Anger Over "Exorbitant" Passport Price For Zimbabweans Based In South Africa
The Zimbabwean community in South Africa on 30 July launched a petition urging the Zimbabwean government to reconsider its decision to hike the price of Zimbabwean passports in South Africa.
The Zimbabwean consulate in Johannesburg said that all passport applications will now be processed as express applications, resulting in a cost of US$250 instead of the previous US$150 charged for standard passports.
Additionally, passport applicants are required to pay a separate US$20 “application fee.”
As reported by GroundUp, the petition calling on the Zimbabwean government to reduce the passport application fees has already garnered signatures from more than 1,000 individuals. Reads the petition:
This fee is far beyond what many Zimbabwean nationals in South Africa can afford, considering the average earnings of our community.
It’s an overwhelming burden that prevents us from securing our legal documents which are part and parcel of our fundamental human rights.
We believe everyone, regardless of their economic conditions, has a right to their own nationality.
We call upon the Zimbabwean government to reassess these fees and reduce them to a fair amount.
The petition had gathered over 1,100 signatures as of the morning of 2 August.
The chairperson of the Zimbabwe Community in South Africa, Ngqabutho Mabhena said:
The Zimbabwean passport is very expensive. The government wants to use the passport as a tool to raise money.
A Zimbabwean informal trader living in Gqeberha described the ZNU PF-led government as “heartless”. He said:
The Zimbabwean government is heartless. We are suffering in foreign countries because they mismanaged our country and they now milk us dry like this.
Chris Mapingure, chairman of the Zimbabwe Migrants Support Network, said:
The majority of them do not have formal jobs. They’re earning less than R5,000 per month. Many people won’t afford this amount and a lot of people will remain undocumented.
Responding to a request for comment from GroundUp, Zimbabwe’s ambassador to South Africa, David Hamadziripi said:
The first is the ordinary passport that costs USD170 and the second is the express/emergency that is charged US$250.
We have taken note of the reactions by our nationals in respect of the cost of the e-passport/express and we’re engaging our government to be aware of these responses.
The Embassy in Pretoria and the Johannesburg and Cape Town Consulates implement government policies so when we have reactions from our citizens we make our government aware of these national concerns.
More: Pindula News
