Home Affairs Minister, Kazembe Kazembe has dismissed as untrue reports which suggest that the office of the Registrar General was considering allowing local citizens with free funds to pay US$318 for passports.
Speaking to ZBC News, Kazembe said that the use of foreign currency was still illegal for local citizens. He added:
Those who are only allowed to pay US Dollars, for now, are the diasporans, those who are working in the diaspora and earning in foreign currency and it is only for the emergency passport, that is the government’s position.
We have however received pleas to allow those in Zimbabwe and with free funds to also be able to pay the same amount like the diasporans for the emergency passport because they might have business commitments and the money for that but currently it’s not legal for us to accept that money.
He, however, added that plans were underway to make it possible for locals with free funds to pay foreign currency for their passports.
The RG’s office has a huge passport backlog which goes back to 2018 and the shortage of foreign currency has been cited as one of the major reasons why the office is underperforming.
More: ZBC News