The High Court has lambasted the Registrar officials for refusing issue 2 children with birth certificates and for demanding DNA paternity tests.
Bulawayo High Court Judge Justice Nokuthula Moyo, has strongly condemned officials at the Registrar General’s Office for assuming unauthorized powers not granted by law and for imposing burdensome requirements on parents seeking birth certificates for their minor children.
Judge Justice Moyo’s stance comes after Registrar General Henry Machiri had refused to issue birth certificates to 2 children aged 12 and 10 years. Registrar General Henry Machiri reportedly refused to issue the birth certificates to the 2 children based on their mother’s legal marriage to her estranged husband, who had left for the UK two decades ago.
Despite the mother’s subsequent relationship and the birth of the two girls, the Registrar General’s Office demanded a disclaimer affidavit from the estranged husband disowning the girls, along with DNA test results from their biological father.
The mother decided to engage Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) to assist her as her children had endured statelessness for more than a decade. ZLHR lawyers, Jabulani Mhlanga and Prisca Dube, petitioned the High Court, arguing that the Registrar General’s actions violated constitutional rights to identity and perpetuated statelessness.
Bulawayo High Court Judge Justice Nokuthula Moyo, presiding over the case, mandated the Registrar to register and provide birth certificates to the two children within seven days.
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In her verdict, Justice Moyo criticized the Registrar General’s Office for denying birth registrations without valid reasons, which she deemed unconstitutional and contributing to statelessness.
She rebuked registrar officials for assuming unauthorized powers and imposing burdensome requirements on parents seeking birth certificates for their children. Stressing the importance of the right to a birth certificate, she emphasized that it should not be arbitrarily denied, highlighting the Registrar’s duty to facilitate the process.
On April 22, following a call from Bulawayo Provincial Registrar Jane Peters, lawyers Mhlanga & Dube accompanied the minors’ parents to the Bulawayo District Registrar’s Office with the necessary documents and court order, resulting in the issuance of the birth certificates, thereby resolving their statelessness issue.
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