Discriminatory denationalisation: a Zimbabwean case study In its original, post-independence Constitution, anyone born in Zimbabwe to a citizen, permanent resident or ordinary resident was a citizen by birth. In 1983, Zimbabwe amended the Constitution to prohibit dual nationality and introduced an amendment to the Citizenship Act requiring renunciation of foreign citizenship in order to retain Zimbabwean citizenship. In 2001 the government required anyone with even a theoretical claim to foreign citizenship to renounce that citizenship, this time in accordance with foreign law, and to reapply for Zimbabwean citizenship within a 6 month period. Critics report that this was a political measure designed to disenfranchise voters with questionable allegiances.135 It is estimated that several hundred thousand African migrants and their children born in Zimbabwe are currently stateless; they were stripped of their citizenship by this amendment, which was advertised only in Harare and only to the white European population. If they did not access their parent’s citizenship by descent, due either to their parent’s death or lack of documentation or due to a conflict of laws, such persons were rendered stateless. A 2003 amendment provided that children born in Zimbabwe prior to 1980 to migrants from a South African Development Community (SADC) country could apply for a citizenship certificate. Many Zimbabweans in South Africa may not qualify for this provision since it requires that the applicant remained in Zimbabwe from birth (with limited exceptions). A 2009 Constitutional amendment seemed to provide citizenship to persons with one Zimbabwean citizen parent and one foreign parent. However, the Zimbabwean Consulate in South Africa denied such individuals consular protection between 2011 and 2012 and told them they are not citizens. In Zimbabwe, they were consistently unable to access citizenship without legal action. Even when after the High Court ordered the Registrar-General to recognise an applicant’s citizenship, from 2002 until 2013 the Registrar-General has consistently continued to deny individuals citizenship through (intentional) misinterpretation of the law. In March 2013, Zimbabwe approved a new constitution. This constitution effectively allows dual citizenship for people born in Zimbabwe to SADC nationals, who are now considered citizens by birth. In the run-up to the presidential elections in June 2013, numbers of people who had lost their citizenship under the 2001 amended citizenship act were able to exchange their ‘Alien’ IDs for 'Citizen' IDs (conveniently, allowing them to vote) upon presenting a birth certificate showing birth in Zimbabwe. Only time will tell how widely and how effectively this new constitutional provision is 135 B Manby, ‘Struggles for Citizenship in Africa’ (2009). 102 Promoting citizenship and preventing statelessness in South Africa: A practitioner’s guide