HARARE - The Registrar Generals office has issued over 70 000 passports during the past 10 months in an effort to clear the massive backlog dating from 2006, Co-Home Affairs Minister Theresa Makone has said.In 2006 there was a backlog of over 300 000 passport applicants, but in November last year, the Registrar Generals office announced that they had managed to clear 222 000, leaving 78 000 still waiting.
Makone said the department has since cleared the backlog.
I was informed by the Permanent Secretary of the Home Affairs Ministry last week that the RGs Office had issued 78 355 passports in the past few months, she said.
Makone added that a ministerial delegation comprising her and co- Minister Kembo Mohadi will visit the RGs offices to assess the progress this week.
We are still to visit the offices to see how things are going, said Makone.
The demand for passports rose significantly in the last decade as Zimbabweans sought to escape the then escalating economic crises that has seen over three million Zimbabweans living abroad.
During the same period, the RGs Office succumbed to serious shortages of the special paper used to print passports and other identity documents.
An ordinary passport costs US$140, while an urgent one processed within two working days is pegged at US$250. An express and diplomatic passport processed in one day costs US$318.
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