Global Policy Forum

By Cris Chinaka

The Zimbabwean government said on Sunday it would tighten a law against dual citizenship in a move likely to hit thousands of whites of British descent. A government spokesman told state-run radio that an amendment to the Citizenship Act would be tabled in parliament this week to close loopholes being exploited by some people to retain dual citizenship. The move comes after the government said it would withdraw passports from critics who were undermining its image abroad and pushing for international sanctions against it.

The spokesman said the amendment was necessary after the Supreme Court ruled that a law prohibiting dual citizenship was impractical as it did not contain a provision requiring a person to present evidence of having renounced any other citizenship.
"The effect of this (new bill) is to amend section 9 so that now a person who wishes to retain Zimbabwean citizenship will have to renounce his foreign citizenship," the spokesman said.

The official Ziana news agency also said the government was cutting to five years from seven the time in which a citizen could stay out of the country "without lawful excuse" before losing Zimbabwean citizenship. It quoted a government spokesman as saying President Robert Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party - which faces an unprecedented challenge sparked by a severe economic crisis - had been forced to tighten the rules to sideline opponents hiding under dual citizenship.

"There are concerns that those with dual citizenship are behind efforts to discredit the government to use diplomatic and other means to topple the Zanu-PF. "Lines of credit, aid and other forms of assistance have been systematically stopped over the last couple of years to pressure the government," added the state-run Sunday Mail newspaper.

Government officials estimate that up to 20,000 whites with Zimbabwean passports also hold British passports or can claim British citizenship. Whites make up less than one percent of Zimbabwe's 12,5 million people, but are currently under pressure from the government, which accuses them of bankrolling the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

Self-styled independence war veterans have invaded hundreds of white-owned farms in the past year in support of a programme to seize and reclaim land "stolen" from blacks when the country was colonised by the British in the 1890s. Political analysts say Mugabe and his supporters have embarked on a campaign to intimidate and muzzle the media and opposition ahead of next year's presidential elections.

The government has ordered the expulsion of two foreign journalists, one of them a BBC correspondent, but a court on Sunday ruled they could remain in the country until Friday. -