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Landmark citizenship judgement
ZWNEWS
May 09, 2002

Veteran human rights activist Judy Todd, 57, has won a major test case in the Zimbabwe High Court blocking attempts by Registrar General Tobaiwa Mudede to strip her of Zimbabwean nationality because he said she had not renounced a possible claim to New Zealand citizenship. Her father, 1953-58 Prime Minister Sir Garfield Todd, 92, came to former Southern Rhodesia more than 60 years ago and was recently struck off the voters' roll by Mudede because he was born in Invercargill, South Island. The judgment could have major implications for thousands of other Zimbabweans facing citizenship problems as a result of recent legislation, including many in rural areas of Malawian or Mozambican descent. Parliament last year empowered Home Affairs Minister John Nkomo to revoke the citizenship of any Zimbabwean who had not by January 6, 2002, renounced dual nationality in terms of the laws of the foreign country to whose citizenship they might be entitled. "I am delighted not only for myself but for all those hundreds of thousands of farm workers," Todd said.

The landmark judgment applies, for the time being, only to Zimbabwean citizens born in the country. Costs of her case were sponsored by Zimbabwe's Legal Resources Foundation and five other human rights groups. However, legal sources here warned that President Robert Mugabe's government may simply once more ignore the courts, either by introducing fresh legislation or invoking the Presidential Temporary Powers Act. But, the sources said, Zimbabweans who spent up to ZWD13 000 renouncing potential claims to, for example, British, South African or Zambian citizenship by birth or descent have obtained proof of renunciation that may still be vital to retaining their Zimbabwean passports and votes. Justice Sandra Mungwira said she would sign orders on Wednesday requiring Mudede to issue Todd with a new Zimbabwean passport within 14 days of making application, and to continue to recognise her in all other respects as a citizen of Zimbabwe.

Arguing the case on Tuesday, Todd’s lawyer, Bryant Elliot, said Mudede had simply made up requirements that attempted to force Zimbabweans who had never claimed a second citizenship to obtain proof from the foreign country involved that they had renounced it. Mudede contested Todd’s challenge, but the Home Affairs Minister who is responsible for moves to deprive Zimbabweans of citizenship, made no response, and consequently the state case collapsed. Zimbabwe-born Todd’s lawyer argued that last year’s legislation did not apply to her as she had never attempted to acquire a foreign citizenship. He added that the Registrar General was not entitled to deprive Zimbabwe-born nationals of citizenship because he suspected they might have some claim through their parents to dual nationality - even though they had never asserted the claim. He said the renunciation form that Mudede had printed, without legal authority, forced a Zimbabwean suspected of having a claim to a foreign citizenship to assert that he or she did in practice hold the foreign citizenship.

Todd had been unable to sign such a declaration renouncing a New Zealand citizenship she had never possessed. Todd did not know whether New Zealand would refuse her citizenship if she applied. However, said legal sources, if she had applied – even as a mere exploratory exercise - this would be taken in terms of the Zimbabwe legislation as automatic renunciation of her Zimbabwean citizenship. During the March presidential elections, thousands of white Zimbabweans were turned away from polling booths because officials found their names on a "Removed Citizens List" of those suspected of being eligible for a foreign citizenship. Mudede had refused to give copies of the list to opposition parties or human rights groups so those named could challenge their disenfranchisement.

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