government or other authority recognized by the Government;
“Zimbabwe citizen” means a citizen of Zimbabwe in terms of the laws relating to
citizenship.
3
Domicile
(1) Subject to this section, a person shall be regarded, for the purposes of this Act,
as being domiciled in a country if—
(a) he resides permanently in that country; or
(b) that country is the country to which he returns as a permanent resident.
(2) A person who resides in Zimbabwe by virtue of the fact that—
(a) he has been allowed to enter or remain in Zimbabwe through error, oversight,
misrepresentation or a contravention of this Act or a repealed Act; or
(b) it has not been discovered that he is a prohibited person or an alien;
shall not acquire a domicile in Zimbabwe.
(3) No person shall, for the purposes of this Act, have a domicile in Zimbabwe unless he has lawfully ordinarily resided therein for a continuous period of ten years, which
period shall not include—
(a) any period during which a person has—
(i) been detained in any prison, reformatory or mental hospital in or
outside Zimbabwe; or
(ii) resided in Zimbabwe in terms of any permit other than a residence
permit;
or
(b) any period of residence of a person while he is such a person as is described in
paragraph (e) of subsection (2) of section fifteen or who has entered Zimbabwe in terms of a convention or scheme referred to in paragraph (f) of that
subsection:
Provided that, where the President, in terms of the proviso to subparagraph (ii) of
paragraph (c) of subsection (1) of section 4 of the Citizenship of Zimbabwe Act [Chapter 4:01], has authorized the Minister responsible for the administration of that Act to
accept a shorter period than ten years for the registration of a person as a citizen of
Zimbabwe, the reference in this subsection to ten years shall be deemed in respect of
such person to be a reference to such shorter period.
[Subsection amended by s. 2 of Act 8/2000.]
(4) Subject to subsection (5)⎯
(a) a person shall, for the purposes of this Act, lose his domicile in Zimbabwe if
he—
(i) has voluntarily departed from and resides outside Zimbabwe with the
intention of making his home outside Zimbabwe; or
(ii) is absent from Zimbabwe for a continuous period of five years or such
longer period as the Minister may, at his request, fix before the expiry
of that period:
Provided that the Minister may, in special circumstances, fix a longer
period in terms of this subparagraph after the expiry of the period of
five years;
[Subparagraph amended by s. 2 of Act 8/2000.]
(b) the fact that a person has taken up residence outside Zimbabwe shall be prima
facie evidence of his intention of making his home outside Zimbabwe and the
onus of proving otherwise shall be on the person who status is in question;