Bronwen Manby citizens by birth and citizens by descent (those born outside the country) in relation to dual citizenship—permitted by the constitution for citizens by birth, and left to parliament to decide for citizens by descent or naturalised citizens. The Citizenship of Zimbabwe Act first adopted in 1984 and last modified in 2003 remained unreplaced by the end of 2018, despite being out of line with the constitution in several respects. However, ZANU-PF’s decision to replace Robert Mugabe as president in late 2017, followed ten months later by the replacement of the registrar-general (both in place since 1980), opened up the possibility for progress in reforming the law and its administration. This report first sets out the historical background of Zimbabwean citizenship law. The following section outlines the current citizenship regime and the rules by which Zimbabwean citizenship is attributed at birth or acquired after birth, or by which it may be lost or withdrawn; as well as gaps in the laws and procedures which may lead to statelessness. The report then discusses current debates about citizenship in Zimbabwe, including a draft bill to repeal and replace the Citizenship Act, and ends with some concluding remarks summarising the main characteristics of Zimbabwean citizenship law and its contemporary challenges. 2. Historical background Citizenship law in Zimbabwe was highly politicised from the moment the country first gained majority rule in 1980—as perhaps inevitably it would be, given the colonial history of the state, the expropriation of land in favour of the white minority, the exploitation and dehumanisation of the territory’s original inhabitants, and the coerced import of labour from neighbouring countries.2 The newly democratic state inherited a system of population control and registration with roots in the late 19th century, although the first dedicated law regulating citizenship was adopted in 1949. Administration of what is now Zimbabwe was chartered by the British crown to Cecil Rhodes’ British South Africa Company in 1889. First known as Rhodesia, it became Southern Rhodesia when Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) was also annexed. In 1923, Southern Rhodesia became a British “colony”, and was granted a large measure of selfgovernment. As a colony, Southern Rhodesia was “within the crown’s dominions”; whereas Northern Rhodesia and most British territories in Africa were “protectorates”, nominally 2 This section draws heavily on Bronwen Manby, Citizenship in Africa: The Law of Belonging (Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2018). Among other useful sources on the historical background are: Brian Raftopoulos, ‘The State in Crisis: Authoritarian Nationalism, Selective Citizenship and Distortions of Democracy in Zimbabwe’, in Zimbabwe’s Unfinished Business: Rethinking Land, State and Nation in Zimbabwe in the Context of Crisis, ed. Amanda Hammar, Brian Raftopoulos, and Stig Jensen (Harare, Zimbabwe: Weaver, 2003), 217–41; Brian Raftopoulos, ‘Nation, Race and History in Zimbabwe’, in Making Nations, Creating Strangers: States and Citizenship in Africa, ed. Sara Dorman, Daniel Hammett, and Paul Nugent (Leiden: Brill, 2007); James Muzondidya, ‘Zimbabwe for Zimbabweans: Invisible Subject Minorities and the Quest for Justice and Reconciliation in Post-Colonial Zimbabwe’, in Zimbabwe: Injustice and Political Reconciliation, ed. Brian Raftopoulos and Tyrone Savage (Cape Town, South Africa : Harare: Institute for Justice and Reconciliation ; Weaver Press, 2005); Anusa Daimon, ‘Politics of “Othering” and the Struggle for Citizenship in Independent Zimbabwe: Voices from Malawian Descendants’, Africa Insight 44, no. 1 (June 2014): 137–50. 2 RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-CR 2019/1- © 2019 Author(s)