IRELAND- DUBLIN — IF the citizenship law is to be followed to, the letter, then many people in Zimbabwe, especially those in Robert Gabriel Masuzyo Matibili Mugabe’s previous government, will have to renounce their claim to foreign citizenship.

 

Mugabe, staring defeat in 2000, crafted a law that required Zimbabweans, whose parents were of foreign origin, to renounce their claim to foreign citizenship or they ceased to be Zimbabweans.

 

 

That virtually stripped white Zimbabweans and some black Zimbabweans whose parents originally came from Malawi, Zambia and Mozambique of their right to vote in the 2000 plebiscite.

However, it has emerged that apart from Mugabe, whose father came from Malawi, many others in his previous cabinet are Zimbabweans of Malawian, Mozambican and Zambian origin. Top on the list is his nephew, Patrick Zhuwao.  His father was from Mozambique.

There are also people like Ignatius Chombo, the rabid former local government minister who terrorised opposition MDC mayors and councillors.

 

Far from the widely-held belief, his father was not from Chitomborwizi near Zvimba. He was a Lomwe from Nayuchi near the border with Mozambique.   There are many Chombos in Malawi. Then comes the not-so-bright former deputy information minister Bright Matonga.  His father was a Tonga from Nkhata Bay on the shores of Lake Malawi.

One of Mugabe’s former ministers  who had crafted the art of jumping ship, Olivia Muchena (nee Sithambuli), is a Yawo (muChawa) from Mangochi, also on the shores of the famous lake. She was the only minister who also served in Bishop Abel Muzorewa’s short-lived Zimbabwe-Rhodesia.

Sylverster Nguni is a Ngoni from Chipata. Even his command of the Shona language is dubious.
Then there are a lot of other Zimbabweans of foreign origin still holding top government positions like the dreaded Central Intelligence Organisation boss, Bonyongwe. His father was originally from Mozambique.

A Chinhoyi ZANU PF zealot, Faber Chidarikire, infamous for being found with the head of a man he had allegedly murdered, changed his Malawian name Atupele Tuwinje to the one he is using now. His father was a Malawian immigrant worker of the Yawo tribe.

A check with the office of the registrar-general in Harare, revealed that none of them has renounced their claim to foreign citizenship, therefore rendering them foreigners just like the millions Mugabe elbowed out of the country.

“They are all Zimbabweans,” said Tobaiwa Mudede. When challenged to prove that they had renounced their claim to foreign citizenship, Mudede claimed it was not necessary since they held Zimbabwean birth certificates before banging his phone.

Ordinary Zimbabweans of foreign decent, despite having Zimbabwean birth certificates, are however, required to renounce their claim to any alien citizenship before they can obtain a national ID card or passport.

“It is one law for Mugabe and his bootlickers,” quipped an observer, “and another one ordinary Zimbabweans.”

 

For fresh white maize, groundnuts, sweet potatoes, butchery and more, call Mwanaka Fresh Farm Foods - UK 01992 765668 or 07708 572914 or 07859 813238 

 

Got a story, quote, opinion or want your letter published, please e-mail Editor at editor@zimdaily.com