- More than 5000 white Zimbabweans have renounced their
Zimbabwean citizenship to take up mostly British and other European passports.
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- This follows the Government s deadline for all Zimbabweans
holding dual citizenship to renounce their foreign passports by the end
of the renunciation period early this month.
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- The Minister of Home Affairs, Cde John Nkomo, told Parliament
yesterday that most of those who had renounced the Zimbabwean citizenship
were of European origin.
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- "These people had all along claimed they were citizens
of this country and that they had renounced their other citizenship,"
said Cde Nkomo.
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- "They were the noise makers who caused confusion
because they knew they did not hold any stake in this country. They wanted
to draw back the independence of Zimbabwe."
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- Cde Nkomo was answering a question from Mberengwa West
MP, Cde Joram Gumbo of Zanu-PF, who had inquired on the number of those
who had met the January 6 deadline to renounce dual citizenship.
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- The Government abolished dual citizenship after observing
that many foreigners were claiming to be helping the country as citizens
when in actual fact they were acting against it.
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- The Movement for Democratic Change even went to court
to challenge the legality of asking mostly the British to renounce their
Zimbabwean citizenship ahead of the presidential poll.
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- The opposition party wanted them to be allowed to vote
despite their preferred national status.
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- Some of those who have renounced their Zimbabwean citizenship
for British citizenship included Supreme Court judge, Justice McNally
and his wife.
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- It is understood that there are more than 25 000 British
passport holders in Zimbabwe, whom the United Kingdom government was promising
to airlift out of Zimbabwe in the event that the political situation in
the country further deteriorated.
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- As part of its propaganda campaign, the British Labour
government claimed that its ministers had drawn up plans to airlift the
more than 25 000 British passport holders to safety amid fears that Zimbabwe
s election will descend into violence during the next seven weeks.
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- The same propaganda was churned out during the country
s June 2000 parliamentary elections when the British government first
revealed its hidden hand in Zimbabwe s politics.
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- However, Zimbabwean Government expressed that the British
did not need emergency measures to evacuate its nationals but could simply
ask them to board a plane to London. But no evacuation took place.
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- In order to heighten tension ahead of the country s
presidential poll, it was being reported that even South Africa was making
contingency plans to accept a flood of Zimbabwean refugees who were likely
to flee the country before and after the elections.
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- Two years ago, British newspapers were awash with stories
that the European Union had approached Mozambique and South Africa for
help in evacuating Britons and others if Zimbabwe s land reform programme
intensified.
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- According to reports from London last week, British
officials "believe that the situation is now much more serious and
that there is a strong possibility action will be needed." However,
less than 10 white farmers have died in Zimbabwe over the past two years
while over 1 000 white farmers have lost their lives in South Africa and
no emergency rescue efforts have been taken by Britain.
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