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Dongo takes Registrar General, AG to court
The Herald (Zimbabwe)
October 25, 2006

FORMER Harare South legislator and president of the collapsed Zimbabwe Union of Democrats – Mrs. Margaret Dongo – has dragged Registrar-General Mr. Tobaiwa Mudede and Attorney-General Mr. Sobusa Gula-Ndebele to court after the Registrar-General’s Office refused to issue her son a passport.

The office turned down the application saying Mrs. Dongo was not, in terms of the law, entitled to sign passport forms for the minor since such powers were vested in the child’s father.

In her application, which cites the two as respondents, the former lawmaker said Zimbabwean laws discriminated against women.

In her founding affidavit, Mrs, Dongo, who is married to Mr. Tonderai Dongo under the African Marriages Act, said she went to the RG’s Office intending to get a passport for their minor child, but the office said only the father could sign passport form for a child.

Mrs. Dongo wants the High Court to declare the provisions of the Guardianship of Minors Act, which favours the father, discriminatory and unconstitutional.

She also wants the court to further declare that the customary law of guardianship of minors, which recognizes only the father as the legal guardian of his legitimate children, discriminatory and unconstitutional.

Mrs. Dongo also wants the court to grant an order allowing her to sign and execute all documents necessary for a passport application.

She also wants the court to order the RG to accept such documents.

Mrs. Dongo wants the court to declare that she has equal guardianship powers as the father of the child.

"I was told that since the child at issue was born in wedlock, or was a legitimate child, only my husband could sign the papers and that, as the child’s mother, I was not legally authorized to do so," Mrs. Dongo said.

She said after legal consultations, she was advised that it was settled law in Zimbabwe that legal guardianship of minor children born in wedlock was vested in the father of such children.

Mrs. Dongo said that meant that the father of a minor child born in wedlock was, "therefore, the only party with authority to exercise all powers of guardianship, including the power to sign applications for passports and other travel documents".

She said the law stated that the mother of the child only had the right to be consulted by the father in the exercise of such powers and that she had no jurisdiction, unless authorized by a competent court, over her own child.

Mrs. Dongo said in her view, by vesting all the powers of guardianship in the father of a legitimate child, the law discriminated against the mother.

"Therefore, the allows an unjustifiable discrimination against women. It simply and clearly favours men over women.

"It is my humble view further, that the refusal by the first respondent (RG’s) offices to allow me, when I attended on January 24, 2006, to process my child’s passport, was an act of discrimination against me personally and against married women and against women in general," she said.

Mrs. Dongo said such discrimination was contrary to the provision of Section 23 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe, "which I have had occasion to read".

"Further, I am of the humble belief that this discrimination is contrary to the provisions of the Convention for the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women, which Zimbabwe has acceded to," said Mrs. Dongo.

In his supporting affidavit, Mr. Dongo said the law should pay attention to changes in societal beliefs and practices and the evolving social and democratic trends and "should move with the times".

"Therefore, while I could simply go to First Respondent’s offices and process my son’s passport application myself, I will not do so as I believe that I have a valid issue, which this Honourable Court must decide," Mrs. Dongo said.

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