Zimbabwe Gives Indigenous People Hope Of Better Life Through Identity Cards

In Binga, one of Zimbabwe's most isolated districts, there are signs that the lives of its Indigenous people could be changing for the better soon, as the government has begun issuing identity documents.

Among them is 23-year-old Honest Moyo, who comes from a family of seven children in Sinampande village. He has always wanted to be a soldier, but his parents died without identity documents.

A presidential decree issued in April this year which says parental proof is no longer required to obtain identity documents helped him do so with few issues.

"This is a life changer. I obtained my national identity card recently through a mobile registration blitz in Binga. Now I can apply for military service," Moyo told Anadolu Agency.

Another resident of Binga, Agent Mweembe, 32, is celebrating after obtaining a birth certificate and national identity card in his family name.

"At first my maternal grandmother was the one who helped me obtain a birth certificate and identity card after realizing my father died without identity documents," said Mweembe.

"That meant I adopted my maternal grandmother's surname, and life was a challenge for me. But I later decided to obtain new documents using my father's name."

Binga legislator Prince Dubeko Sibanda commended the issuance of identity documents to the neediest Indigenous communities through the mobile registration exercises but said more work needs to be done.

Historical imbalance and challenges

"The people in Binga have since the 1950s not enjoyed living as Zimbabweans, as they have always faced challenges to obtain identity documents," Sibanda said.

"Upon attaining independence in 1980, the Zimbabwean government should have rectified this, but they continued neglecting the Indigenous people in Binga like what the colonizers did," he added.

Binga is one of the least developed places in Zimbabwe, with very bad roads, little or no health delivery systems, a poor telecommunications network and few homes with electricity, according to Sibanda.

"While countrywide mobile registration exercises have taken place in past years, in Binga, they achieved little or no benefit owing to the very poor roads that restricted mobile teams from going far," he added.

Peter Munsaka, an information officer with Basilizwi Trust, a non-governmental organization spearheading the drive for identification documents in Binga, lamented the shortage of identity registration offices.

"An average person in Binga can hardly earn more than $30 a month, yet there is only one issuing office. Owing to the high transport costs, people in Binga are unable to visit the center to get identity documents, opting to save money for food," Munsaka told Anadolu Agency.

"A decree issued by President Emmerson Mnangagwa in April this year that parental proof was no longer required has helped many people obtain identity documents this time around."

According to Basilizwi Trust, 43% of school children in Binga are not documented. Since they started mobilization of identity registration in 2017, they have assisted more than 1,000 children.

"We the BaTonga people have always been known for hunting and fishing. That's what most young men end up doing when they don't get employment. But to get employed, they also require identity documents, which most of them do not have," said Sibanda.

The BaTonga people are Indigenous people who were moved to Binga when their habitat along the Zambezi River was flooded during the construction of Lake Kariba in the 1950s.​​​​​​​

"We were separated by the river, while some of our relatives moved to the Zambian side. But if one were to cross the river, life is much better there because the then Northern Rhodesia government built homes, roads, and documented the BaTonga people before moving them," Sibanda added.

Since 1982, Aug. 9 has been marked as International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples, when people from around the world are encouraged to spread the United Nations' message on the protection and promotion of the rights of Indigenous peoples. -