Registrar-General Tobaiwa Mudede has denied reports that
his department refused to issue a passport to prominent Zimbabwean journalist
Violet Gonda on allegations that she was on a “stop list”.
Gonda, through the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights,
recently petitioned the High Court seeking a mandatory and declaratory order
invalidating Mudede’s refusal to issue her with a passport and another order
directing that she be issued with the document.
But in his response to the application filed on Monday this
week, Mudede dismissed Gonda’s claims on the basis that there was no dispute
between the parties since the journalist was never denied a passport.
“The application is not necessary as applicant (Gonda) has
not been denied passport by my (Mudede) office. After she encountered some
administrative problems with the officer who attended to her, applicant should
have escalated her issue to the senior person in my office.
If this had been done, the issue would have been resolved
without the need to approach this court,” Mudede said in his founding
affidavit.
“There is no need to issue any order as there is no dispute
between the parties.
The court should only be involved where there is a real
dispute that needs adjudication.”
In her application, the former SW Radio Africa journalist
who was born and raised in Zimbabwe before moving to England, had claimed she
applied for a passport in August this year, but was turned down after being
informed she was on a “stop list” she suspected was targeted at critics of the
Zanu PF regime.
“Imagine I (Gonda) applied like everyone else and my name
was red-flagged in their system. I have committed no crime. My rights have been violated and the authorities should
issue me with a passport,” Gonda submitted in her application.
However, in his response, Mudede said the so-called “stop
list” does not apply to Gonda and that she is entitled to getting a passport.
Gonda had sued Mudede and Home Affair minister Cain
Mathema. The matter is yet to be set down for hearing. Newsday
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