Crisis at the passport office

An alleged system malfunction has left operations at a standstill at the registrar general’s office. Due to the system breakdown, passports can no longer be processed until the problem is resolved.

The registrar general Mr Clement Masango, announced on national television that there is a system malfunction at their offices and issuance of passports has been stopped until further notice.

Zimbabweans who had applied for passports have been left stranded and those with travel plans have had to cancel. A 30 day passport costs around 53 rtgs whilst an emergency passport costs around 253 rtgs dollars. It is not clear as to when the system will be up and running again.

The issue has been met with mixed reactions with most people alleging that it is not true that there is a system malfunction. They has been speculation that it is a diversion to enable the registrar general to hike prices to acquire passports.

The passport office has been experiencing shortage of paper to make passports in recent months. Those who applied for 30 day passports have had to wait for months sometimes up to a year. Those who applied for emergency passports have had to wait for weeks as the office could only process 20 emergency passports a day. The breakdown of their system has escalated these woes and affected scores of people.

People are hopeful that the sysytem will be fixed as soon as possible so that business can return to nomalcy. The registrar general could not provide information as to when the problem will be resolved