Update: I am apparently still on the Stop List and could not get my passport even after getting my ID.
Early this week I went to get my ID at the registrar after
my legal representatives from @ZLHRLawyers sent a letter intending to sue the
Registrar is his personal capacity if I was not given an ID. The letter from
the Lawyers had a court extract that clearly highlighted that the case they
referred to as the reason why I was on the stop list had been squashed as we
won the case two years ago in 2022 because the state failed to prove its case.
Soon after I received my ID I quickly went to the passport
office in the same building to apply for a passport. When I was abducted at the
airport on 31 July, the unidentified persons who held us took my passport and
to this day never returned it. It is understandable that they didn’t return it
given that my defense for the stated offense was that I was not in Zimbabwe at
the time of the incident. Having my passport simply meant I had to show them
the stamps for when I left and returned into Zimbabwe. Since at the time it was
in their best interest to keep me and my co-accused locked up, it made sense
for my passport to never be returned. I did a police report later on the
abduction and illegal seizure of my passport, phones, and laptop.
After collecting my ID I went to make my passport
application and again the lady who served me that day pleasantly looked at me
and directed me to the 6th Floor to Security. I just asked her is it was about
the Stop List again and she said yes!
As it stands the government of Zimbabwe has no legal
grounds to deny me any service that I am entitled to as a citizen. They were
furnished with a court extract that clear shows I have no pending case in which
I am required to surrender my passport. They have no legal grounds to deny me a
passport nor any travels outside of Zimbabwe. The systemic and structural
violence that is directed to those the government deems enemies is illegal and
petty. The same government that wants to be taken seriously by other states.
The came country that is home to the SADC Chair who desires to have respectable
standing among peers. This is petty, pathetic and only brings disrepute. There
are somethings that are simply unacceptable even as you go low. It’s good that
at least these things are evident for all to see. Namatai Kwekweza writing on X
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