WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2010-09-09 Time: 08:00:03 Posted By: News Poster
Harare – Government has reduced the price of a standard passport from US$140 to US$50 and scrapped fines for lost passports with immediate effect as it moves to ensure accessibility of the document by citizens.
Addressing journalists in Harare yesterday, Home Affairs co-Ministers Kembo Mohadi and Theresa Makone said Government would soon dispatch officials from the Registrar-General’s Office to South Africa to register Zimbabweans working there without proper documents.
The move is part of a cocktail of measures being instituted by the Government to enable Zimbabweans to get passports to curb reliance on Emergency Travelling Documents. Despite the reduced price, the cost of a Zimbabwean passport, however, remains higher than in some Sadc countries such as South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho and Botswana.
In South Africa, an ordinary passport costs 190 Rand, which translates to US$22,80, in Namibia one forks out 160 Rand (US$19,20) while in Lesotho it costs 100 Rand (US$12,20). South Africa, Zimbabwe’s major trading partner, has been rejecting ETDs, insisting on the use of passports.
Ministers Mohadi and Makone also revealed that fines for lost passports had been scrapped. “The Government has reduced the prices of passports from US$140 to US$50 with immediate effect. After extensive debate on the price of the travel document, Cabinet directed that the price be reduced henceforth to enable people to own and be able to travel out of the country’s borders.
“The new price was reached at following concerns raised in Cabinet that the costs of passports were beyond the reach of the majority of our people most of whom were earning US$150,” Minister Mohadi said. The same price would be charged for lost, expired or defaced passports. He said the price would not affect operations at the RG’s Office as the reduction had been effected only on printing costs.
Minister Mohadi said the RG’s department, after factoring in administrative costs, would decide the price of emergency passports.
Said Minister Makone: “The reduction in prices has been effected on the printing costs and will not affect revenue inflows to the department. There is nothing that has changed, as the RG’s department will continue to get the same revenues.
“Government has simply asked Fidelity Printers to reduce printing costs and that will not affect the Registrar-General’s Office.
“We anticipate queues to increase following this price reduction as people rush to get the document, but you will need to bear with us,” she said.
Minister Makone said the Home Affairs Ministry was, however, looking at ways of removing bottlenecks on the availability of passports by ensuring that booklets were printed fast to match demand.
She said the greatest handicap was that production of the passport booklets was done externally.
“We will be talking to the Registrar-General’s Department and the Ministry of Finance on the possibility of the department printing the passport booklets in-house,” she said.
Minister Makone said once the RG’s department was resourced, it would be able to buy the required machinery to produce the passports.
The two ministers said the RG’s Department would be tasked to send officers to South Africa to register Zimbabweans working in that country without proper documents.
Minister Mohadi said the threat of deportation of Zimbabweans working in South Africa without proper documentation was not new but had been discussed last year.
He said the two governments had agreed to a moratorium of six months that was further extended to December 31. “Government through the RG’s department will be sending officers to South Africa to make sure our people in that country get the requisite documentation.
“With this price, Zimbabweans working in South Africa can also come and acquire the documents. “Those who choose not to regularise their travel documents in time will be deported and will have no one to blame,” Minister Mohadi said.
Last year South Africa temporarily halted the deportation of Zimbabweans without proper travelling documents and also gave them the right to work, in education and health care in that country. The reduction in prices is expected to limit demand for emergency travel documents that are not machine-readable and thus not recognised in some countries.
Last year Government reduced the cost of acquiring a standard passport from US$170 to US$140 and an urgent passport to US$250 from US$350.
A diplomatic passport processed in one day went down to US$315 from US$385.
The Registrar-General’s Department recently said it had cleared the passport backlog that had haunted it since 2006.
Original Source: 
Published by the government of Zimbabwe
Original date published: 9 September 2010
Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/201009090048.html?viewall=1