Mawere registers to vote following dual citizenship court victory
By Violet Gonda
SW Radio Africa
28 June 2013
Business mogul Mutumwa Mawere finally acquired new identification documents
from the registrar general’s office and has now registered to vote, after
winning a landmark case on dual citizenship in the Constitutional Court
(ConCourt) on Wednesday.
However Mawere fears many people, classified as aliens, are still going to
face hurdles despite the ConCourt ruling, as he was made to show the court
order to officials in order to receive the new identity documents.
Mawere, who collected his documents on Thursday, denied reports stating he
had filed papers in the nomination court on Friday to stand as a candidate
in forthcoming elections.
He told SW Radio Africa that some people wanted to nominate him but he had
to be a registered voter first and “that was only done this afternoon so
there was no way that would be possible.”
Mawere said his rights were violated, as in terms of the constitution he was
supposed to have been given the same rights as any other Zimbabwean to
participate in the electoral process when the new charter was adopted on
22nd May -even if it meant having the same time allocated for voter
registration.
He added that constitutionalism has not dawned on Zimbabwe: “Until yesterday
I was classified as an alien today I am classified as a Zimbabwean but there
are many other people who are either resident aliens or non-resident aliens.
So if you want to have an inclusive process then it must be fair and
equitable to all.
“Even when I went to the registrar general’s office they asked me for a copy
of the court order, but the constitution says you do not need a court order
to be entitled to the rights entrenched in the constitution. But they could
not process any of my papers without evidence of a court order which means
if somebody goes to the RG’s office they may not receive the same treatment
that I received.”
A South African by naturalization, Mawere had traveled to Zimbabwe earlier
this month to apply for his ID and a passport, so that he could register to
vote in the forthcoming polls. But Registrar General Tobaiwa Mudede told him
that he would have to renounce his South African citizenship first.
He appealed the matter in the ConCourt, resulting in a judgment that said
dual citizenship is permissible under the new constitution. This is a
ruling that has widespread implications for Zimbabweans living in the
Diaspora.
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights project manager, Rose Hanzi, said the
ruling means if a person is born in Zimbabwe and ‘one or both’ of their
parents is a Zimbabwean citizen then they are allowed dual citizenship. The
same applies to a person born in Zimbabwe whose grandparents (either both or
just one of them) are Zimbabwean.
But she said for children born outside the country the situation is
different. If born in the Diaspora, to Zimbabwean parents, they would be
regarded as citizens by descent IF their birth is also registered in
Zimbabwe.
“For those who are citizens by descent or by registration, they are not
allowed to have dual citizenship because parliament has the power to
prohibit that. So if they want to then become Zimbabwean citizens they have
to renounce the other citizenship so that they are still Zimbabweans.
“But that child’s birth should also have been registered in Zimbabwe. So it
also depends on where the birth of the child is registered – if it’s in
London alone or it’s also registered in Zimbabwe,” the ZLHR explained.