The leadership of MDC SA is appealing to thousands of Zimbabweans trying to apply for passports in Johannesburg to exercise patience and refrain from violence.
We learnt from Consul Officials during a snap check in Braamfontein today that the Zimbabwe Consulate was evicted from 20 Anderson after impatient applicants assaulted security guards of the building. The leaser also complained that the multitude thronging his premises were making a lot noise, inconveniencing other tenants. The Consulate is now temporarily operating from Power House in Braamfontein at corner Simmonds Street and Wolmarans, where passport applications are being processed.
We are fully aware that queuing the whole day is not a joke, but beating up security guards is not a solution. The Consulate is also issuing tickets with numbers indicating days which individuals will be helped. So we encourage applicants to visit Power House only on dates allocated to them to avoid unnecessary congestions. A senior Consulate official assured us that they intend to process about a thousand applicants a day.