________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ AJSW, Volume 9 Number 1 2019 NCUBE, N.; CHIMBWANDA, T.; & NCUMISA, W. Publisher African Journal of Social Work Afri. j. soc. work © National Association of Social Workers-Zimbabwe/Author(s) ISSN Print 1563-3934 ISSN Online 2409-5605 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-commercial 4.0 International License Indexed & Accredited with: African Journals Online (AJOL)|University of Zimbabwe Accredited Journals (UZAJ)|SCOPUS (Elsevier’s abstract and citation database)|Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). CITIZENSHIP ALTERITIES: THE CASE OF CHILD BIRTH REGISTRATIONS IN THE TONGOGARA REFUGEE CAMP OF ZIMBABWE NCUBE Nolwazi; CHIMBWANDA Tatenda; and WILLIE Ncumisa ABSTRACT This paper focused on the case of Tongogara Refugee Camp in Chipinge, Zimbabwe. It has used this fragile context to explore the citizenship alterities of children born to asylum seekers and refugees who are undocumented and/or stateless persons who reside in this refugee camp. In this specific context of fragility and forced displacement, these undocumented children seemingly inhabit a ‘grey borderland’ that lies between sovereign states. Within this grey borderland, the status of asylum seekers, not of concern persons and refugees, and the protracted nature of their refugee experience produces generational (undocumented) refugees, which in effect renders them more susceptible to becoming stateless. The paper has pointed to the implications of these citizenship alterities and identified some of the policy and legislative gaps around the documentation of migrant children born in Zimbabwe’s refugee camps. Finally, the conclusion outlined policy recommendations for the socio-economic inclusion of undocumented migrant children, refugee children, and children born to asylum seekers and refugees in Zimbabwe to address generational refugeeism and to prevent the proliferation of statelessness. KEY TERMS: children, citizenship alterities, fragility, refugee(ism), statelessness, Zimbabwe, Tongogara Refugee Camp KEY DATES Received: 06 May 2018 Revised: 02 August 2018 Accepted: 01 February 2019 Published: 26 February 2019 Funding: None Conflict of Interest: None Permission: Not applicable Ethics approval: Not applicable ARTICLE TYPE: Analysis Author/s: NCUBE, Nolwazi, Department of Sociology, University of Cape Town, Leslie Social Science Building, Level 4, Email ncbnol001@myuct.ac.za, Telephone: +263 772 278 739 / +27 79 068 6326 CHIMBWANDA, Tatenda, Department of Peace Studies and International Development, University of Bradford NCUMISA, Willie, Faculty of Law, University of Cape Town African Journal of Social Work, 9(1), 2019 64 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________