The office of the Registrar General has run out of ink and paper required to make passports due to foreign currency shortages according to some press reports. In February the Registrar General Clemence Masango revealed that his department’s operations were being severely impacted on by Zimbabwe’s foreign currency situation.
Because of this shortage it seems that Zimbabweans who want the socalled emergency passport had to first prove that they indeed needed the emergence passport in the first place. This would involve things like college acceptance letters etc.
It seems however that due to this crippling shortage the passport offices have placed further restrictions. One applicant was qouted as saying:
Getting your name on the waiting list of applicants is not a problem but the criteria being used to verify the people who are worth for emergency passport makes everything impossible.
We are told they take 70 applicants per day but it seems as if only 20 are taken in and the officials have their own 50 people who will make it the list to 70 after paying kickbacks.
We are just here to apply for the passports but we are not sure if we will get them since there are some people who applied two weeks ago but are yet to get their emergency passports.
Imagine you come here because your passport has expired when you pay your money you can’t get what you applied for because the government has no ink.
