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and temporary travel documents yesterday after engineers rectified an electrical fault caused by a power blackout that hit the country last week.

Registrar-General Mr Tobaiwa Mudede yesterday said operations were back to normal.
The suspension had affected thousands of Zimbabweans working in foreign countries – particularly South Africa – who intended to renew their passports and process TTDs before returning in the New Year.

Yesterday, thousands of people rushed to get their documents processed at Makombe Building, with some saying they should have returned to their workstations before January 1.
Most Zimbabweans are seeking documents that will allow them to stay in South Africa legally.
Last Wednesday’s blackout damaged the processing system at Makombe Building, forcing the RG’s Office to suspend the processing of passports and TTDs.

Only urgent passports were being processed.
A visit by The Herald to the RG’s Office yesterday showed that national identity cards and birth certificates were being issued.

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However, people complained that staff at the offices were taking long to clear long queues.
Some said they had been there as early as 4:30am.
“The queue is moving very slowly and I don’t know whether I am going to be served today. I was here before 4:30am, but I am yet to be served.

“I was supposed to start work on January 2 and I don’t know whether my boss will understand my problem,” said Mr Moses Bhasera, who works in South Africa.
Others questioned why the RG’s Office was being affected by the same problem at the same time of the year.

“This was the situation last year. We don’t think the fault was genuine, but it’s only that someone was failing to deal with the demand associated with the holidays.
“These are the repercussions of centralising everything in one place, Harare. It becomes a single point of failure,” said another man.

Mr Peter Mukasida said if the RG’s Office failed to serve the passport seekers in time, the number of border jumpers will increase.

“What people need is money to look after their families and by staying in the country where we are jobless, we are worsening our situation. People will always try to cross into neighbouring countries illegally if there are no passports for them,” he said.

The RG’s Office was hit by the same problem, at the same time last year when it suspended the issuance of IDs following an electrical fault at the KGVI production centre.