The Ministry of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage has resolved to re-code the National Identity Documents (IDs) for the mixed-race community (coloureds) on the basis of the district of registration as opposed to the conventional district of origin concept.
This comes after the Sunningdale 1 Residents Association (S1RA) petitioned Parliament over the continued alienation and marginalisation of the mixed-race community in Zimbabwe, mainly as a consequence of the double zero (00) identity classification on their national registration certificates.
Presenting the first report of the portfolio committee on defence, home affairs and security services on the petition from the association, the chairperson of the committee, Brig. Gen (Rtd) Levi Mayihlome said:
The community challenged the irregularities existing in some local pieces of legislation which they blamed for perpetuating the colonial evils of discrimination and violating the freedoms and rights of various individuals among the coloured race in Zimbabwe.
In particular, the double zero (00) classification on the identity cards of those born to mixed-race parents was seen as a devious colonial system designed to segregate people on the basis of their colour and race.
He said the community had also appealed to Parliament for the Minister of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage to come up with customer service policies and procedures on the code of conduct of employees at the Registrar General’s office. Said Gen (Rtd) Mayihlome:
They asserted that the code of conduct should be the binding norm by which all employees at the Registrar General’s office would conduct themselves in their individual and professional capacity as they relate with each other across the system and with their clients.
This call was made following several grievances by individuals from the Coloured Community who were complaining of being subjected to inhumane treatment at the Registrar General’s offices.
The mixed-race community also expressed concern over the side-lining of their members from the Government’s empowerment programmes. Gen (Rtd) Mayihlome said:
They blamed the double zero classification code for apparently depriving them of their nationality and consequently affecting their citizenship status.
They noted that eligibility for land allocation was premised upon registration with one’s village headman; a situation which furthered their exclusion since they did not have villages of origin.
They argued that the same predicament was common in various other national empowerment programmes.
They also pointed out that the double zero classification was responsible for excluding the Coloured Community from employment in the Civil Service even though the affected individuals were willing to serve the country and contribute to its development and prosperity.
He said the ministry resolved that for previously registered individuals, those who had not yet obtained identity documents and children issued with manually generated birth certificates, the district of registration would determine their district of origin.
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Strange story: I am an immigrant to Zim, (but not a citizen – with permenant residence status) but totally of one colour (mrungu). I have an ID ending in ’00’. So am I a mixed race fellow – absolutely not. 00 means non citizen.
Not strange, unlike you we are not immigrants, we were born here, so why should we be labeled as non citizens
00 is just a number – it has nothing to do with race. My white Zim citizen wife and her close white Zim citizen friend both have 00 numbers at the end of their ID numbers. Does your ID say what race you are – no, of course it doesn’t. Mine says I am Alien because I am not a Zim citizen. If you were born here you automatically become a cit. So if you where born here but have Alien at the end then you do have a problem. 00 does not take any of your rights away. Go and see a lawyer to get the facts correct.