Introduction of e-passports grossly unreasonable -ZLHR

The recent decision to introduce e-passports for Zimbabweans has sparked debate among the disgruntled citizens who say the move is unreasonable and a violation of many rights.

The current type of passports, issued before the date of operation of these regulations, will cease to be acceptable internationally by 31st December 2023, and will therefore need to be replaced by e-passports in terms of these regulations.

An electronic passport or e-passport is a conventional passport with the addition of a readable electronic chip that carries the same information that is printed on the physical document.

According to SI 273 of 2021, an ordinary e-passport will cost US$100 and an emergency one will be US$200.

On top of the conventional information, some e-passports also have on their digital record, biometric data, the bearer’s photograph and in some cases the holder’s iris pattern.

The Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights however said the phasing out of the old passports is unreasonable.

“We have written a letter to Home Affairs  and Cultural Heritage Minister Kazembe Kazembe telling him that his decision to make the current passport non-operational  and non-functional by 31 December 2023 is grossly unreasonable as many citizens had obtained or renewed their current passports and had parted with hefty sums of money in paying the prescribed passport fees. We told him that it is grossly unreasonable  and unfair to impose an obligation on current passport holders to apply for an e-passport by December 2023 even when their current passports still have many years running before their expiration date,” said ZLHR in a letter.

“We said this is a violation of the right to administrative conduct which is substantially fair and reasonable and hence is a breach of Section 68 of the Constitution. We also asked Hon. Kazembe to furnish us with the procedures and criterion used to designate CBZ Bank as the entity to be processing e-passports. We stated that in terms of Section 35(3) of the Constitution, it is the State’s primary obligation to provide citizens with passports & other identity documents.”

Sandile Ngwenya an informal trader said the new passport system was a money making scheme for a few Government officials who are not worried about the welfare of members of the public.

“This is just a calculated move to dupe ordinary and suffering citizens of their hard earned forex. We have been paying forex and bribes for registry to give us passports which we applied for in 2019 and I do not trust that this e-passport will work, it’s just a scam and no one cares about our welfare,” said Ngwenya .

“We live off vending and without passports we will not be able to make ends meet but the pricing now is meant to discourage us from applying. The fact that the facility will be centralised in Harare is a cause for concern and surely we cannot accept that after sleeping in queues to get these older passports, they will expire in 2023.”

Another concerned resident Nomaqhawe Moyo said the decision to introduce the e-passport was just another sign to show that Government has once again failed to avail documents for its citizens.

“Soon we will be told that we can only access the required passport in Harare and whether are we going to source the additional money to travel to Harare. For starters a majority of us earn in local currency and we wonder how this e-passport doesn’t have a bond price, it’s pathetic,” she said.