By Princess Eugene Majuru
Citizenship is more than a legal status. It is the constitutional boundary between inclusion and exclusion, between those who fully belong to the state and those who do not. Zimbabwe’s 2013 Constitution sets out a clear legal framework for citizenship, but beneath its structured definitions lies a deeper philosophical question: how does the Constitution define belonging in a society shaped by history, migration, and identity complexity?
- Citizenship by Law: The Constitutional Categories
The foundation of citizenship is set out in Section 35(1), which provides:
“All persons are Zimbabwean citizens by birth, descent or registration.”
This provision establishes three legal pathways:
birth within Zimbabwe
descent from a citizen
formal registration
Section 36 reinforces continuity:
“Every person who was a citizen of Zimbabwe when this Constitution came into force continues to be a Zimbabwean citizen.”
What this means:
Citizenship is legally structured and defined
Belonging is determined through formal criteria
The Constitution creates clarity and legal certainty
- Citizenship and Inclusion: The Legal Doorway to Rights
Citizenship is not only identity—it is access. Many constitutional rights are explicitly linked to citizenship.
For example:
Section 75(1) provides:
“Every citizen and permanent resident of Zimbabwe has a right to a basic State-funded education…”
Section 76(1) states:
“Every citizen and permanent resident… has the right to have access to basic health-care services…”
Key implication:
Citizenship determines full access to socio-economic rights
It functions as a gateway to state obligations
- Belonging Beyond Citizenship: The Cultural Layer
The Constitution also recognises identity beyond formal citizenship.
Section 16(1) provides:
“The State must promote and preserve cultural values and practices which enhance the dignity, well-being and identity of Zimbabweans.”
And Section 63(1) states:
“Every person has the right to participate in the cultural life of their choice.”
What this suggests:
Identity is not only legal, but cultural
Belonging includes participation in cultural life
The Constitution acknowledges plural identities
However, cultural belonging is not equal to citizenship in legal weight.
- The Territorial Logic of the Nation-State
Zimbabwe’s citizenship model reflects a broader global system: the modern nation-state.
Under this model:
identity is tied to territory
membership is legally registered
borders define belonging
Section 3(1) reinforces this structure:
“Zimbabwe is a unitary, democratic and sovereign republic.”
What this implies:
Sovereignty is territorially defined
Citizenship is linked to state boundaries
The state is the primary unit of belonging
- The Historical Layer: Belonging and Its Complexities
While the Constitution provides clarity, it operates within a historical context where belonging was not always defined by state documentation.
In many African societies:
identity was shaped through lineage and clan systems
belonging was relational rather than bureaucratic
movement and settlement did not require formal registration
The constitutional model replaces this with:
legal identity systems
documentation-based recognition
centralised administrative control
- The Core Tension: Legal Belonging vs Lived Belonging
The Constitution defines belonging in legal terms, but lived belonging is often more complex.
Legal belonging:
citizenship certificates
registration systems
legal rights frameworks
Lived belonging:
cultural identity
ancestral ties
community recognition
historical memory
The gap:
A person may be fully a citizen in law, but still experience contested or layered belonging in social reality.
- The Deeper Question: Who Does the Constitution Imagine?
At its core, citizenship provisions raise a philosophical question:
Is the Constitution primarily imagining a legal citizen, or a historically rooted person with layered identity?
The answer is both—but unevenly weighted toward legal identity.
Conclusion: Citizenship as Structure, Not Full Identity
Zimbabwe’s Constitution provides a clear and functional system of citizenship. It defines who belongs legally and ensures access to rights and participation.
However, it does not fully capture the depth of belonging as experienced socially, culturally, and historically.
It produces a constitutional identity that is:
legally precise
administratively clear
but socially more complex than the framework fully expresses
In this sense, citizenship in Zimbabwe is both:
a gateway to rights and a boundary of belonging
The Constitution defines who is inside the system—but the meaning of belonging inside that system continues to evolve beyond the text itself.
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