SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe
Exiled Zim election expert Topper Whitehead has regained his citizenship status following a Supreme Court ruling last Friday. Whitehead was stripped of his citizenship in 2006, and deported at gunpoint, after he exposed how the Robert Mugabe government had rigged elections from 2002 onwards. In a statement announcing the court ruling, the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights hailed the perseverance of the group’s members who took up the court fight on behalf of Whitehead. According to the group, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that “a citizen of Zimbabwe by birth cannot lose his citizenship and that he cannot be declared a prohibited immigrant as had been done by Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi.” In ordering Whitehead’s deportation in 2005, Mohadi declared him an “undesirable inhabitant”. But this was quashed on appeal by Supreme Court judges Vernanda Ziyambi, Paddington Garwe and Antoinette Guvava who re-instated Whitehead’s citizensip in terms of section 36 of the Constitution. UK-based human rights lawyer Dewa Mavhinga said there was a need for mechanisms to bring the likes of Minister Mohadi to account for “unjustifiably and unlawfully depriving citizens of their rights”.“It has taken 6-7 years for this matter to be resolved. So when we look at this victory, we should look at it in the context that this injustice should never have happened in the first place,” Mavhinga said.“It points to a broader decay in the rule of law in Zimbabwe and mechanisms should be put in place to ensure that such things do not happen in modern-day Zimbabwe,” Mavhinga continued. He added that this case had set a precedent for those in similar circumstances to have their cases similarly resolved without the need for them to go through the courts. In 2002, Whitehead helped unearth ghost voters and challenged Mugabe’s disputed election victory that year, before being deported. In opposing Whitehead’s application, the State unsuccessfully argued that Whitehead is a South African citizen and Zimbabwean law does not allow dual citizenship. However, his lawyers argued that he was forced to take up South African citizenship after being left stateless by the Zimbabwean government, which confiscated his passport. His lawyers argued that Whitehead urgently needed a travel document to conduct business in Zambia and South Africa. The lawyers argued that in doing this, Whitehead did not do a ‘voluntary act’ but was rather acting out of necessity because he has a right to a nationality and a right to freedom of movement and to earn a living. In his appeal, Whitehead argued that he is a Zimbabwean citizen by birth. He was born in 1944 to a Zimbabwean mother and a father born in South Africa. Now based in South Africa, Whitehead committed to renounce his South African citizenship and surrender his South African passport if he once again gets recognised and accepted as a Zimbabwean citizen. Whitehead remains a key witness in the 2002 presidential poll challenge, with a detailed affidavit in the courts describing the rigging.