Days of travelling to Harare for passport applications are over
• Chitungwiza gets own passport office
• Government promises passport office in every province by July
Yvonne Mutambwa
Chitungwiza residents no longer need to travel to Harare to apply for passports, as Government has opened an application centre in the dormitory town.
Today, Permanent Secretary of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage Mr Aaron Nhepera officially opened the Chitungwiza e-passport bi-enrolment centre.
President Mnangagwa in December 2021 promised the decentralization of passport applications, to align with the constitutional provision of devolution.
Speaking at the event, PS Nhepera said the days of people waking up to go to Harare for passports are behind us.
“Electronic passports concur with the National Development Strategy one’s modernisation agenda of achieving digital economy. Thus Government walking the talk in the decentralization of e-passport offices,” said PS Nhepera.
The new centre in Chitungwiza will not only benefit Chitungwiza alone, but also surrounding communities such as Mahusekwa, Beatrice and Seke.
Initially the programme was launched in Harare followed by Bulawayo and now it has extended to the dormitory town with an estimated population of about 350 000.
“This is the beginning of our decentralization programme. We only had two offices for Harare and Bulawayo. Next month we will open Murehwa and by July we will have opened E-passport offices in almost all provinces.
The Ministry through the Civil Registry Department, has brought E-passport services to Chitungwiza District in recognition of its position as the third largest urban settlement in the country in terms of the population size. The availability of the services is bound to benefit the community at large,” said PS Nhepera.
Meanwhile, the mobile registration exercise which began in April is still ongoing.
It mainly focuses on birth and death certificates as well as the issuance of national identity documents.
Recent Comments