Mutumwa Mawere wins Zimbabwe dual citizenship case

The new Constitutional Court of Zimbabwe has upheld dual citizenship.

In the matter of Mutumwa Dziva Mawere v Registrar General & Another, prominent businessman Mutumwa Mawere who holds South African citizenship and had lost his Zimbabwean citizenship applied to the court for an order declaring him a Zimbabwean citizen notwithstanding that he was also a South African citizenship.

The court agreed with Mawere that the promulgation of the new constitution created new rights and that citizenship rights had been restored to those who were Zimbabweans by birth.

Mawere filed an urgent Constitutional Court application asking the court to confirm constitutional provisions on dual citizenship and to stop the 30-day voter registration exercise until his case is finalised.

Mawere, who is South African by naturalisation, says he was forced to seek legal redress after Registrar General Tobaiwa Mudede told him to renounce his foreign citizenship in order to acquire Zimbabwean identification documents.

This judgment is important to all Zimbabweans who lost their citizenship by virtue of acquiring a foreign citizenship.