Massive passport backlog

The backlog was contributing to the problem of irregular migration by undocumented Zimbabweans who are deported each month from South Africa and Botswana, according to a document circulated among potential donors by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM). Due to inadequate capacity, the Registrar Generals Office has a backlog of over 200 000 travel documents in its issuance system, said the IOM which is at the forefront of efforts to stem illegal travel across the countrys borders by undocumented Zimbabweans.

The RGls Office has faced severe financial constraints over the past few years which have seen it at one time stopping the issuing of identification cards, passports and other crucial documents to citizens because there was no hard cash to pay foreign suppliers of the special ink and films used to produce the documents. Zimbabwe has grappled with a severe foreign currency crisis since 1999 and itself the result of an unprecedented economic meltdown described by the World Bank as the worst in the world outside a war zone. Registrar-General Tobaiwa Mudede could not be reached for comment last week.

The department is the governments documentation nerve centre and also provides materials such as ballot papers during elections. IOM said a survey it conducted in 2007 had revealed that on six percent of Zimbabwean youths had valid passports yet these were among the largest groups of people trying to leave the country in search greener pastures across the Limpopo or in Botswana. An estimated two million Zimbabweans are living in South Africa the majority of them illegally, after fleeing their home country because of hunger, political violence and economic hardships. The South African Department of Home Affairs introduced a new visa system in April under which it undertook to allow Zimbabweans to stay for up to 90 days without a visa.

However, even with the new visa dispensation, without proper documentation, irregular Zimbabwean migrants are vulnerable to exploitation, physical, sexual abuse, and gender based violence during their journey and in host countries, with little or no access to medical care or legal assistance, observed the migration organisation. Human rights groups say thousands of Zimbabwean asylum seekers are routinely denied medical treatment by South African health officials. Zimbabweans are subjected to harsh treatment by South African health staff in the public services and often told to go back home for medical treatment or alternatively charged exorbitant fees to access public facilities despite policies to the contrary.

Thousands of Zimbabweans cross the border into South Africa daily, many risking their lives to flee economic meltdown, political turmoil and a critical lack of access to health care in their homeland.

In the past several years, the crisis in Zimbabwe has given rise to food insecurity, an unprecedented cholera epidemic, political violence, rampant unemployment, an escalating HIV crisis and the near-total collapse of the health system. Upon arrival, many Zimbabweans endure further suffering in South Africa, without access to proper health care, shelter or safety. During their journey to and within South Africa, they are subjected to violence, physical and verbal abuse, police harassment, inhumane living conditions and xenophobic attacks.

According to the IOM documents, the organisation plans to assist the RGs Office through a technical assessment of the travel document and identity document issuing system, support to departments planned decentralization of document issuance including identification of critical gaps, IT upgrades, trainings and support in provision of documents.

The aid agency also plans to offer assistance to the RGs ongoing mobile birth registration efforts in rural areas and mobile and vulnerable population communities. It would also facilitate the creation of document application desks at the reception and support centres it runs in Beitbridge and Plumtree to enable illegal immigrants to immediately apply for documents upon

their return to Zimbabwe.