Zimbabwe: MDC Alliance slams ‘aliens’ discrimination
Published: 14/Nov/2017
Source: NewsDay (Harare)
THE MDC Alliance has expressed concern over the sidelining of the so-called aliens in the biometric voter registration (BVR) exercise, describing the move as a violation of their right to vote.
BY SILAS NKALA
This came after Registrar-General Tobaiwa Mudede early this month told the Parliamentary Thematic Committee on Peace and Security that aliens can only be citizens, if they applied for citizenship status and renounced their foreign citizenship.
Speaking to Southern Eye yesterday, MDC Alliance Bulawayo provincial chairperson Felix Magalela Sibanda said they noted with dismay the manner in which aliens were being disenfranchised by the Registrar-General’s Office and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) in the registration process.
“Thousands of bona fide citizens are denied their constitutional right to register as potential voters in 2018 plebiscite,” he said, adding that at least 50% of residents in old high-density suburbs such as Makokoba, Sizinda, Magwegwe, Luveve, Mpopoma Matshobana, Mabutweni, Pumula were ‘aliens’ of Malawian, Zambian and Mozambican origin hence the low number of registrants in the current registration exercise.
Read further: https://www.newsday.co.zw/2017/11/mdc-alliance-slams-aliens-discrimination/