Actress Pamela Nomvete, best known for her role as Ntsiki Lukhele on Generations, says she is unable to return to South Africa because of problems with her citizenship documents.
Pamela Nomvete’s passport renewal battle
The star revealed on Instagram that the Department of Home Affairs has refused to renew her South African passport, even though she has held dual citizenship since 1994.
Dual citizenship means a person is legally recognised as a citizen of two countries at the same time. In Nomvete’s case, she holds both British and South African citizenship.
According to Nomvete, officials are insisting she provide proof of her parents’ South African citizenship, including their birth certificates and identity documents. However, her parents have passed away, and she says these papers are not available.
“I am literally being told all over again to prove my South African citizenship,” she wrote.
“My parents are now on the ancestral plain, so I am unable to get these papers from them.”
The actress explained that she already submitted proof of her South African heritage when she returned from exile in 1994 to vote in the country’s first democratic elections.
She said she was shocked to be asked for the same evidence more than 30 years later.
Why both passports are required
Because she holds dual citizenship, Nomvete cannot simply travel on her British passport.
South Africa requires citizens with dual nationality to keep both passports valid and use their South African passport to enter or leave the country. Without a valid South African passport, she is effectively barred from travelling back.
“This year my South African passport expired and now I am trying to renew it. I can’t even travel on just my British passport because I have to have both passports valid in order to travel,” she said.
Nomvete’s post has drawn sympathy from South Africans who expressed frustration at how the Department of Home Affairs handles cases of dual citizenship.
Many have called for the department to reconsider its processes and improve record-keeping so that citizens do not have to resubmit the same documents decades later.
She also questioned whether international celebrities would face the same treatment.
“If Spike Lee, who has no immediate links to South Africa, applied for a passport, would they give him this runaround? I doubt it. He would most likely be met by Cyril Ramaphosa on a red carpet,” she wrote.
A celebrated career on stage and screen
Pamela Nomvete rose to fame in the 1990s as the manipulative Ntsiki Lukhele on Generations, a role that made her one of the most recognisable actresses in the country.
She later appeared in shows such as Isidingo and built an international career in the United Kingdom, working in television, theatre, and as a DJ.
Despite her success abroad, she has always described South Africa as her ancestral home.
“I shall still fight to get my passport and be recognised as a dual citizen South African Brit born in Ethiopia,” she said.