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NewsDay

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Govt rings citizenship law changes

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Cabinet has approved proposed changes to the citizenship laws to pave way for granting of dual citizenship to people born in Zimbabwe.

BY Xolisani Ncube

Cabinet has approved proposed changes to the citizenship laws to pave way for granting of dual citizenship to people born in Zimbabwe.

Briefing journalists after yesterday’s Cabinet meeting, Information minister Monica Mutsvangwa said the proposed law would deal with the current discrepancy between the Citizenship Act and the Constitution of Zimbabwe.

“Following presentation by the Home Affairs minister, Cabinet approved the principles for the amendment of the Zimbabwe Citizenship Bill as part of the on-going process of aligning the country’s laws to the provision of the Constitution,” she said.

Attorney-General Prince Machaya said the proposed law was aimed at scrapping the current provisions, which prohibited dual citizenship.

“The proposed law deals with permitting dual citizenship for citizens by birth. At the moment, dual citizenship is not permitted under whatsoever circumstances,” Machaya said.

The proposed law will, however, prohibit dual citizenship for citizenship by descent. Citizenship by registration would also now require 10 years residency in Zimbabwe instead of the current five years. Cabinet also discussed the bread crisis and said it was now moving to adopt strategies to deal with the importation of wheat by bakers.

Also discussed was the issue of the Battlefields mine disaster, where four miners are reportedly still trapped inside a collapsed mineshaft.

Last week, eight miners were rescued while 24 bodies were later retrieved from the flooded mineshafts