According to sources within the ZRP, police Commissioner, Augustine Chihuri had to intervene last week, when he barred his subordinates from writing any form of correspondence to Provincial Registrars’ offices to assist members of the public seeking travel documents, amid allegations that some corrupt junior officers have been receiving bribes in return for writing false letters.
People who lose their vital documents, such as national registration certificates, driver’s licences, passports and birth certificates, are required to report to their nearest police station, where their details are entered in a lost and found property book, after which they are given a reference number.
When re-applying for these documents, the applicant is then required to produce a letter written by the police and addressed to their provincial Registrar’s office, confirming that such documents were lost and reported to the police.
The Registrar-general stopped issuing and receiving passport application forms on December 1 last year, citing lack of foreign currency to import the required special paper to be used in producing the travel document.
Only Emergency Travel Documents (ETDs), which are printed on bond paper, are being issued.
Police sources told The Zimbabwean this week that the Registrar General, Tobaiwa Mudede, wrote to Chihuri early this month complaining, after “too much” correspondence bearing police date stamps had continued to stream into offices of provincial registrars, asking them to assist individuals seeking travel documents.
Police spokesman, Assistant Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena, refused to comment on the matter, asking our correspondent to furnish him with his accreditation number with the Media and Information Commission first.
The Registrar General’s office, which received a cash injection from the government through the central bank, claims that it will only resume processing new applications after clearing a backlog of those who have applied.
Currently, only those passports applied for on December 10, 2005 are available for collection. – Bayethe Zitha
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