Getting a passport still a hassle in Zimbabwe

THE lack of effective measures to ensure that the process of acquiring a passport or national identity card is speedy and hassle-free has allowed corruption to continue unabated. The system favours those willing to pay an extra dollar to get the service while those who want to walk the straight and narrow have to contend with grindingly slow service that has frustrated many.

This is despite the existence of a provision in the country's Constitution which stipulates in section 35 (3) (b) that all Zimbabwean citizens have the right to, "passports and other travel documents and (c) to birth certificates and other identity documents issued by the State."

Speaking in separate interviews, applicants for national documents like passports and identity cards expressed consternation at how officials in the respective departments are operating. "I came here around 4am, but am yet to be served but numerous people who came after 8am have been assisted. There is filthy corruption here," said an aggrieved lady identified as Melody from Mufakose.

There are no exceptional pre-arrangements for the aged, the expecting or incapacitated who despondently wait a seeming eternity to receive assistance. The nature of corruption knows no honour; neither does it endorse the first come first serve principle.  Here money talks.

Investigations into the matter by The Financial Gazette understands that for those with cash to spare, a bribe of between US$30 and US$50 through complex channels of "go betweens" for those willing to pay for a reprieve of prompt service. Masquerading as one who wanted a passport, this writer was introduced to a Tafadzwa (not real name) who wanted US$ 93 to get me a passport. An ordinary passport costs USD$53.

"I am offering you a good deal. You do not have to wait in these long queues," said Tafadzwa. The sheer injustice of having to pay someone for what he is paid to do merely because there are many requiring the service is an affront to all right thinking individuals. It was also interesting to note that the rampant corruption was not only confined to the passport office employees, but stretched to other ministry employees stationed at Makombe building.

These liaise with the officials from the passport office and "help" passport seekers to acquire their documents for a fee. Simple mathematics can show that if a passport official "helps" one person a day and charges USD$20, he will amass a whopping US$400 plus a month!

Tobaiwa Mudede, the Registrar-General recently confirmed before Parliament that his office was overwhelmed with corruption in the dispensing of passports. While giving oral evidence before the Defence, Home Affairs and Security Services parliamentary portfolio committee Mudede said the graft was widespread and nationwide.

"We have some of our officers involved in corrupt activities in the issuing of national documents like passports, national IDs and birth certificates. We are calling on the police to arrest the culprits and hand them to court for prosecution," he said.
Decongestion of the archaic queuing will go a long way in tackling the corrupt cesspool that is Makombe. If there are fewer people, the carrion vultures which prey on desperation will dissipate.

Zimbabwe would do well to take a leaf from the systems of countries in the region. In South Africa and Botswana it takes a maximum of seven working days to process a normal passport with the cost pegged at R400 (US$32) and 260pula (US$ 28) respectively while in Zimbabwe home a passport is issued after a maximum of six weeks costing US$53.

The Registrar-General's office says it processes about 2000 passports a day and hopes that the winding queues will be over as soon as the construction of the Centre of Registry building is completed adjacent to current offices. The building has been under construction for nearly two decades and questions have been raised as to why it hasn't been completed.

Last year, Mudede said the street the building is on is built on a river and some water drainage pipes are below the building and as such there are concerns that if occupation is rushed, the building may sink with the national database. That notwithstanding, Edwell Mutemaringa, the chief accountant at the Registrar-General's office said people should expect the opening of the building any time this year.

"The building will be open to the public this year. The funds are now available and work is in progress. Very soon it will be functional," he said. It remains to be seen if the rot at the complex will be abated before it escalates.