- Many Zimbabweans smuggled into SA
- Zimbos staying in SA without proper documents
ZIMBABWEANS based in South Africa are making a stampede to the Registrar General’s offices to obtain identification documents after returning home for the Christmas and New Year holidays.
Many had either breached immigration laws such as overstaying, resulting in the cancellation of their permits or crossing borders without valid travel documents.
The unending wave of illegal migration poses security implications for countries in the region, observers have said.
A number of people going into South Africa for greener pastures do so without documentations.
In an interview with Chido (not real name) at the RG’s Market Square offices, this publication heard that the South Africa-based woman had returned to the country to obtain documents for both her children and herself.
“When I went to South Africa, I did not have a passport and my children also had no birth certificates. So, I am here to obtain birth certificates for my children and identification documents which I lost during my stay in South Africa,” Chido said.
“I gave birth to my third child in South Africa, and it was difficult for me to obtain a birth certificate for her while still there.”
Another person who declined to identify himself told this publication that he had been in South Africa for more than eight years now, staying there without a single document.
“I went to South Africa eight years ago and was robbed of everything, including my birth certificate and passport.
“So, I am here to apply for the birth certificate first before getting identification documents, including the passport,” he said.
“I need to obtain the birth certificate and Identification document first before getting the passport.
“I will just apply for the documents after which I will send someone to collect them for me,” he added.
Tariro Mazvimba told Zim Morning Post that her parents forced her to return so she could obtain the necessary documents needed for her stay in South Africa.
“I went to South Africa with my parents while I was still young and have now completed my education in South Africa.”
Mazvimba said she now needed to apply for her birth certificate with the assistance of her grandmother who resides here in Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe has been experiencing low production of passports occasioned mainly by the unavailability of foreign currency to procure the needed consumables including passport paper.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s led government last year paid US$3 million to clear a US$7 million debt to consumable suppliers.
Zimbabwe’s passport production machinery has also been hit hard by natural wear and tear, with some of the passport production machinery needing to be replaced or upgraded.