Millions Face Statelessness

29th December 2001

Zimbabweans of Indian descent, hundreds of thousands with links to Malawi and Mozambique, people with Greek ancestry - all are among millions facing statelessness. Only a few anxious days are left before the January 6 deadline for people of foreign birth or descent to obtain proof they have renounced any claim to foreign citizenship. The stringent legislation - which will also strip the newly stateless of their votes in pending presidential elections - was rushed through Parliament and signed into law last July by President Robert Mugabe's government. He had accused whites, particularly an estimated 30 000 of British descent, of responsibility for his defeat in a crucial February 2000 constitutional referendum, and the strong showing of Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change in parliamentary elections four months later.

However, the requirement that people with a possible claim to foreign citizenship produce proof they are not, secretly, dual citizens, presents a greater nightmare for those with links to countries such as Malawi or Mozambique (an estimated 1,5m people) than for those of European extraction. Up to 12 000 Zimbabweans of Indian extraction also faced an insuperable problem when Delhi's representatives announced they cannot provide consular services, in the form of letters confirming recipients were not entitled to Indian citizenship, to persons who were not Indian citizens. Officials under Zimbabwe's registrar general Tobaiwa Mudede meanwhile declared that persons of obvious Indian descent who were unable to produce such letters would be deemed to have forfeited their Zimbabwean citizenship. The Indian High Commission has had discussions on the issue with the Zimbabwean Ministry of Home Affairs, but no resolution has been announced.

Greece has no provision in its law for someone with a claim to a Greek passport ever to renounce it. One Zimbabwean with a Mediterranean-sounding surname was curtly ordered by Mudede's officials to obtain proof he was not a Mexican or Italian citizen. The "Catch 22" operated by Mudede is well illustrated by the test case of Leslie Levente Petho, 41, turned away because his parents fled Hungary during the 1956 rising against Soviet rule. Born in Harare in 1960, he is now seeking leave of Judge Nicholas Ndou to fight a class action in the High Court, backed by human rights' lawyers. Mudede's officials demanded Petho obtain proof from Hungary's Pretoria embassy he was not a dual Hungarian citizen. Hungarian officials replied that he would have to apply for and be granted their citizenship before he could renounce it. But, they added, his application would be refused, since his parents were refugees and had not registered his birth in Budapest.

Zimbabwean law automatically strips a person of citizenship if they apply for a foreign second citizenship, even if their application is refused. When Petho applied to Judge Ndou to institute his class action, Mudede argued Petho should be refused permission since he is "not typical of Zimbabweans of foreign parentage", who now seek to challenge the new citizenship law. Contradicting his own earlier claim that Petho might secretly be Hungarian, Mudede told the judge Petho's parents were stateless, so his was a unique case. The judge is considering his ruling. Mudede said his officials wished to "treat every case on its own merits", a ploy human rights groups say opens the way for political and racial discrimination, and corruption. A recent US State Department report alleged bribery was common in Mudede's department. A Zimbabwe High Court judge, George Smith, has also accused the registrar general's office of countenancing widespread malpractice against Mugabe opponents in elections.

Zimbabweans of British descent were warned by the High Commission to submit applications for proof they have renounced any potential claim to British citizenship by December 12. However, long queues which formed outside the city centre building continued to the end of the week. Some elderly pensioners living on monthly incomes of Z$4 000 (£50 at the official rate) cannot pay fees of up to Z$13 000 to renounce their claim to British citizenship. Part of the fee is calculated at the Zimbabwean "parallel" or "black market rate" for sterling, which can fetch as much as Z$500 to one pound. The South African High Commission make no charge on Zimbabweans seeking proof they have renounced any claim by descent to their citizenship, and are understood to be processing over 40 a day. In London, Foreign Office Minister Baroness Amos has rejected an appeal by a Conservative member of Parliament Keith Waterson to waive or reduce the British fees in cases of distress. She said the fees were a "statutory duty" and overseas missions ``do not have authority to waive them". A spokeswoman at the British High Commission in Harare said staff had been "very busy" handling citizenship renunciations but refused to give numbers. Professor Welshman Ncube, MDC constitutional spokesman, pledged to reverse the citizenship laws if Tsvangirai wins presidential polls scheduled for March. "You cannot legislate for people's loyalty," he said.