On Monday, Home Affairs Director-General Mkuseli Apleni met officials from the Zimbabwean government to discuss the issue of passports.

Following that meeting, Apleni told the media that his Zimbabwean counterparts were expected to report back with a strategy on how to deal with the issue of the outstanding passports.

According to the Zimbabwean government, it had received 58 100 applications from Zimbabwean nationals for passports and had dealt with more 16 000 of these applications, Apleni said.

He added that Home Affairs had yet to establish how many Zimbabwean nationals submitted their applications without passports.

However, from the applications that had been adjudicated so far, those submitted without passports averaged about 350 a day.

“We are taking this issue of passports very seriously. We have been meeting with our Zimbabwean counterparts to ensure that no one in this process suffers without a passport,” he added.

Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma is also expected to meet with her Zimbabwean counterpart soon to cement Monday’s discussions. - BuaNews