Zimbabwe’s registrar-general, Clemence Masango, has announced that the country is still battling to clear a backlog of more than 400 000 passports.
According to Masango, the passports date as far back as 2018 due to a shortage of foreign currency to import required consumables.
“The department is receiving about 2 000 applications for passports daily countrywide, but is only able to produce close to 400 per day,” said Masango.
In November last year, the Zimbabwean government increased the price of passports, hoping to address the backlog by the first quarter of this year. In July last year, it was reported that Zimbabwe had run out of passports and vehicle registration number plates, forcing citizens to wait for long periods to get them. - Zoë van Rooyen
