Zim stops issuing passports
By Alex Bell
04 January 2011
Zimbabwe has indefinitely stopped issuing birth certificates, identity cards
and passports after a fire at the Registrar General’s office in Harare last
week, which has damaged key electrical systems.
Registrar General Tobaiwa Mudede said at a press conference on Monday that
no key infrastructure used in the making of the identity documents had been
damaged, but electronic systems had been disrupted in the fire on New Year’s
Eve.
“We wish to inform members of the public that the department is currently
unable to process computerised documents until further notice,” Mudede said.
Mudede said production computers, 18 printers and 20 scanners used in the
production of identity documents were not affected, but the fire had hit the
electronics and made it impossible to access the central information
database. Mudede said the damage was “localised”, dismissing earlier media
reports on the scale of the fire.
The fire came as thousands of Zimbabweans were desperately trying to beat a
deadline to regularise their stay in South Africa. The Zim nationals were
given until last Friday to apply for work or study permits or face
deportation from the country. South Africa’s Home Affairs department has
said that more than 200 000 applications were received by the cut off date.
But with more than a million Zimbabweans believed to be without proper
papers, there is still uncertainty about what happens next.
The announcement of the documentation deadline sparked a frenzied rush for
papers, with people queuing for days at a time to get their stay in South
Africa regularised. The whole process was hinged on the Zim nationals
proving their Zim citizenship in the form of passports. But Zimbabwe’s Home
Affairs said it was overwhelmed with the number of applications and could
not meet the demand. Home Affairs co-Ministers Theresa Makone and Kembo
Mohadi revealed last week that South Africa had offered Zimbabwe a printing
press capable of producing 100,000 passports a day, an offer that was
declined. The authorities have since come under fire for failing its own
citizens.