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THE Registrar General’s Office has said the processing of e-passports is expected to resume this week, following a technical glitch, on the main database.
Engineers are working to rectify the technical fault, which has affected the main database at the Registrar General’s Office, resulting in the issuance of e-passport being temporarily suspended.
In an interview with H-Metro yesterday, Registrar General, Henry Machiri, said the fault has affected all branches nationwide.
He dismissed claims that the e-passport system has been suspended indefinitely, saying they are set to officially launch the Gweru branch, after the successful opening of the Beitbridge office.
“The new e-passport system is not affected, but what is affected is the main database system where information is obtained to process the passport. This has equally affected the issuance of birth and death certificates,” he explained.
Machiri said they expect the problem to be rectified this week.
“Our expectations are that this process will be rectified before the end of the week and applicants can proceed to apply for new e-passports soon.”
He revealed that 140 000 passports had been issued since January.
“The department has also resumed clearance of the passport backlog of 176 000, which was backdated to January 2019, and we have reduced it to 80 000,” he said.
Mathew Masinge
Online Reporter