News / National
'Printing of passports cannot be decentralised,' says Mudede
21 May 2014 at 01:55hrs | Views
REGISTRAR-GENERAL (RG) Tobaiwa Mudede yesterday told Parliament that processing and printing of passports cannot be decentralised to districts for fear of terrorism.
Mudede told the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Women's Affairs, Gender and Community Development that passport forms can be distributed at district level, but will be sent to central registry for processing after people filled them in.
Mudede said his office was processing on average 3 000 passports daily.
Asked by the committee to explain how his office was helping women and old people to get passports and birth registrations, Mudede said they gave first priority to women with babies, pregnant women, aged people, people with disabilities, as well as the visibly sick and those in emergency situations.
He, however, said his office was experiencing challenges with the registration of people from the Vapostori sect who do not usually get birth certificates for their children.
They also bury each other without burial orders, he claimed.
"We try to encourage the Vapostori to come and register for the reason that in this country every person must be registered and accounted for because it is a security issue," Mudede said.
The RG said last year his office travelled to Kenya to register Zimbabweans of the Vapositori sect in that country.
"We also visited Marange to mobilise them to register births and deaths, but we realised they were scattered all over the country – and these people flourish to the extent that youngsters are now forming their own sects, that is why you see red cloths everywhere," Mudede said.
He said it was not for the love of God but for money that new churches and sects were flourishing in the country.
Mudede also told the committee that Zimbabwe had managed to deal with fraudulent marriages with foreign nationals engaged in bigamy crimes.
"We have developed tighter systems to thwart marriages of convenience with foreigners who are required to produce immigration certificates, criminal records, certificates of non- marriage with fingerprints and pictures, and these have to be issued out at the respective embassies to ensure one is not cheating," he said.
Mudede told the committee that to curb fraudulent marriages he ordered re-registration of marriage officers.
Out of 2 000 officers, half of them were found authentic, he said.
"About 1 000 of these so-called vicars have gone into hiding," said Mudede.
He indicated that single women were now allowed to register births of their children using their maiden names if the father was not willing to do so.
"Married women can also get birth certificates for their children as long as they bring the father's identification particulars," Mudede added.
Mudede told the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Women's Affairs, Gender and Community Development that passport forms can be distributed at district level, but will be sent to central registry for processing after people filled them in.
Mudede said his office was processing on average 3 000 passports daily.
Asked by the committee to explain how his office was helping women and old people to get passports and birth registrations, Mudede said they gave first priority to women with babies, pregnant women, aged people, people with disabilities, as well as the visibly sick and those in emergency situations.
He, however, said his office was experiencing challenges with the registration of people from the Vapostori sect who do not usually get birth certificates for their children.
They also bury each other without burial orders, he claimed.
"We try to encourage the Vapostori to come and register for the reason that in this country every person must be registered and accounted for because it is a security issue," Mudede said.
The RG said last year his office travelled to Kenya to register Zimbabweans of the Vapositori sect in that country.
He said it was not for the love of God but for money that new churches and sects were flourishing in the country.
Mudede also told the committee that Zimbabwe had managed to deal with fraudulent marriages with foreign nationals engaged in bigamy crimes.
"We have developed tighter systems to thwart marriages of convenience with foreigners who are required to produce immigration certificates, criminal records, certificates of non- marriage with fingerprints and pictures, and these have to be issued out at the respective embassies to ensure one is not cheating," he said.
Mudede told the committee that to curb fraudulent marriages he ordered re-registration of marriage officers.
Out of 2 000 officers, half of them were found authentic, he said.
"About 1 000 of these so-called vicars have gone into hiding," said Mudede.
He indicated that single women were now allowed to register births of their children using their maiden names if the father was not willing to do so.
"Married women can also get birth certificates for their children as long as they bring the father's identification particulars," Mudede added.
Source - Southern Eye
