The short answer
It's complicated, but there are things you could try
The whole question
I have a couple of questions regarding getting South African citizenship, here is my back story on my life:
I was brought into South Africa by my mother when I was 10 years old from Zimbabwe in the year 2000/2001 and I am turning 27 this year, so I have been residing in South Africa for my teen and adult life, when we arrived in South Africa my mother applied for refuge-ship and she was granted in 2005/2006 and as kids we have been under her file for all my South African live hood, whenever we would go to Home Affairs to renew our refugee papers we where given either 2 years or 4 years permit, she applied for permanent residence and we never heard from Home Affairs regarding the issue, when my mothers parents passed away in 2010 she traveled back to Zimbabwe to bury them as she is the only child. Home affairs found out about this and they charged her and made her pay a fine for that but now they are giving us 6 months refugee permits.
My questions are:
1 - Is it possible that we as her kids are getting punished for what she did back in 2010?
2- Home Affairs said they would open different files for us when we turn 18 years old but nothing has been done yet will this affect me getting my citizenship?
3- How can I apply for citizenship with the history I have never left South Africa from the age of 10 years old?
4- Do I need to seek legal help for me to start the process of applying for citizenship as an individual?
The long answer
Thank you for your email asking about applying for citizenship as the 27-year-old child of a registered refugee who has never left South Africa since arriving with your mother at the age of 10.
To answer your first question as to whether Home Affairs is punishing you by only issuing permits for six months at a time instead of the two to four years they used to give: it may be that they are punishing your mother for returning to Zimbabwe to bury her parents in 2010, for which she was fined