Govt Suspends Printing Of Ordinary Passports

The Registrar General Clemence Masango said that no ordinary passports are being printed at the moment, with priority being given to emergency passports and for diasporans who applied for the documents in foreign currency.

Masango said this on Thursday during a tour of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Defence, Home Affairs and Security Services at Makombe Building in Harare. He said:

At the moment, the $53 passports are on the backlog and not being printed because their charges do not meet the current printing costs.

We are only printing urgent passports and these are only for those who need to travel urgently such as the sick who need medical attention out of the country or those who work outside like truck drivers, those who live outside Zimbabwe and were allowed to pay (passport) fees in foreign currency.

Masango’s remarks somewhat contradict what was said by the Minister for Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage, Kazembe Kazembe recently.

Kazembe said that the government has committed more resources to the Registrar-general’s department to increase the production of passports to 8 000 per day from the current 2 500 to clear the backlog.

More: NewZimbabwe.com