RG ignores Mawere court ruling: Coltart

New Zimbabwe

By New Zimbabwe Reporter

30 June 2013

THE Registrar General’s (RG) office continues to demand that holders of foreign passports surrender them before registering to vote, apparently ignoring last week’s Constitutional Court ruling which effectively endorsing dual citizenship, it has emerged.

South Africa-based businessman Mutumwa Mawere filed a successful Constitutional Court application requesting that his right to dual citizenship be confirmed after RG Tobaiwa Mudede had refused to restore his citizenship in line with the new Constitution.

Mudede had asked Mawere to renounce his South African citizenship first, contending that dual citizenship remained illegal even under the new Constitution.

But the court ruled in Mawere’s favour last Thursday and stated that “the refusal or failure to issue (Mawere) with a national identity document upon application on May 27, 2013, was unlawful and in contravention of section 36(1) and applicant’s right to vote enshrined in section 67(3)(a) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe.

“The [Registrar-General] is interdicted from demanding the applicant to first renounce his foreign-acquired citizenship before he can be issued with a national identity document.”

However, MDC legal affairs secretary and education minister David Coltart said the RG’s office was continuing to demand that holders of foreign passports surrender them first before they can change their identity documents.

“The effect of (the Mawere) judgement is that all those born in Zimbabwe … who have foreign passports cannot be denied the right to a Zimbabwean passport, the right to register and the right to vote,” Coltart said in a statement.

“(But) I have received numerous complaints from constituents stating that the Registrar General’s staff are ignoring the judgment and demanding that holders of foreign passports surrender them before being able to change their IDs from “alien” to citizen – and then of course to be registered.”
Coltart said the development was part of efforts by the RG’s office to frustrate prospective voters ahead of key elections to replace the coalition government.

“I have no doubt that this is a deliberate and desperate measure by the RG’s office to deny thousands of Zimbabweans the right to vote because they know that all those citizens who have been regarded as “aliens” and treated with such contempt by Zanu PF during the last decade will not vote for Zanu PF,” he said.

“I appreciate that this policy is designed to frustrate and deter citizens – so that they simply give up and cannot vote. Please do not give up – please be determined to get your citizenship back, to register and then to vote these people out of office.

“The future of our country is too important for us just to give up in the face of people who want to frustrate us and deny us fundamental rights. It is going to take patience, dogged determination, endurance and time to do this but it is critical that everyone tries.”

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) is currently registering voters around the country in an exercise expected to run until July 9.

President Robert Mugabe had proclaimed that elections would be held on July 31 but the Constitutional Court is set to hear various applications seeking a delay of the vote on Thursday.