Journalist Violet Gonda confirmed to NewZimbabwe.com that she was denied a Zimbabwean passport by the registrar general’s office because she is blacklisted by the government.
Gonda said she had finished all necessary steps and paid the application fees when officials discovered that she was on the government’s ‘stop list’. Gonda was born, raised and worked in Zimbabwe until she left for the United Kingdom to further her tertiary education. Said Gonda:
Returning from the diaspora to invest in my homeland, I was shocked and surprised that in President E.D. Mnangagwa’s new dispensation there still exists draconian, secret provisions that block citizens from accessing passports. I am a Zimbabwean and I should not be made to feel like a foreigner in my own country, like I am having to do at present. Is Zimbabwe still in the Mugabe era? A ‘Stop List’ should not exist in ED’s new dispensation.
Denford Halimani from the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) said they have approached the High Court to challenge the decision to deny Gonda a passport. Registrar General Tobaiwa Mudede and Home affairs Minister have been listed as respondents. Halimani said Gonda was told she could not have her passport processed because she worked for UK based SW Radio Africa and United States-based Studio 7.
More: NewZimbabwe.com
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