Elias Nkawa worked at High Short Farm, 75km north of Harare, for many years. He claims to originate from the southern Malawi district of Machika but cannot recall for how long he lived there. He has nothing to feed his family and lacks shelter since his former employer fled his farm. He believes neither the government of Malawi nor of Zimbabwe are doing much for the plight of the immigrants.
“Our employers did not have problems like ourselves when they were forced off their farms by the war veterans. They simply jumped into their cars and drove off. Since our own government cannot process our citizenship, and there is no hope that the Zimbabwe government will help, we’re really without anywhere to go,” Nkawa told the Malawi News.
A prediction made by analysts earlier in the year that Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe’s land reform programme would affect many people in the region is proving to be true. Immigrants in Zimbabwe are feeling the pinch of the land crisis with Malawians the most hard hit.
Thousands of people have become destitute following an amendment of the Zimbabwe Citizenship Act, allegedly designed to target white commercial farmers. However, Zimbabwe also hosts many immigrant workers from neighbouring countries — it is estimated that more than three million Malawians live in Zimbabwe and are, therefore, the largest group affected by the land redistribution unrest.
The amendment stipulates that if a citizen of Zimbabwe was, at the date of the amendment in 2001, also a citizen of a foreign country then they would cease to be a citizen of Zimbabwe. What makes life difficult for the Malawian immigrants is the corresponding Act in Malawi which states that any person who, at the age of 21, is both a citizen of Malawi and of another country shall upon their 22 birthday cease to be a citizen of Malawi.
Both the Malawi and Zimbabwe high commission offices promise to work out a solution. The Malawi high commission, however, points out that most of the people travelled to Zimbabwe 20 years ago which makes it difficult to prove they are Malawians.
Another problem the Malawian commission has to deal with is that many Zimbabweans experiencing problems travelling to Europe now claim they are Malawian so that they can obtain another passport.
Malawian Home Affairs Minister Monjeza Maluza promises his government will do everything possible to alleviate the immigrants’ situation: “It is not yet a hopeless situation. There is light at the end of the tunnel because our negotiations with our counterparts [the Zimbabwe government] are proving to be fruitful.”