'Aliens' in Zimbabwe advised to regularise papers

ZIMBABWEAN citizens of foreign descent whose national identity cards are written alien should visit the Registrar General's office to have their papers regularised and be allowed to register to vote in the forthcoming elections.

The Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Retired Major-General Happyton Bonyongwe, said "aliens" were equal citizens of Zimbabwe. Rtd Maj-Gen Bonyongwe said the country's Constitution recognised them as citizens. He said this while responding to concerns raised by traditional leaders during the 2017 Annual National Chiefs' Conference on the "discrimination" against "aliens" in Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) process.

"This is not a Zec issue but one that should be attended to by the RG's office. Such people should go to the RG's office to sort their papers and be allowed to vote. Our country has good laws. All people who come from the Sadc region or whose parents come from any country in the Sadc region and have settled in Zimbabwe, Section 43 of our Constitution makes them citizens of Zimbabwe," he said.

The traditional leaders also raised issues with some religious groups in their areas who decline to participate in the country's electoral processes. They demanded that such people be compelled to vote.

Rtd Maj-Gen Bonyongwe, however, said the country's laws did not provide for citizens to be forced to vote.

He said it was up to the people to push for such laws to be enacted. About one million people have since registered to vote countrywide in the ongoing BVR programme, with Matabeleland provinces registering the least number of registered voters.