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Passport application successful
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR)
June 06, 2002

An application by Zimbabwean born Rikarudo Manwere, whose father was born in Mozambique, for a declarator that he is a Zimbabwean citizen and for an order that the Registrar General issue him with a passport was granted by the High Court today (5 June 2002). Zimbabwe lawyers for Human Rights sponsored the application and a member lawyer of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights represented Mr Manwere.

The office of the Registrar General had refused to issue Mr Manwere with a passport saying that he had lost his Zimbabwean citizenship by failing to renounce his entitlement to Mozambican citizenship, which he purportedly held because his father had been born in Mozambique. Mr Manwere had to take the matter to the High Court to clarify his citizenship status and apply for a passport.

At the hearing, the Attorney General’s office, representing the Registrar General, conceded that the Amendment to the Citizenship dealt specifically to dual citizenship and not to any perceived right to a foreign citizenship. The High Court accordingly held that Mr Manwere was a citizen of Zimbabwe and had not lost his citizenship of birth by failing to renounce his purported right to Mozambican citizenship. An order was also granted against the Registrar General compelling him to have a passport issued to Mr Manwere within fourteen days of service of the order on him.

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