Zimbabwe allocates US$591 000 to speed up production of passports

Zimbabwe which has become a laughing stock on the international and social media for failing to provide its citizens with passports says it has paid US$591 000 to procure three state-of-the-art high capacity additional printers.

The Ministry of Information said this will raise production of passports from the current 3 000 passports a day to 8 000.

It is not clear whether this is new information or not because Home Affairs Minister Cain Mathema was quoted in April as saying they had the capacity to produce 8 000 passports a day.

The Information Ministry said the Ministry of Home Affairs was facing an increasing backlog because of shortage of foreign currency and obsolete equipment.

Reuters reported yesterday that Zimbabweans applying for passports were being told to collect their documents in 2022.

Normally a passport is produced in a month but depending on the fee, it can be produced in a day or two.

Reuters said there was a backlog of 50 000 but some reports put the backlog as high as 280 000 and would take just over a month to clear at 8 000 passports a day.

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