Passports outreach for Zimbabweans living in SA

THE Zimbabwe Embassy in South Africa has embarked on a week-long special consular intervention programme to process passports, birth certificates applications and related services to Zimbabweans living in South Africa, starting with Mpumalanga Province.

The programme will run between August 26 and 31 in selected areas.

In a public notice, the country’s Consul-General to Johannesburg, Mr Eria Phiri, said this was a response to the soaring demand for civil documents by Zimbabweans in the neighbouring country.

“The consulate wishes to inform Zimbabwean nationals resident in Mpumalanga Province of a mobile consular visit to eMalahleni, and Mbombela in Mpumalanga province from August 26 to August 31”, said the Consul-General.

He said the exercise’s first leg will be held at Gateway church, located at Elizabeth Ave, in the CBD of eMalahleni between August 26 and August 28.

In Mbombela, he said the programme will be carried out at Oewersig Community Hall in the Vintonia area between August 30 and 31.

Mr Phiri said the Consulate will be operating as follows: open for services between 0830 hours and 1500 hours for the duration of the exercise.

“During this period, the team will be offering the following services; birth registration (R100), passport form processing (R300), Temporary Travel Document (TTD) R500, Non-Marriage applications (R250), verification of public documents [Zimbabwean issues, eg birth certificates, death certificates, marriage certificates, passports etc] at R200, section 5 (R150),” said the Consul-General.

“Please note that this Consular will be carried out using the old passport application systems using passport application forms wherein members of the public will submit forms in Zimbabwe and collect the passport after production in Zimbabwe.

“All Zimbabwean nationals resident in Mpumalanga who require the above consular services should plan to visit the above-mentioned venues between 0830 hours and 1500 hours on the stated dates. Please note services will be offered on a first-come, first-served basis.”

Mr Phiri urged the Zimbabweans in Mpumalanga to take advantage of the initiative and process their documents.

He also advised those seeking services to be wary of conmen pretending to be acting on behalf of the Consulate in Johannesburg and Cape Town or the Embassy in Pretoria.

“We do not have agents who act on our behalf,” said the Consul-General.

Spokesperson for the ZimCommunitySA Mr Bongani Mazwi Mkwananzi welcomed the initiative and encouraged Zimbabweans in the neighbouring country to fully utilise these outreach programmes.

“We encourage Zimbabweans to fully utilise these outreach programmes to take advantage of the opportunity to fix their documentation since most would struggle to get to the Consulate or go home to fix such issues,” he said.

“We, however, wish to advise the Consulate to liaise with community organisations who work day to day with fellow compatriots to get the message across to the community for such outreach. Their platforms tend not to be so heavily followed and thus collaboration with community organisations will assist and give full effect to these important outreach campaigns.”

H-metro