The government was trying to revoke the citizenship of publisher Trevor Ncube because his father was born in Zambia. Zimbabwe did not allow dual citizenship.
Ncube said he had been told about this in October 2006 when he went to renew his passport. He said he was told by the immigration official that his Zimbabwean citizenship had expired”.
Ncube said he went to the Zambian embassy and renounced his Zimbabwean citizenship but when he returned to the department of immigration he was told that since his Zimbabwean citizenship had “expired” he had to apply to the registrar-general Tobaiwa Mudede.
Full cable:
Viewing cable 07PRETORIA150, ZIMBABWEAN GOVERNMENT ATTEMPTS TO REVOKE PUBLISHER
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|
Reference ID |
Created |
Released |
Classification |
Origin |
VZCZCXRO6951
RR RUEHMR RUEHRN
DE RUEHSA #0150/01 0121424
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 121424Z JAN 07
FM AMEMBASSY PRETORIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7668
INFO RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 1101
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 0984
RUEHBS/AMEMBASSY BRUSSELS 0971
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 0488
RUEHWL/AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON 0056
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEKDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PRETORIA 000150
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/11/2017
SUBJECT: ZIMBABWEAN GOVERNMENT ATTEMPTS TO REVOKE PUBLISHER
TREVOR NCUBE’S CITIZENSHIP
Classified By: Acting Deputy Chief of Mission Perry Ball. Reasons 1.4(
d).
¶1. (C) SUMMARY. The Government of Zimbabwe is attempting to
revoke the citizenship of well-known publisher Trevor Ncube.
In blatant violation of international and Zimbabwean law, the
GOZ claims that Ncube is no longer a Zimbabwean citizen
because his father was born in Zambia. Ncube is challenging
the decision in court and expects he will ultimately prevail.
Ncube believes that elements of the GOZ security forces are
behind what he called an attempt to intimidate him, to
undermine his credibility, and to possibly close his
Zimbabwean newspapers, two of the three independent
publications remaining in the country. However, Ncube added
that the GOZ is not acting in a concerted manner toward him
and that he has received the support of a number of senior
GOZ leaders including the Attorney General. END SUMMARY.
¶2. (SBU) Speaking at his Johannesburg home on January 11,
prominent publisher Trevor Ncube described to PolOff the
Government of Zimbabwe’s attempt to revoke his Zimbabwean
citizenship. Owner of the South African newspaper the Mail &
Guardian, as well as two of the remaining three independent
newspapers in Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe Independent and The
Standard, Ncube is an outspoken critic of the Mugabe regime.
————————
“No Longer a Zimbabwean”
————————
¶3. (SBU) Ncube explained that when he went to the Zimbabwean
Citizenship Office in Harare to renew his passport in October
2006 (because the pages in the current one were full), the
Government official told him that his Zimbabwean citizenship
had “expired.” The official cited a 2002 law, which says
that Zimbabwean citizens cannot be — or even have the right
to be — citizens of more than one country. (NOTE: the 2002
amendment to the Citizenship Act was designed to
disenfranchise thousands of white Zimbabweans who held
British passports, as well as hundreds of thousands of
commercial farmworkers whose parents or grandparents
originally came from Zambia, Malawi or Mozambique. Both
groups were perceived to be supporters of the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). END NOTE.) Because
Ncube’s father was born in Zambia, he had a theoretical right
to Zambian citizenship. Ncube emphasized that he was born in
Zimbabwe, has held only Zimbabwean citizenship, and has only
traveled to Zambia briefly three times for business and
holiday.
¶4. (SBU) In response to the Citizenship Office request, Ncube
went to the Zambian Embassy in Harare where he renounced his
right to Zambian citizenship, then applied again to renew his
passport. The official told him that since his citizenship
had “expired,” he would have to apply to the Registrar
General Tobaiwa Mudede to “restore” it. Ncube wrote to
Mudede, only to receive a two-line fax at his Cape Town
office in early December informing him that he was “no longer
a Zimbabwean citizen” and thus should surrender his passport.
