JOHANNESBURG -- Co-Home Affairs Ministers Kembo Mohandi and Theresa Makone walked out of a meeting here last week with tails between the legs, after Zimbabweans immigrants told them where to get off after the two had attempted to gloss over their ministrys incompetence in processing applications for passports.
The duo, who never ceased to shower each other with accolades and praises in their opening remarks, attracted the wrath of their countrymen when they claimed that officials deployed in South Africa to issue passports and other identity documents to Zimbabwean immigrants here were running a smooth and efficient operation.
For some reason the ministers presentations seemed rather off-hand, lacking in depth and substance, and in the end left the government leaders appearing either ignorant of or indifferent to the plight of thousands of Zimbabwean immigrants who face deportation should they fail to meet the deadline to submit applications for South African permits.
South Africas home affairs department — which has said it will resume deporting Zimbabweans who do not have work or other permits allowing them to stay here — requires immigrants to produce passports when applying for permits.
With the Zimbabwean consulate officials sluggish in processing applications for passports there is a growing risk that thousands of people will miss the December 31 deadline to apply for permits and could be deported from South Africa.
Instead of explaining what her ministry was doing to speed up processing of applications for passports, Makone instead chose to narrate the outcome of a meeting she and Mohadi had held earlier with South African Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, much to the chagrin of her listeners most of who were well aware of what had transpired during the ministers meeting.
Dlamini-Zuma had explained to Zimbabwean non-governmental organisations based here exactly the same details that Makone somehow chose to repeat to her visibly irritated audience.
Gutter fighting
The cabinet ministers further courted the ire of the immigrants when they some felt arrogantly — refused to answer questions from the Zimbabweans who had paid R75 to hear their ministers speak about the on-going documentation process which is riddled with irregularities and delays, amid allegations of corruption levelled against immigration officials.
Instead they tongue lashed at the attendants accusing them of not respecting them, with Makone describing the questioning as gutter fighting.
I am not going to engage in gutter fighting because I am an intellectual, said Makone.
Mahodi did not help the situation either, when he demanded to be respected. I might be a bad person, but respect me, said the Zanu (PF) hardliner, much to the annoyance of attendants who had hoped for a fruitful engagement with the ministers.
In a rare display of the Shefu mentality, the two characters that are presiding over the collapsing home affairs ministry appeared just close to telling the audience that should, in fact, luck that two government ministers were addressing them.
When Zimbabwes new ambassador to South Africa Phelekezela Mphoko tried to shield the ministers by fielding questions on their above, irritated members of the audience promptly booed him off the podium.
Post questions
But when the ministers returned to the podium they surprisingly demanded that all questions be put in writing and sent to Home Affairs Mkwati Building headquarters in Harare for their attention.
They tasked the new ambassador to take the questions from the audience and forward them to Harare. They also took a swipe at the organisers of the event for not sending them an agenda of the meeting in advance.
The sarcastic Mutumwa Mawere, who Mohadi initially described as a former fugitive in his opening remarks, reminded the ministers to control their temper and respond to questions.
Mawere also reminded the ministers that it was not unusual among Africans for one to invite people to a meeting or discussion without actually specifying the issues to be discussed.
The ministers speeches did not seem to contain much of substance and were peppered with sound bites that were of little value to an audience anxious to hear more about what their government was doing to help them acquire identity documents.
Makone did not help matters when she sought to talk up the supposed efficiency of the registrar generals department in processing applications for identity documents by claiming that one Zimbabwe student managed to get her national identity document within five minutes.
Of course, such a preposterous claim was a little less than an insult to Zimbabweans exiles here who are only too aware that after paying the R150 charged for an ID they would have to wait for at least a week while consulate try to first verify first that the money was indeed paid before they can start processing the application.
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