Activist Kwekweza threatens legal action over ID card replacement – Newsday Zimbabwe

Democracy campaigner Namatai Kwekweza

PROMISED democracy activist Namatai Kwekweza has given the Registrar General (RG) an ultimatum to replace her national identity card.

This comes after Department of Civil Registration officials reportedly refused to replace Kwekweza’s national identity card on October 30, 2024, telling her she was on the so-called stop list.

Stop lists are the names of people who are deprived of certain rights, privileges or services, or with whom members of the association are prohibited from doing business.

She was listed as a defendant after she was charged with disorderly conduct in 2020.

Through her lawyers, Tinashe Chinopfukutwa and Kelvin Kabaya of Zimbabwe Human Rights Lawyers, who wrote a letter of demand to Registrar General Henry Machiri on November 14, 2024, protesting the refusal of Civil Registration Department officials to replace her ID card.

In the letter, Chinopfukutwa and Kabaya told Machiri that the refusal to replace Kwekweza’s national identity card was illegal and violated her constitutional rights.

The lawyers emphasized that the activist had a right to obtain identification and that the exercise of this right was entirely independent of the existence of any criminal charges brought against her.

Human rights lawyers said even those convicted are entitled to national identity cards.

In addition, Chinopfukutwa and Kabaya said the basis on which Kwekweza was placed on the so-called “stop list” has since been lost by events following her acquittal.

Human rights lawyers demanded that Machiri allow Kwekweza to replace her national identity card within 48 hours of receiving the letter.

They informed the Registrar General that his failure to comply with their request would result in legal proceedings being initiated against him.

Kwekweza was recently acquitted along with more than 70 activists after being arrested in June on charges of planning a peaceful demonstration during the Southern African Development Community (SADC) heads of state and government summit held in August.

In July, Kwekweza was removed from a flight from Harare to Victoria Falls by state security agents at Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport, along with activists Robson Shere, Samuel Gwenzi and Vusumuzi Sibanda.

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