Old Zimbabwe passports to work until they expire

THE Government has set in motion plans to bring the application of e-passports to Bulawayo before mid year, and later to other provinces as part of decentralising the processing of the new travelling document.

Last year in December, President Mnangagwa launched the country's e-passport aimed at enhancing security by preventing identity theft and forgery.

Issuing of the e-passports started in January and the first batch is now out, with Government announcing last week that the documents will start being used at ports of entry by tomorrow.

However, the application and processing of the passport is still being centralised in Harare with provincial Civil Registry Department Offices still processing the traditional old passport.

However, officials from the department told Sunday News last week that plans have already been put in motion to ensure that applications can start in other areas, with Bulawayo being the next office.

Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage Permanent Secretary Mr Aaron Nhepera also told our Harare Bureau that the Bulawayo Registrar-General's Office was already being equipped with systems capable of processing e-passport applications ahead of the roll-out over the next few weeks.

Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage Deputy Minister Ruth Mavhunga Maboyi told Sunday News yesterday that while she could not immediately avail the timelines of when applications will be rolled to other provinces, it was the Government's wish to ensure that the e-passport is accessible to everyone across the country.

"As for the timelines, I think the experts are still working on that. At the moment the passport is being done in Harare.

We chose Harare because that is where the infrastructure is at the moment. We are also constrained in terms of funding because of sanctions (imposed on the country by the West) but even with our resources we are making inroads to ensure that our citizens get the documents," she said.

The official from the Registry department also said that the application process will later be extended to embassies and consulates to allow those in the diaspora to apply for the e-passport.

"At the moment we are targeting about 15 missions but that will be decided by the density of the people in those countries."

South Africa is likely to be among the first countries as it is estimated that more than a million Zimbabweans are in that country. The official further said people who had traditional passports will use them until they expire.

"No, the traditional passports are not expiring, and in fact all the other provincial offices are still processing them. So what it means is that if you get your traditional passport today, it will be valid for the next 10 years.

So in short we still have about 10 years or slightly more for the country to completely phase out the non-biometric passport," the official said. The official said people must also not confuse e-passports and online passport application.

"We have heard a lot of enquiries on whether e-passport means people can apply online. No, online application is a completely different thing.

E-passport simply means that while with the traditional passport, your details were printed, with the e-passport the details will be kept in a chip similar to that of a bank card. It is mainly done to deal with fraud because the information is only readable by a machine and no one can tamper with it."