I Will Respect Citizenship Rights, Everyone Entitled To A Passport Will Receive It - New Registrar General

Newly appointed Registrar General, Clemence Masango has vowed to respect people’s citizenship rights and to issue passports to everyone who is entitled to one. This marks a clear departure from his predecessor’s ways. Tobaiwa Mudede who was last week retired as registrar general, stubbornly refused to issue passports to people with dual citizenship despite the fact that the 2013 Constitution allows it. Mudede went as far as defying a court order after businessman Mutumwa Mawere won a court case against him. Speaking to state media on Sunday, Masango said,

My word for those in the diaspora or all Zimbabweans is that I will respect one’s right to citizenship and everyone who is entitled to a passport will get it as long as he satisfies the provisions of the law. If unavailability of passports has to do with a problem of financial resources, authorities will be approached and have the situation addressed…Part of my vision is to improve computerisation in order to modernise our operations and improve efficiency. There is no reason why one should queue just to pick up an application form, say for a passport, that should be easily available online where they download, submit; only to be called for interviews.

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