¶5. (C) Ncube has challenged the decision in the Zimbabwean
courts. Ncube’s lawyers assure him that the law is on his
side, and even the politically-tainted Zimbabwean courts will
ultimately have to rule in his favor. The case, however,
will likely take some time. In the meantime, Ncube has no
more empty pages in his passport and will have difficulty
traveling internationally.
———————
2005 Passport Seizure
———————
¶6. (SBU) The revocation of Ncube’s citizenship follows the
December 2005 seizure of Ncube’s passport at the Bulawayo
airport. At that time, Zimbabwean security agents told Ncube
he was on a list of 16 prominent Zimbabwean journalists and
human rights activists who were not allowed to travel in the
country. Ncube challenged the seizure in court, which
ultimately ordered the security officials to return his
passport and allow Ncube to return to South Africa.
———————————-
PRETORIA 00000150 002 OF 002
Motive to Intimidate and Discredit
———————————-
¶7. (C) Ncube believes that the Zimbabwean Government is using
these tactics to try to intimidate him, hoping that he will
tone down his criticisms of the regime. In the latest
incident to revoke his citizenship, Ncube believes the
Registrar General is acting on behalf of the Central
Intelligence Organization (CIO). In addition to the
psychological intimidation, the citizenship allegations may
also undermine Ncube’s credibility, allowing the GOZ to claim
that “Ncube’s not really Zimbabwean” so therefore his
criticisms of the regime are not valid. Ncube said that in
rumor-filled Zimbabwe, this charge will resonate with some of
the population.
¶8. (C) Assigning motives to the Government of Zimbabwe is
increasingly difficult, Ncube stressed. Decision-making is
disorganized and uncoordinated, reflecting the splits within
the ruling party and the disintegration of the Zimbabwean
regime. In his case, a number of senior GOZ leaders have
told Ncube that the Registrar General is wrong. The Attorney
General himself urged Ncube to file suit against the
Government.
——————————–
Attempt to Shut Down Newspapers?
——————————–
¶9. (C) Ncube suggested that some in the GOZ want to revoke
his citizenship as a way to close his two Zimbabwean
newspapers, the Zimbabwe Independent and Standard. Under
Zimbabwean law, a non-Zimbabwean cannot own more than 40
percent of a media company. Thus, if Ncube’s citizenship is
successfully revoked, Ncube would have to sell 60 percent of
the papers or close them. Ncube told PolOff that the problem
with selling the newspapers is that only ZANU-PF insiders
would have the money for the purchase, and he would never
sell to them. Ncube said he was pleased and surprised that
the state-appointed Media and Information Commission (MIC)
denied that they had any intention to close his newspapers.
He believes the MIC statement reflects the feeling among many
in ZANU-PF, including Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono, that
closing the newspapers would be a mistake because of the
negative international publicity.
——-
Comment
——-
¶10. (C) Since the GOZ’s closing of the Daily News in 2002 and
its expulsion of a number of prominent journalists as
“enemies of the state,” Ncube’s weekly Zimbabwe Independent
and Sunday Standard have been important beacons of government
opposition. Although circulation is only about 25,000, the
papers’ influence is much greater. The newspapers are far
more professional than their government-controlled rivals and
are widely read by Zimbabwe’s economic and political elite,
including government ZANU-PF officials.
¶11. (C) While the judicial system is susceptible to
governmental pressures, judges still on occasion render
anti-government decisions, particularly where the law is
clear. The courts may very well conclude that Ncube is in
fact a Zimbabwean citizen. And even if they rule to the
contrary, the Access to Information and Privacy Act (AIPPA),
which excludes non-citizens from mass media ownership,
provides a “grandfather” exception for individuals with
ownership interests as of January 2002. This exception
appears to provide a clear basis for the courts to rule in
Ncube’s favor with respect to his ownership of the papers —
should the issue get that far. In the final analysis, it may
well be that the Registrar’s actions are yet another instance
of petty government harassment, rather than a full-blown
attempt to close down the papers.
¶12. (U) This cable was drafted in coordination with Embassy
Harare.
BOST
(104 VIEWS)
