Over 1,000 Zimbabweans residing in South Africa have signed a petition calling for a review of the Zimbabwean government’s decision to hike the passport application fee from US$150 to US$250 for those applying at the Johannesburg Consulate.

In an interview with South African broadcaster Newzroom Africa on Tuesday, Shelton Chiyangwa, the director of BDS Migration and Legal Services Consultancy, expressed concern that this increase will likely lead to a rise in the number of illegal immigrants in South Africa. Said Chiyangwa:

We have raised our concerns about the increase in the passport application fees by the Consulate of Zimbabwe.

We think that it is not fair. It is ridiculous, and it is some gimmick by the government to try and pocket out of the suffering Zimbabweans who are living in South Africa who are depending on the service that has been brought to their doorstep for them to have passports and they want to capitalise on that.

People are now opting to get the forms, send them to Harare for processing at US$150 and have their passports sent back.

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So the office that was opened in Johannesburg is not serving anything. It’s much ado about nothing.

Last week, Zimbabwe’s ambassador to South Africa, David Hamadziripi, told GroundUp that they had taken note of calls from Zimbabweans to have the passport application fees reviewed and would engage the government over the matter. Said Hamadziripi:

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