The Government has promised a sympathetic hearing for veteran human rights activist Judith Todd after Zimbabwe officials refused to give her a passport.
Judith Todd was born in Zimbabwe but officials in Robert Mugabe's Government have refused to issue her a Zimbabwe passport, saying she is a citizen of New Zealandwhere her father, Garfield Todd, was born.
Mr Todd was Prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia, as Zimbabwe was then known, from 1953 to 1958 and he and his daughter were outspoken supporters of Zimbabwe's independence.
In 2002, Ms Todd won a prolonged court battle for a one-year temporary passport to attend a memorial service for Mr Todd in London.But Zimbabwean officials have refused to renew the passport.
Recent citizenship laws require Zimbabweans holding a second nationality to formally renounce it.
Ms Todd said she never took up her New Zealand citizenship but said she would reluctantly claim it to get a passport to allow her to travel for business and political purposes.
Yesterday, the Government's duty minister, Health Minister Annette King, said Ms Todd was entitled to citizenship by descent and she would get a sympathetic hearing.
Ms King said New Zealand officials would facilitate travel for her but she needed to contact New Zealand officials in Pretoria, South Africa.
Ms Todd says about two million Zimbabweans, including black descendants of migrants from neighboring countries, are in a similar situation to hers.
She accused the Mugabe regime of being "intent on wiping out the citizenship and voting rights of any Zimbabwean of whatever colour or background thought to be against the ruling party".
Mr Mugabe, who has so far expelled about 4200 white farmers from their land and distributed it to cronies, accuses white Zimbabweans and "totemless aliens" of masterminding opposition to his rule.
Zimbabwe's Daily News newspaper, which Ms Todd partly owned, was forcibly shut by the regime in September.
Police have barred staff from producing the paper despite last week's second court judgment that the newspaper be re-opened.
