Zimbabwe: Access to national documents is a basic human right
Published: 23/Oct/2019
Source: The Chronicle (Harare)
GOVERNMENT’s decision to constitute a commission to address the lack of documentation for people, particularly in the Matabeleland and Midlands provinces, is a huge step in the right direction as it will ensure that the issue is attended to once and for all and the affected people receive the critical documents like birth certificates, passports and national identity cards.
The Second Republic under President Mnangagwa has pledged servant leadership and has been responsive to the decades-old grievances of Zimbabweans in various parts of the country with the aim of putting closure to some niggling issues like Gukurahundi.
One of the enduring legacies of that era is the disenfranchisement of thousands of people who were victims of the post-independence disturbances to the extent that most survivors of that episode suffered not only the trauma of losing their loved ones but were subsequently left in a quandary as they could not get death certificates for family members killed during Gukurahundi.
You can’t get a death certificate unless you know where someone died, the circumstances surrounding their death and burial place. Without a death certificate, orphans whose parents died during that era are unable to get birth certificates, IDs or passports as the three are interlinked.
Read further: https://www.chronicle.co.zw/editorial-comment-access-to-national-documents-is-a-basic-human-right/