Published by the government of Zimbabwe
30 December 2006
Harare — ZIMBABWE Independent publisher Trevor Ncube is contesting in court, a decision that could see him losing his Zimbabwean citizenship because his father was born in Zambia.
Registrar-General Mr Tobaiwa Mudede has said Ncube was a Zambian by descent and as such he was required to renounce that country's citizenship in terms of Zambian law to qualify for a Zimbabwean passport.
Ncube contends that his father, while Zambian born, was a bona fide citizen of Zimbabwe and that, plus his own Zimbabwean birth, should make him automatically Zimbabwean without further requirements.
"His failure to comply with the requirement to renounce Zambian citizenship by descent within the prescribed period (July 6 to January 6 2002) automatically meant loss of Zimbabwean citizenship," Mr Mudede said when responding to Ncube's court application filed in the High Court early this month, in which he is seeking an order compelling the RG's Office to renew his passport.
Ncube cites Mr Mudede and Home Affairs Minister Cde Kembo Mohadi as defendants in his application.
"The applicant (Ncube) is failing to understand that his loss of Zimbabwean citizenship is by the operation of the law and not through the discretion of the respondent (Mr Mudede).
"Applicant had to re-apply for citizenship, which he has already done. We are surprised that the applicant rushed to court after lodging his application for citizenship," said Mr Mudede.
"Is he asking the judge to grant him citizenship? It is up to the Government to grant or not to grant citizenship."
Mr Mudede, in his response, argued that the fact that Ncube claims not to have exercised his right to Zambian citizenship is immaterial and there was no record of his father having registered as a citizen of Zimbabwe.
Ncube is seeking an order invalidating the withdrawal of his citizenship by the RG's Office arguing that it was unlawful.
He wants the Passport Office stopped from interfering with his possession and use of his passport.
"The first respondent (Mr Mudede) be and is hereby ordered to renew the applicant's full passport within three days of service of this order," read part of the draft order prepared by his lawyers Scanlen and Holderness.
Ncube contends that his mother is Zimbabwean by birth, while his father is a Zambian but with a Zimbabwean national registration identity.
"I am not and have never been a citizen of a country other than Zimbabwe. I am not aware of any country that I have had connection with which provides for automatic citizenship for a person in my position," he says.
He said although his father was born in Zambia, he was a citizen of Zimbabwe.
"There is no entitlement on my part of Zambian citizenship merely because my father was born there. He was a citizen of Zimbabwe at the time of my birth as will appear from his national registration in Zimbabwe," he said.
Ncube also argued in his papers that Mr Mudede and Cde Mohadi's conduct in refusing to renew his passport was contemptuous of a court order granted in his favour in December last year.
Last year, Justice Chinembiri Bhunu issued an order against the State to render null and void the invalidation and withdrawal of Ncube's passport seized by the State.
Ncube further argued that the decision by the defendants to invalidate his citizenship was unlawful and made with disregard to the rules of natural justice, procedural and substantive fairness and justice.
The court is yet to set a date for the hearing.
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