A group consisting of Zimbabwean expatriates living in South Africa, as well as some South African citizens, marched to the Zimbabwean embassy in Hatfield, Pretoria, on Tuesday.
According to TimesLive, the protestors were demanding that the Zimbabwean government set a standard passport application fee in line with the prices charged by other African countries.
The march was prompted by a recent decision by the Zimbabwean embassy in South Africa to significantly increase the passport application fee for Zimbabwean citizens residing in the country.
The new fee was set at US$250, which the protestors argued was exorbitant and unaffordable for many.
In comparison, the cost of an ordinary passport is $150 US dollars when applied for at any of the numerous passport application centres located across Zimbabwe.
The Zimbabwean protesters in South Africa also used the march as an opportunity to call for the resignation of President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
One 30-year-old Zimbabwean participant, who has been living in South Africa for around a decade, reported that he had lost his passport after being robbed last year.
Due to the high cost of the new passport, he said he could not afford to replace it. He said:
I am not working so don’t have R5,000 for a passport. Here in South Africa if you don’t have a permit, you won’t work, so I don’t know what I can do. Going back home is also expensive.
At least if they dropped that price to $100, it would be better. Working is hard if you do not have the proper documents. We can’t survive and maybe we will turn into criminals.
It’s like I am illegal because I don’t have a passport. I don’t feel comfortable, I am scared and when I see the police I feel like I should run away because I don’t have documents.
I can’t find a proper job because I don’t have a qualification or proper documents, I don’t have anything. The amount that I would use to travel home is the same as a new passport, R5,000.
Another Zimbabwean participant, Nonhlanhla Ndlovu, also criticized the steep increase in passport fees, describing the new price as exorbitant.
Ndlovu, who arrived in South Africa in February 2018 without a passport, had crossed the Limpopo River in hopes of finding employment.
Now 25 years old, Ndlovu explained that she has been unable to obtain a passport due to a lack of financial resources. For approximately five years, she has managed to avoid arrest by evading the police. She said:
When I see them, I take another route and hide. I don’t know how I will get a passport, I might die first. I am not working full-time, I depend on odd jobs.
I cannot live freely, it scares me and I wonder if one day they will get me.
Mandi Chiwashira, convener of Zimbabwean citizens living in South Africa, demanded Mnangagwa’s resignation saying he has failed Zimbabweans. Said Chiwashira:
We are here because the situation in Zimbabwe is not good, we are crying also here in South Africa where we are just surviving with God’s mercy. Our passport is R5,000, what is so special about it?
From $50 dollars last year, I went to get a passport. It was $120, and this year they hiked the price to $250, which is close to R5,000. Where are we going to get that money?
A passport should be $20; they are just stealing this money. The conditions for Zimbabweans living here in South Africa are not safe without passports.
When we see police we run away, we are scared to be out, we are scared even to do business.
We are suffering, we can’t even get jobs.
A spokesperson for Zimbabwean citizens in South Africa, Thapshienda Mugore, said:
We don’t have a government; there is no legitimate government in Zimbabwe. All the Zimbabweans here are not here by choice; they are here because of aggravating situations back home.
Mugore said the cost of passports in the SADC region should be standardised.
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) member Kagiso Nkuna expressed solidarity with the Zimbabwean protesters, acknowledging the difficulties and oppression they face. Said Nkuna:
We know that the people of Zimbabwe are facing difficulties and are under oppression. We, EFF, as a pan-Africanist organisation, need to stand in solidarity with the Zimbabwean people in this tough time.
We are saying that an ordinary person or a person who sells broomsticks cannot afford R5,000. Look at the state of the economy, look at the rent, look at the Zimbabwean currency.
It is very weak, and for you to say a poor person must purchase a passport for R5,000 while they cannot afford mealie meal daily is an insult to that person and their dignity; it is reducing the African people while the white minority can come into this country and do whatever they want and even have double passports and double identifications but there are no consequences to them.
Why must Zimbabweans not afford a mere passport and stay in South Africa so that they can afford to participate in economic activities?
Nkuna said the price hike would contribute to more Zimbabweans becoming illegal in South Africa as they would not be able to pay for the passports.
More: Pindula News
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