DOMINIC J Kanaventi is a well-known Zimbabwean actor and play director who told me recently that he has until January 2002 before he is formally declared a stateless person.
Sounds incredible as he was born in Zimbabwe in October 1950. The trouble was that his father was born in Mozambique and actually walked all the way to what was then Salisbury where he married Dominic's mother.
So Kanaventi grew up in Zimbabwe believing he was a Zimbabwe citizen. What he and his family didn't know, was that he should have renounced his Mozambican citizenship when he reached the age of 21.
Says Kanaventi: "It never crossed my mind to do this. I was born here. I have never lived in Mozambique but according to statutory instrument 217 of 2001, called 'Renunciation of Citizenship', I have to give up my Mozambican citizenship which I do not even have, or else lose my Zimbabwean citizenship." Kanaventi says that he has been in touch with Mozambique and they say there is no record of him on their books, therefore it is impossible for them to say he is renouncing a citizenship which he doesn't have.
Under Zimbabwean law, however, citizenship comes from the father and Dominic's father was born in Mozambique. So the claim is that Dominic J Kanaventi is a holder of dual citizenship which will be against the law come 2002.
"Not only will I become stateless, I will also be denied a vote in the presidential election next year, the same predicament that faces thousands of farm workers in my position," he stated.
Kanaventi recently acted in, directed and translated into Shona and English, Can't Pay, Won't Pay by Dario Fo and toured numerous townships with the play. He has worked for the Mercedes Benz Company of consultants for commercial vehicles in Douglas Road for 20 years. He is married with two girls and a boy.
"What am I supposed to do come January 2002?" he groaned. "I can never leave the country as I will not be allowed back in if I go. So officially, I will become a stateless individual, something the government said would never be allowed to happen." Surely, his case should become an issue for parliamentary debate and if there is a way out for him, he would be delighted to learn how to achieve it.
