (HCC) was biased for allowing his candidacy in the 2023 presidential election. The facts, however, tell a different story.
Automatic loss of nationality? Not so fast
These critics rely on Article 42 of Ordinance No. 60-064 of 1960, which provides that a Malagasy adult who voluntarily acquires another nationality “loses” Malagasy nationality. They treat this as an automatic mechanism: foreign passport in, Malagasy passport out.
But the law of Madagascar and most nations does not work that way. Nationality cannot be stripped without due process. The same Ordinance sets clear conditions:
- Article 55: published in the Official Journal; and
- Article 79: in nationality disputes, the burden of proof lies on whoever raises the claim, and a certificate of Malagasy nationality is valid proof until rebutted.
No decree has ever been published declaring that Rajoelina lost his nationality. No court judgment has stripped him of his nationality. The critics’ assertion rests on assumption, not law.
The 2018 silence
If Rajoelina truly ceased to be Malagasy in 2014, why was this issue not raised in the 2018 election? He ran, he won, and no one objected. The sudden urgency smacks of political convenience rather than constitutional principle.
What the court actually did
The HCC addressed the matter directly in Decision No. 11-HCC/D3 of 9 September 2023, when finalising the list of presidential candidates. Under Article 10 of Organic Law No. 2018-009, each candidate must submit 14 documents, including:
- A full copy of the birth certificate or a legalised copy of the national ID; and
- What certificate of Malagasy nationality issued within six months.
Rajoelina submitted both. His nationality certificate was valid. The court concluded:
“None of the 28 contenders to be candidates for the presidential election of 9 November 2023, notably Mr RAJOELINA Andry Nirina, has been the subject of a decree declaring or noting the loss of Malagasy nationality.”
That line alone is decisive. Without a decree, there is no legal loss.
The Constitution itself is clear.
The opposition’s argument invents a purity test absent from the constitutional text.
Bias, or just fidelity to the law?
The opposition insists the HCC is biased because its decision favoured the incumbent. But bias is not proven by outcome; it must be shown in reasoning. And the court’s reasoning is solid:
- It applied the law on candidacy documents;
- It respected the presumption of validity attached to nationality certificates; and
- It recognised that nationality cannot be revoked without formal decree or judgment.
If the opposition had credible evidence, it should have presented it. Instead, it chose to undermine the court with rhetoric.
Why this matters
Nationality is fundamental. It is the legal bond between citizen and state. To claim someone lost it without proof, without decree, without publication in the Official Journal, is reckless. It destabilises both the legal order and public trust.
Equally reckless is to reduce SADC’s leadership to a passport dispute. The region faces pressing challenges: integration, infrastructure, peace, and economic resilience. To waste political energy on a hollow allegation about “European citizenship” is to distract from the real work the SADC must do.
The bottom line
Here are the facts:
- No decree has ever stripped Rajoelina of Malagasy nationality.
- He presented a valid nationality certificate in 2023, as required by law.
- The HCC confirmed his eligibility under the Constitution and Ordinance.
- The Constitution does not forbid dual nationality.
The law has spoken. The court has ruled. The opposition has failed to prove its claim.
To call Rajoelina a “European citizen” may inflame headlines, but it cannot overturn Malagasy law. He remains Malagasy, and he assumed the SADC chair legitimately, as elected by his peers.
The true danger lies not in supposed judicial bias, but in the willingness of political actors to weaken institutions by replacing law with insinuation. Courts cannot govern by innuendo. Nor should regional bodies be undermined by manufactured scandals.
The SADC is chaired by a Malagasy president, elected and recognised as such by his people and by his peers. That is the legal and political reality, and no amount of sensationalism will change it.
Dr Craig Moffat is a former diplomat and EM Hoza is a serving diplomat.