By Tafadzwa Chigandiwa
Government has said it will issue the San community with all the required country’s national identity documents.
This was announced by the Minister of Information Monica Mutsvangwa during yesterday’s (Tuesday) the post cabinet briefing in Harare.
This comes after cabinet received a report from the government after an interactive meeting with the San community in Tsholotsho district where they noticed that a number of people there had no identification documents amongst other challenges that the group faces.
“Cabinet received a report on a government delegation’s visit to the San Community in Tsholotsho District in Matebeleland North Province led by the Minister of Local Government and Public Works.
“The delegation noted that the San people lack birth certificates and identity documents. The Ministry of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage should instruct the Registrar General’s office to issue birth and identity documents to the inhabitants of San/Tjwao and similar communities in Zimbabwe who have been unable to obtain such documentation,” Mutsvangwa said.
Government is prepared to cater for the San community in terms of food security, encounter early teenage pregnancies and improving the San’s education system.
To add on, the information minister highlighted that president Mnangagwa’s government is ready to protect the San community from discrimination and ensure that the group is equally treated like any other ethnic group in the country.
“Cabinet wishes to inform the nation that the Second Republic has made undertakings to ensure that the right to equality and non-discrimination is realised. Section 56 of the Constitution clearly states that;
“Every person has the right not to be treated in an unfairly discriminatory manner on such grounds as their ethnic or social origin.”
The San people are one of the marginalised and discriminated communities in the country.
In Zimbabwe, the population of the San group is estimated to be around 2 500.
