Zim stops issuing passports

Registrar General Tobaiwa Mudede said at a press conference on Monday that no key infrastructure used in the making of the identity documents had been damaged, but electronic systems had been disrupted in the fire on New Years Eve. We wish to inform members of the public that the department is currently unable to process computerised documents until further notice, Mudede said.

Mudede said production computers, 18 printers and 20 scanners used in the production of identity documents were not affected, but the fire had hit the electronics and made it impossible to access the central information database. Mudede said the damage was localised, dismissing earlier media reports on the scale of the fire.

The fire came as thousands of Zimbabweans were desperately trying to beat a deadline to regularise their stay in South Africa. The Zim nationals were given until last Friday to apply for work or study permits or face deportation from the country. South Africas Home Affairs department has said that more than 200 000 applications were received by the cut off date. But with more than a million Zimbabweans believed to be without proper papers, there is still uncertainty about what happens next.

The announcement of the documentation deadline sparked a frenzied rush for papers, with people queuing for days at a time to get their stay in South Africa regularised. The whole process was hinged on the Zim nationals proving their Zim citizenship in the form of passports. But Zimbabwes Home Affairs said it was overwhelmed with the number of applications and could not meet the demand. Home Affairs co-Ministers Theresa Makone and Kembo Mohadi revealed last week that South Africa had offered Zimbabwe a printing press capable of producing 100,000 passports a day, an offer that was declined. The authorities have since come under fire for failing its own citizens.