-as villagers bemoan high fees
Cuthbert Mashoko
The E-passport office which opened its doors three months ago at Rutenga Growth Point has been a hive of activity and a major facelift for the sprawling urban settlement in Mwenezi District.
The office has brought relief not only to residents of Mwenezi but Masvingo Province at large, as witnessed by prospective passport seekers coming from as far as Chiredzi and the City of Masvingo.
The Rutenga E-passport office becomes the first in Masvingo Province to issue the important cross border traveling document.
Rudo Maguhudze a resident of Chiredzi was over the moon after collecting her ordinary e-passport. “I am happy, l now have the document which l eagerly wanted and have been waiting for, for a long time to possess,” said the young lady.
On the contrary, some residents of Rutenga like Shamiso Chanetsa, a vendor who plies her trade close to the passport office bemoaned the high cost of the E-passport adding that to her and many others possessing a passport remains a pie in the sky regardless of the office being at her doorstep.
“The cost of the ordinary passport is restrictive . l am just a vendor living from hand to mouth.” lamented Shamiso.
The processing of passports has been faster with an ordinary e-passport just taking a week to be out at a cost of US$170, while one has to part away with US$ 300 in order to get an emergency passport which is processed in three days.
The decentralisation drive by the Ministry of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage is a step in the right direction since it has brought services to people’s door steps especially in the context of Mwenezi District which had been lagging behind in terms of key service providers.
However the high cost of the much needed traveling document has made it a privilege for the “elite”. Most of the rural folk cannot afford the US$170 for an ordinary passport.
Most unemployed youth in Mwenezi, despite the passport office being in their backyard will continue to risk their lives by crossing the crocodile infested giant Limpopo River and using undesignated entry points into neighboring South Africa in search of greener pastures.
Illegal migration into South Africa commonly known as “border jumping” has exposed Zimbabwean youth and women to painful ordeals like murder, rape and human trafficking.
It is against this background that, the Government should consider a fee waiver for vulnerable groups like the unemployed, youth, women and people with disabilities for them to access the passports, in order to uplift their standard of life through embarking on cross boarder trading.
