Brigade. Without these they cannot obtain birth certificates because they cannot prove who their parents were. In some instances, they would be required to produce a letter from a headman of the district where they were born and a letter from their school, and would also need to be accompanied by two relatives of both parents. Such impediments result in many giving up their struggle to obtain documentation. Amnesty International also found that in order to apply for citizenship, some descendants of those who died during Gukurahundi were asked to obtain letters from chiefs and sub-chiefs to confirm that their parents were killed or disappeared. These rules were sometimes changed by officials who then required that people provide commissioned affidavits and not letters. 70-year-old Anna Mudenda* was born in Zimbabwe to a South African mother and Zimbabwean father and therefore qualified under the law as a Zimbabwean national. She lives in Robert Sinyoka village, about 40km from Bulawayo, and has no birth certificate or other ID. She has been to the Msiteli registry offices in Bulawayo on several occasions but they always ask her to bring witnesses with the same surname as her. She explains she is an old woman and she does not know where to find her relatives. Sibusisiwe Dube, aged 35, also lives in Robert Sinyoka village. She is divorced and her husband returned to South Africa. She told Amnesty International that she was unable to go to school because she had no birth certificate and ID. None of her five children have birth certificates. Sibusisiwe is turned away from the registry office when she visits; she says the officers are arrogant and will only serve people if they pay a bribe. 6.2 PROHIBITIVE DISTANCE TO REGISTRATION OFFICES The Minister of Home Affairs has powers to make regulations on the manner of giving notice, the documents required in the registration process and the locations of registry offices.48 Many people interviewed complained about the expensive and prohibitive distance they are required to travel to the registration centres. In a letter to Amnesty International, the Registrar General stated that the Ministry of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage had decentralized services to the 10 provinces and 62 districts in Zimbabwe.49 However, people interviewed told Amnesty International that these mobile clinics only operate during election time. 6.3 TREATMENT AT REGISTRATION OFFICES Ever Ndebele, aged 67, is from Maphisa in Matabeleland South province. She told Amnesty International that “the problem is the attitude of the Registrar General’s officers. They seem not to care about people and at times they just ignore you without providing the needed services.” Ever does not have a birth certificate or passport and has given up hope of claiming citizenship because she cannot prove that she was born in Zimbabwe. She has four children who all live in South Africa and obtained South African IDs. Ever went to the registry offices at Kezi township three times in 2018 to try to get identity documents. She was told that she must bring two of her children as witnesses but was not able to do so as their surnames are different from hers and they now see themselves as South African citizens. Ever stated that she doesn’t “feel like a Zimbabwean without the necessary birth certificate and passport.” Without a passport she cannot visit her children in South Africa, violating her right to freedom of movement. Efinah Mabhena, aged 30, does not have a birth certificate or ID and has tried several times to obtain identity documents. When she went to the registry offices in Tsholotsho the district registrar said “you are too beautiful not to have identity documents” and advised her to “sell some of your belongings to raise money to pay the officers so they can assist you.” She told Amnesty International researchers that “I don’t feel like I belong in Zimbabwe because without papers I have no identity,” and added, “my main fear is if I die I will not have a dignified burial and will be buried like a pauper.” 48 49 See section 26 of the BDRA, 11/1986 Letter from Home Affairs Ministry in answer to questions from Amnesty International dated 12 June 2019 WE ARE LIKE “STRAY ANIMALS” THOUSANDS LIVING ON THE MARGINS DUE TO STATELESSNESS IN ZIMBABWE Amnesty International 19