President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF is forcing Mwenezi East villagers to obtain birth certificates and identity cards for the purposes of registering for the forthcoming by-election, a human rights group has claimed.
The poll — proclaimed by Mugabe on February 3, and gazetted in Statutory Instrument 25A/2017 — will be held on April 8 to fill the vacancy left following the demise of incumbent Zanu PF MP Joshua Moyo on December 22.
According to an alert by the Jestina Mukoko-led Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP), the forced registration took place at Chingwizi Primary School in Ward 13, of Mwenezi East from February 24 to March 1.
The organisation alleges that Zanu PF district official Hardlife Mudavanhu and the Rutenga Registration Department were demanding $5 to $10 from villagers in order to obtain the national documents for them.
Villagers who could not raise the money were being asked to sacrifice their goats and chickens in order to obtain the national documents, ZPP claimed.
Those without money or livestock were not attended to.
“Ruling party cards and name tags were also given to those who participated in the programme,” ZPP said in the alert. The Nomination Court which sat at the Masvingo Magistrates’ Courts on February 17, accepted four candidates for the by-election: Joosby Omar of the ruling Zanu PF, Kudakwashe Bhasikiti-Chuma of the opposition Zimbabwe People First (ZPF), Welcome Masuku of the National Consultative Assembly (NCA) as well as Turner Mhango of the Free Zimbabwe Congress.
Home Affairs deputy minister Obedingwa Mguni said citizens may pay a small fee in cases of re-issue of national documents.
He described the seizure of livestock for purposes of paying for national documents as “outright criminal” and urged those affected to report the culprits to the nearest police station.
According to Section 35(3) (c) of the Constitution, all citizens of Zimbabwe — including citizens by registration — are entitled to birth certificates and national IDs.
The Constitution does not make any provision for citizens to pay for the services of the Registrar General using livestock.
“The actions of the Rutenga Registration Department amount to unjustified deprivation of property of villagers who are already suffering from the adverse economic conditions obtaining in the country.
“The ZPP urges the ministry of Home Affairs to investigate the officers involved in this matter and take corrective action. Those who lost their livestock under this scam must be restituted and the natural consequences of the law must follow,”the ZPP report said. Daily News
