Report characters and officials who demand bribes

THE opening of the state-of-the-art e-passport bio-enrolment centre at the Bulawayo Provincial Civil Registry offices on Wednesday is a welcome development in as far as bringing convenience to applicants while also clearing the travel document’s backlog.

Since the Civil Registry Department commenced issuance of e-passports on January 18 this year, they have so far, produced 26 395 documents.

The decentralisation of the e-passport enrolment centres is set to spread to all provinces in line with the Government’s devolution thrust.

This paper reported yesterday that as of Wednesday members of the public had started applying for the e-passports in Bulawayo.

An ordinary e-passport, which costs US$120, takes seven working days to be processed while the emergency one costs US$220 and is out within 48 hours.

Before the Bulawayo launch, e-passports were only obtained in Harare.

The e-passport scheme was launched by President Mnangagwa in December last year after the Government entered into a partnership with a Lithuanian company, Garsu Pasaulis, on a build, operate and transfer (BOT) basis to produce the new passports that meet modern international standards and allow Zimbabweans to travel without additional complications.

The switch-over will also eliminate the large backlog of application built-ups during the lockdowns.

In addition, an online passport application system will be introduced, to allow applications and payment for the documents online.

An electronic passport or e-passport contains an electronic chip, which holds the same information that is printed on the passport’s data page.

It contains the holder’s name, date of birth, and other biographic information.

An e-passport also contains a biometric identifier.

All of these features are designed to protect citizens from identity theft because it is difficult and expensive to steal the information stored on the document’s encrypted digital record.

Speaking at the official opening of the Bulawayo e-passport bio-enrolment centre, Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage Minister Kazembe Kazembe said decentralising passport services to the district level remains a top priority for Government and has started with the establishment of Chitungwiza Passport Office, which is now operational.

“The roll out of the e-passport project started in Harare and Bulawayo is the second province to have the facility, which will be cascaded to other provincial and district centres,” said Minister Kazembe.

He said the process of setting up infrastructure for the issuance of e-passports has now been taken to Hwange and Lupane, in Matabeleland North Province.

This will be followed by a similar exercise to the remaining seven provincial offices, which should be up and running by end of June this year.

Despite the positive gains having been realised in the seamless transition to the e-passport, Minister Kazembe said the Government is deeply concerned about criminal elements purporting to be employees or agents of the Civil Registry Department and defrauding citizens of their hard-earned cash by promising to facilitate them acquire e-passports and identity documents for a fee.

“I wish to unequivocally state that these bogus individuals do not, in any way, represent the ministry and we disassociate ourselves from them.

“Members of the public are urged to approach the Civil Registry directly when seeking access to civil registration and to desist from engaging intermediaries,” he said.

“Let me, however, assure you that law enforcement agents will leave no stone unturned in bringing these criminal elements to book.”

Bribes are openly being demanded upfront by officials who are using some informal traders operating at the Civil Registry offices as fronts.

In the past, there have been “touts” outside registry offices who volunteer to facilitate the speedy processing of travel documents in exchange for fees.

It is hoped that after Minister Kazembe Kazembe’s declaration on the Government’s zero tolerance to corruption, those officials that have been previously working with “passport touts” will stop the practice.

Members of the public are also encouraged to report to the police characters and officials who demand bribes to facilitate the travel documents.