News / National
Kazembe, Registrar-General taken to court
19 Nov 2020 at 05:39hrs | Views
HOME Affairs minister Kazembe Kazembe and Registrar-General Clemence Masango have been taken to court by child rights activists for refusing to issue a birth certificate to a child born out of wedlock.
Petronella Nyamapfene cited Kazembe, Masango and Master of the High Court in her High Court application.
The child rights activists, represented by the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, said the three violated sections 35(3)(c) of the Constitution and section 12(2)(b) of the Birth and Death Registry Act.
Nyamapfene made a joint application with Bernard Tashu Tashu, who is the biological father of the child.
In his founding affidavit, Tashu said in 2008, he had a relationship with a female adult by the name Fungai Dzvova which resulted in the birth of a minor child.
"My relationship with the said Fungai Dzvova was not formalised under customary or civil law," Tashu said.
"During the course of the relationship, Fungai Dzvova and I were living in Karoi. However, we went our separate ways sometime in 2009 and Fungai moved back to her rural home in Chivi together with our minor son, (name withheld) where she proceeded to reside with her father."
Tashu said Dzvova later remarried and left their minor son in the care of his maternal grandfather in Chivi who later died in 2014.
He said the mother of the child did not even attend her father's funeral. Tashu said he has been looking after the child since 2014. "Unfortunately, my son has no birth certificate as his birth had not been registered at the Birth and Death Registry by his mother after the breakdown of our relationship and the subsequent separation."
"I visited the first respondent's offices at Makombe Building in Harare to procure a birth certificate where officials there advised that because Fungai Dzvova and I were not married, it was not possible for me to procure the birth registration or obtain a birth certificate without the mother being present to confirm
paternity.
"The first respondent's officials further insisted that in any case, the mother of the child had to present herself for the registration to be done."
Tashu said by refusing to issue a birth certificate for his son, Kazembe was denying his son one of the most fundamental rights of children as enshrined in the Constitution.
Petronella Nyamapfene cited Kazembe, Masango and Master of the High Court in her High Court application.
The child rights activists, represented by the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, said the three violated sections 35(3)(c) of the Constitution and section 12(2)(b) of the Birth and Death Registry Act.
Nyamapfene made a joint application with Bernard Tashu Tashu, who is the biological father of the child.
In his founding affidavit, Tashu said in 2008, he had a relationship with a female adult by the name Fungai Dzvova which resulted in the birth of a minor child.
"My relationship with the said Fungai Dzvova was not formalised under customary or civil law," Tashu said.
"During the course of the relationship, Fungai Dzvova and I were living in Karoi. However, we went our separate ways sometime in 2009 and Fungai moved back to her rural home in Chivi together with our minor son, (name withheld) where she proceeded to reside with her father."
Tashu said Dzvova later remarried and left their minor son in the care of his maternal grandfather in Chivi who later died in 2014.
He said the mother of the child did not even attend her father's funeral. Tashu said he has been looking after the child since 2014. "Unfortunately, my son has no birth certificate as his birth had not been registered at the Birth and Death Registry by his mother after the breakdown of our relationship and the subsequent separation."
"I visited the first respondent's offices at Makombe Building in Harare to procure a birth certificate where officials there advised that because Fungai Dzvova and I were not married, it was not possible for me to procure the birth registration or obtain a birth certificate without the mother being present to confirm
paternity.
"The first respondent's officials further insisted that in any case, the mother of the child had to present herself for the registration to be done."
Tashu said by refusing to issue a birth certificate for his son, Kazembe was denying his son one of the most fundamental rights of children as enshrined in the Constitution.
Source - newsday
