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Publisher's passport withdrawn
MISA-Zimbabwe
January 03, 2007

Prominent Zimbabwean publisher Trevor Ncube is seeking a High Court order compelling the Registrar-General Tobaiwa Mudede to renew his passport following his application for Zimbabwean citizenship.

Ncube who is the publisher of the privately owned Zimbabwe Independent and Zimbabwe Standard as well as the Mail and Guardian of South Africa, has cited the Registrar General (RG) and the Minister of Home Affairs Kembo Mohadi as respondents in the matter.

In his response to the application filed by Ncube, the RG says Ncube is a Zambian by descent and was required to renounce that country's citizenship in terms of Zambian law to qualify for a Zimbabwean passport. Mudede said Ncube should have renounced his Zambian citizenship by descent within the prescribed period between July 6 and January 6 2002 failure of which meant automatic loss of his Zimbabwean citizenship.

Ncube is arguing that the withdrawal of his citizenship is unlawful as he has never been a citizen of any other country other than Zimbabwe but contends that his father who was born in Zambia is a Zimbabwean citizen.

He further argues that the decision to invalidate his citizenship is unlawful and disregards the rules of natural justice, procedural and substantive fairness and justice.

Meanwhile, MISA-Zimbabwe notes with great concern that the RG’s refusal to renew his passport comes almost a year after the High Court ruled that the seizure of Ncube’s travel document in December 2006 under the Constitutional Amendment (No 17) Act was unlawful.

Immigration officials in Bulawayo seized Ncube's passport on December 8 2005 upon his arrival from South Africa. No reasons were advanced then for the unlawful action other than that Ncube was on a list of citizens whose passports were to be withdrawn. His passport was released after the Attorney-General’s Office conceded that the seizure was unlawful.

A date is still to be set for hearings into the matter.

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