Foreign descent laws affect 1.5 million Zims

ponents of President Robert Mugabe’s regime, official sources confirmed this week.
Zimbabweans of Indian descent, together with an estimated 1.5million with links to Malawi and Mozambique, who have in the past been critical of President Mugabe’s regime, are among those facing statelessness as government moves to clamp down on dissent.
The Registrar General’s Office has issued a February 6 deadline for people of foreign birth or descent to obtain proof they have renounced any claim to foreign citizenship.
The enforcement of the stringent legislation will also strip the newly stateless of their votes in local government elections scheduled for August.
The requirement that people with a possible claim to foreign citizenship produce proof they are not, secretly, dual citizens, presents a greater nightmare for those with links to countries such as Malawi or Mozambique than for those of European extraction.
Up to 12,000 Zimbabweans of Indian extraction also face an insuperable problem as Delhi’s representatives announced they could not provide consular services, in the form of letters confirming recipients were not entitled to Indian citizenship, to persons who were not Indian citizens.
Officials under Zimbabwe’s registrar general Tobaiwa Mudede meanwhile declared that persons of obvious Indian descent who were unable to produce such letters would be deemed to have forfeited their Zimbabwean citizenship. The Indian High Commission has had discussions on the issue with the Zimbabwean Ministry of Home Affairs, but no resolution has been announced.
The “Catch 22” operated by Mudede is well illustrated by the test case of Trevor Ncube. The official reason given by Mudede is that Ncube failed to renounce his access to Zambian citizenship formally when the Zimbabwean law was changed ahead of the presidential election in 2002 to make it illegal for Zimbabweans to hold dual citizenship or even have access to the citizenship of another country.
Ncube was born in Zimbabwe and so became a Zimbabwean, but his father was born in Zambia so he theoretically had access to Zambian citizenship. Born in Zimbabwe, he is now seeking leave of Judge Nicholas Ndou to fight a class action in the High Court, backed by human rights’ lawyers.
Mudede’s officials demanded Ncube obtain proof from Zambia’s Lusaka embassy he was not a dual Zambian citizen. Zambian officials replied that he would have to apply for and be granted their citizenship before he could renounce it. But, they added, his application would be refused, since his parents were refugees and had not registered his birth in Zambia.
A recent US State Department report alleged bribery was common in Mudede’s department. A Zimbabwe High Court judge has also accused the registrar general’s office of countenancing widespread malpractice against Mugabe opponents.
The opposition MDC has pledged to reverse the citizenship laws if Morgan Tsvangirai came to power. “You cannot legislate for people’s loyalty,” spokesman Chamisa said.