South Africa announced last week that it would begin deporting undocumented Zimbabweans in December at the end of a special suspension of visa requirements that has allowed Zimbabweans to stay and work in the country.
South Africa says the situation in Zimbabwe has improved enough to allow exiled Zimbabweans to return, a claim dismissed by Zimbabwean exile groups. And although Zimbabwe government officials are anxious about the decision, they cannot publicly oppose the move, as doing so would be to support the view that little has changed under the country's unity government.
On Wednesday Zimbabwe's two home affairs ministers, Kembo Mohadi of Zanu-PF and the Movement for Democratic Change's Theresa Makone, said they were sending teams to Johannesburg, Pretoria and Cape Town to help citizens acquire passports. They announced a cut in passport fees, hoping to entice citizens to register.
"When we negotiated for the removal of visa requirements, we were given six months to regularise all our people in South Africa and we negotiated for a further extension to December 31," said Mohadi. "It is now up to us to send our people to South Africa so that Zimbabwe citizens without papers are given the requisite travel documents. Those that do not meet the deadline will face deportation."
But there is little confidence that Zimbabwe can pull this off. Already, in Zimbabwe itself, getting a passport is a nightmare. Long queues form at dawn outside the crammed, dusty Makombe Building in Harare that houses the passport offices.
Underpaid workers and touts make a killing taking bribes to help desperate applicants. The ministers have little comfort for those desperate for documents. Makone said the government slashed the price of passport applications, but admits this will cause even more chaos.
"Queues are going to get even longer. We’re asking people to please bear with us while we clear the bottlenecks." The backlog for passport applications rose as high as 300 000 at the height of the political and economic crisis, but officials say it has now been cleared.
A passport now costs US$50, down from US$140. It is still a fortune in a country in which government workers earn US$150 a month, but it is a sacrifice many have to make. The coordinator of the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, Dewa Mavhinga, said Zimbabwe is not prepared for the flood of applications.
