SA offers passport machine

SOUTH AFRICA has offered Zimbabwe the use of its state-of-the-art passport printing press that has capacity to process 4 000 passports per hour ahead of the December 31 deadline set for Zimbabweans living in South Africa to regularise their stay.
The offer was made during a meeting between Home Affairs co-Ministers Kembo Mohadi and Theresa Makone and their South African counterpart Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma in South Africa early this month.
Also present at the meeting was Registrar-General Mr Tobaiwa Mudede.
The Home Affairs co-Ministers immediately tasked Mr Mudede to consider the merits of the offer and submit a report to the ministry for onward transmission to Cabinet for consideration before Government could accept or reject the offer.
However, barely two days before the deadline, Mr Mudede was reportedly still to submit the report to his principals.
The Home Affairs co-Ministers yesterday confirmed the South African government's offer.
Said Minister Mohadi: "Yes, they (South Africans) offered (the passport printing equipment) but to say Government rejected that offer is not true.
"Government is yet to consider that offer and we have not even reported that to Cabinet. We have tasked the RG's Office to consider the merits and demerits of that offer.
"Furthermore, Cabinet has also adjourned for the holidays and no individual can bind Government to another Government.
"You should know that Home Affairs is not Government on its own and this is why we have to submit a report to Cabinet for us to take a position."
He defended the RG's Office's delay in submitting its report, arguing that it was a process that could not be done overnight.
Minister Mohadi said he was on leave and if the RG's Office had submitted the report, his counterpart Minister Makone could not take a position in his absence.
He said although he was not officially at work, Home Affairs Secretary Mr Melusi Matshiya could always advise him on such policy issues.
Minister Makone added: "South Africa has said come and use our equipment that can produce 4 000 passports per hour. They said what we were only required to do was to bring our own technocrats, passport books and papers. We also insisted to the RG that we should take that offer for people to consider us seriously."
Efforts to get Mr Mudede's comment were fruitless yesterday.
Director-General of the Zimbabwe Consulate in South Africa Mr Chris Mapanga yesterday could not ascertain the number of people so far registered in South Africa.
"This registration is a dynamic process and I cannot give the statistics now because every minute we are registering people.
"We have established four centres in Johannesburg and its work in progress as we are racing against the deadline," he said.
However, by December 22 Minister Dhlamini-Zuma said about 125 000 applications had been received while more than 40 000 had been processed by December 17.
She also maintained that the South African government would not extend the December 31 deadline, but would continue to work on the applications until applicants got their permits.
In September, the Government reduced fees for ordinary passport from US$140 to US$50 as part of efforts to ensure that people got travelling documents.
In other countries such as South Africa, an ordinary passport costs R190, while the same passport fetches R160 (US$19, 20) in Namibia.
Recently, Mr Mudede said of the estimated 3,5 million Zimbabweans living in South Africa, 1,5 million had no legal documents.