Zimbabwe: Diaspora dual birth certificates scam for children exposed
Published: 6/Jan/2013
Source: The Zimdiaspora
Zimbabweans in the diaspora are breaking the law by acquiring dual birth certificates for their children and the government says it will come down hard on them.
“We do not allow dual citizenship in this country, when someone gives birth in a foreign land they are supposed to be given what is called a birth acknowledgement note which informs us of a birth of a Zimbabwean outside. This is then used to acquire a birth certificate in Zimbabwe,” said Home Affairs co-Minister Kembo Mohadi.
Investigations by Sunday News revealed that many Zimbabweans especially those based in South Africa were using fraudulent ways to acquire birth certificates for their children born in that country.
According to a source that is close to the happenings at the Registrar General’s office in Bulawayo, it is alleged that birth certificates being issued at sub offices around the region were issued in a fraudulent manner with some parents acquiring the certificates for children born outside the country without following the right procedures.
It is said some children are born in neighbouring countries such as South Africa and Botswana where they are issued with birth certificates from that end; the same parent then comes to Zimbabwe to register the same child and obtains a Zimbabwean birth certificate but does not renounce the foreign citizenship.
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