Harare, Zimbabwe. (News of The South) – Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage minister, Kazembe Kazembe yesterday said, government was considering reviewing passport fees in a development meant to cushion the passport issuing office against pressures of costs incurred to access consumables for production.
According to the minister, this will result in the rapid processing of applications since materials used to make the passports are all imported and expensive.
Furthermore, Kazembe emphasized that the government was not seeking to make a profit from the passports hence it would ensure passports remained accessible in price.
“We are talking about the possibility of a price increase. We have been charging $53 for ordinary passports for a very long time.
Consumables are imported and they need foreign currency which is dependent on the exchange rate.
So I think it is in order that we need to review, we need to look at the price, basing it on the exchange rate,” said Kazembe.
Registrar-General Clemence Masango concurred with the minister, “government is not in the business of 100 percent cost recovery or profit making, there is a social responsibility element that goes into the fees for public services.
If we are to get a review we must get a review of not less than US$53 or equivalent Zimbabwean dollars at the prevailing bank rate.”
Currently, an ordinary passport costs $53 (US$3.50) while an emergency passport costs $253 (US$17). These charges were set in 2010.
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