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Herald Reporter
The passport backlog will be cleared within three months following measures put in place by the Government, Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage Minister Kazembe Kazembe, whose ministry runs the Passport Office, has said.

For the past two years, the demand for passports has been growing, with some people reportedly still waiting to have applications from August 2018 processed.

Minister Kazembe was in Bindura yesterday at the Registrar-General’s Office as part of his nationwide tour of critical departments under his ministry to see for himself the challenges affecting the smooth operations of the department.

“On the issue of passport backlogs, the Government has put in place mechanisms that will ensure that the backlog is cleared within the next three months,” he said. “Give the department three months and I can assure you that by the end of March the backlog will be cleared.”

Passport fees remain unchanged contrary to media reports suggesting that they had gone up, he said.
Minister Kazembe said there were procedures which needed to be followed before the fees could be increased and if they were to be increased, the public would be notified through the normal channels.

The minister, who also has the police under his ministry, visited the Mashonaland Central Provincial Police Headquarters in Bindura and urged the Zimbabwe Republic Police to maintain a peaceful environment so that the country can attract investment to make the envisaged Vision 2030 a reality.

His comments come against the backdrop of a police blitz which saw over 900 machete-wielding illegal gold miners being arrested in Mashonaland Central this week.