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Rumbidzayi Zinyuke Manicaland Bureau
MANICALAND’S proximity to Mozambique has been cited as one of the major reasons locals are failing to access national identity documents as intermarriages and free movement of people between the two countries hinder proper registration of children.

This emerged during the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission public hearings on the national inquiry on access to documentation in Zimbabwe.

The commission has been holding public hearings across the country to establish the challenges being faced by Zimbabweans in accessing national documentation.

Giving oral evidence during the commencement of the week-long public hearings, residents expressed concern that the association with Mozambique had become a disadvantage as they were failing to register their children.

Jessica Makwela (69) said she was born to Mozambican parents who had relocated to Zimbabwe, but they died before acquiring a birth certificate for her. As a result, she and her nine children do not have national identity documents.

“My parents died when I was very young and my brother took care of me, but he never helped me to get a birth certificate until he also passed away. I tried on several occasions to get the documents on my own to no avail. At one point, I was even prepared to take an older woman to represent me as my mother, but the RG’s Office said they wanted someone older than that,” she said.

She said although her parents were from Mozambique, she was born in Clare, near Nyazura, where she still resides.

“I have never had a birth certificate. I do not even know how a person votes because I have never voted in my entire life. What pains me is that even my nine children and 13 grandchildren do not have identity documents all because I never got my own documents.

“My husband is also Mozambican so it becomes a challenge for him to register the children,” said Ms Makwelo.

She expressed hope that her predicament would come to an end so that her children and their families could lead a better life.

Ms Rosemary Smoke (53) from Olka Farm in Nyazura, said her parents were Zimbabweans who moved to Mozambique at the peak of the liberation war before they had registered her for a birth certificate.

“My parents died in Mozambique and we relocated back to Zimbabwe after the war, but I never got a birth certificate or national ID. My four children do not have birth certificates either.

“The RG’s Office insists that I go back to Mozambique to get the documents, but I am not Mozambican,” she said.

She implored Government to help her and others like her who had relocated to Mozambique during the war to get documents.

“There are many people who like me never got documents here in Zimbabwe, but relocated to Mozambique as refugees. We did not get IDs in Mozambique, so we remain Zimbabweans. If we can be grouped and Government finds a way of facilitating that we get IDs, we would be grateful. Even our children will not face the same challenges we do and they can have a better life,” said Ms Smoke.

ZHRC deputy chairperson Dr Ellen Sithole, who is chairing the Manicaland public hearings, said issues raised in Manicaland had been an eye-opener on the impact lack of documentation had on people’s lives.

“Preliminary findings show that people in Manicaland were failing to access birth certificates, IDs, passports, death certificates and citizenship, in that order. Manicaland Province’s proximity to Mozambique has also resulted in intermarriages between Zimbabweans and Mozambicans which posed challenges in the registration of children,” she said.

She said religious beliefs by some apostolic sects were also a major cause of non-documentation as the religious groups shunned the use of health centres and thus failed to access birth records.

Dr Sithole also cited the long distances that people have to travel and the costs associated with reaching the RG’s Office.