An official at the RG’s Office last month declined to issue Gonda with a passport when she went to Mudede’s Offices applying for a new Zimbabwean passport following the expiry of her previous passport which had expired while she was resident in the United Kingdom.
In declining to issue Gonda with a passport, the official at Mudede’s Offices returned her application with an endorsement written “S.L”. This implied that her application could not be processed as her name was on a so-called STOP LIST and hence the RG was prohibited from
issuing her with a passport or any form of identification which a Zimbabwean citizen is entitled to.
This compelled Gonda to approach her lawyer Denford Halimani of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, who on Tuesday 28 August 2018 filed an application in the High Court seeking an order to oblige Mudede and Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage Minister to unconditionally issue
Gonda with a Zimbabwean passport.
Said the ZLHR in a statement:
“In response to Gonda’s application, Mudede said the freelance journalist is entitled to a passport and said the so-called “STOP
LIST” administered by his office does not apply to her.
Mudede said Gonda encountered some “administrative problems” with a
junior officer who attended to her but should have “escalated” her
issue to a senior person in his office.
The RG charged that filing of the court application could have been avoided had Gonda referred her issue to a senior person in his office
or to himself directly.
The matter is yet to be heard and determined by the High Court.”